What is Wrong With My Tree?
No one likes looking up and seeing something is wrong with their trees. There are varying degrees of unhealthy trees . These do not always result in death. Before contacting someone, you must ask yourself three simple questions. These could possibly help the professionals.
3 Questions to Ask and Answer Yourself:
What type of tree is it?
What trees are affected?
What part of the tree is infected?
Trees have many enemies including wind, temperature extremes, hail, snow, rain, and ice. They are also quite affected by disease and pest damage, along with us humans unintentionally harming them.
A Few Common Symptoms of Unhealthy Trees:
Slow Growth, Poor Growth or Decline in Growth
Soil compaction, changes in drainage, soil fill over the root system, mechanical damage from construction, and excess salt accumulation are examples of what causes reduced growth. These are all common stress factors to the root system. This decline in growth may also be caused by disease, insect attacks, and adverse weather conditions.
Reversing growth decline is quite difficult to stop or reverse. Prevention is key!
Here are a few helpful tips on how to prevent growth decline in your trees:
1. Match the tree to a suitable site
Be sure to give your tree plenty of room to grow and have it located in an appropriate location.
2. Maintain Tree Health
Give your tree an adequate amount of water.
3. Avoid Changes in the Growing Site
Changes to the soil such as drainage could cause irreversible damage to the root system. Keep in mind that the soil environment and root system have a very delicate relationship.
Cracking of the Wood
The most common reason for the splitting of the tree is the response of many environmental factors at different times of the year (sun scalding and frost cracking). This mostly occurs in thinner trees such as fruit trees. The cracking of the wood is not fatal, although it can cause entry to some disease which will, in time, cause decay.
Frost Cracking:
Sharp temperatures can cause the water within the trunk of a tree to freeze and explode. This causes the trunk to often split.
Sunscald:
This can cause injury to young trees or those with thinner bark. Although damage may not immediately appear, the outer layer of the bark will peel away from the affected area later in the seasons.
Dead Limbs
Sometimes these limbs are just from the tree thinning itself out. This is caused by the stress of the tree when there isn’t enough resources to go around. In other cases, the tree may be infected and the tree is trying to prevent the infection from spreading.
Sometimes the dead limbs are caused by an infestation. Sometimes an infestation sticks to one branch, but other times it will kill the tree bit by bit. If the branches have already died, the infestation has already progressed somewhat far. A branch dying is typically in the middle of the death process in which there is no going back for the tree.
Some trees are more susceptible to different fungus types. This could sometimes be solved by simply removing the infected limb. Even dead branches can spread the fungus.
Fungi Growth
Fungi that grows on trees can affect the overall health of the being. This can cause the trees to die or weaken to the point of becoming a danger. Fungus is often viewed as harmless by the majority of homeowners, but tree fungi can cause the trees to suffer from disease.
Tree fungi produce spores that can be spread to other vulnerable trees or shrubs. The spores can be spread by the air on windy days, gardening tools, harsh rains, and human/ creature movement.
The symptoms the tree may have vary depending on what type of fungus has infected it. In most cases the tree will result in the loss of vigor and discoloration or wilting leaves.
To prevent infection:
Do not overwater
Make sure your soil drains properly
Sanitize gardening tools between plants
Use preventative fungicides
Rake and remove falling leaves from your yard
Boost overall health with proper maintenance
Uprooting
The uprooting of a tree is when the tree is pulled out by or as if it is pulled out by the roots. This typically happens often when a severe storm passes through and the canopy of the tree is used as a sail. The tree will survive for a few days after this, but will then die due to the lack of nutrients it needs. Uprooting can break numerous roots of the tree causing it to be difficult to save the tree at times. In some cases, you may be able to replant the tree to revive it. Providing mulch and adequate water to your trees can help prevent decay and soil cracking, which can help prevent uprooting.
Wilting Leaves
Wilting leaves could be a clue that the tree requires more water, but it could also be caused by factors other than the lack of water .Some of these reasons being compacted, poorly drained, or water logged soils. Wilting leaves may also be the result of transplant shock. You should be aware of overwatering your plant as much as you should be about underwatering it. Checking your soils before planting ensures your soil is safe for growing trees. Fertilizers may be helpful.
Cankers Forming
Cankers are caused by fungi that enter the tree and grow between the bark and the wood, killing the bark. These can also be caused by damage from weed eaters, lawnmowers, chemicals, insects or other environmental conditions. The canker makes the tree highly vulnerable to infection, fungus, and infestations.
To remove and prevent the spread of cankers, pruning tools should be sterilized between cuts using rubbing alcohol or 10% household bleach. Remove the infected parts in dry weather for best results. You may also prevent cankers from forming by avoiding overcrowding, overwatering, controlling insect and rodent disease carriers ,treating bark and wood injuries promptly.