Tree Disease

[LIG]

I have inherited a badly diseased tree in the last month. I'm looking to identify the issues and cure the disease. If the disease is not curable I will be taking the tree down myself with rigging equipment.

Pictures: (Tree and branches)
http://s216.photobucket.com/user/lalabby/slideshow/tree

Symptoms of the disease:

• Lots of dead branches
• Tree loses leaves 2x a year and regrows them
  • must be stressful
  • neighbors say it's happened for years
• Tree has tons of water spouts/leaders coming off of branches
• Looks unhealthy up close
• Lots of fungus / disease patches all over the branches

Causes of the disease:

• Flood waters
• I believe the issue is related to flood waters. Flood waters during heavy rain periods run about 35ft from the tree which I imagine is within reach of the roots to pick up diseases. The ground dries up quickly.
• Possibly something else too

What I have done (owned only 1 month):

• I have put Imidacloprid on the tree to prevent bugs.
• Pruned dead branches
• Pruned a few conflicting branches / leaders
• Put down a very soft dose of milorganite and a few organic tree spikes 20ft around the tree (5x small spikes total)

Next Steps:

• Save her or cut 'er down
• If we are cutting down, name a tree to put in it's place and how far you'd have the stump ground down.

All trees on the property were poorly maintained. I have since climbed, rigged, and pruned out numerous conflicting branches in the center. Climate is South Nashville, TN.

Thank you for all your help. Help me save this tree and make it the best it can be!

 

[Jason Douglas]

Some of the stems youve shown have a decay fungi, Perhaps Stereum species. Some of the others are also showing lichens which isnt a concern in and of itself but their proliferation is many times due to the canopy letting in excessive sunlight and poor tree growth/vitality. You mentioned that the tree defoliates each year which explains that. Whatever stresses have caused this have also led to some or many stems to be colonized by the decay.

Address the stressors or remove the tree.

 

[LIG]

I'm thankful for the information on the fungi. Though I feel lost after your comment. I wish I could get more knowledge from you. Everything I posted above is all I know. Any tips on how to identify the stressor? Are there any places of which you would like a picture? I have taken a soil sample from a lab I can post here and found good nutrient content. I'm going to spray the yard with Bifen next in case of too many grub worms. I found some in the roots of 2 trees I already removed.

Several trees have woodpecker marks, but I see none on this particular tree. The biggest stressor I can think of is water. But idk how to tell if the soil is too damp. It doesn't feel damp to me and 3 other trees growing there seem to be ok. One tree approx. 35ft away has some mites which I'm currently treating. They'll be dead by spring.

What can I do to identify the issues? That is my main goal. It looks like my pictures were not appropriate. I climbed part way up. Maybe I'll climb all the way and look at all the branches. I feel like an insect or disease is eating it from the inside out, but idk what it could be. My father mentioned verticillium wilting disease. But I guess that's also irrelevant because that wouldn't happen if the tree wasn't "stressed," by some unknown force.

 

[LIG]

So I found the issue and I thought posting about it would help you and people with similar tree problems.

The maple tree sucked up water too soon back in 2013-2014 and experienced a deep freeze which internally split a lot of wood and made it rot on the inside. In its grossly weakened state fungi took over along with possibly verticillium wilting disease from a local easement. Funny enough we've had many days below 32F and the tree still has it's green leaves on it.... in mid decemeber. The tree is dead and ruined and I don't think there was anything I could've done to fix it after inheriting it this past September (2017). After talking to several local arborists before I was about to hire one, they all mentioned in the wet climate of TN maple trees routinely make the mistake of coming out of dormancy too early in the spring or staying active too late with the fall rains. The weather drops below freezing. They split and then you just have to watch them die over the course of 5 years. It usually happens somewhere after 10 years old. So it looks like I have 1 year left with this once beautiful tree. So now I have to find a new tree to plant. I was thinking a sweet gum. Pin Oaks do really well here with the wet soil, but I already have one. If you have any tree suggestions I'd love to hear them.


Additionally, the white oak tree next to it which I've just killed all the spider mites on was topped excessively several years ago. I was wondering what was going on with the winding branches on the inside of the tree. While it is just an opinion. I think topped trees are ugly and the practice of toping ruins a trees natural and beautiful look. So with an 11 inch diameter base and about 40' tall crown, I am going to also take it out. Any suggestions welcome. I might just plant another white oak.

 

[PJM]

Wait what?? The only part above that really makes any sense is that verticillium wilt may be involved, as wilt can cause premature defoliation. Anyway,it looks to me like you have a tuliptree, not a maple.

If you do replant look for something tolerant of verticillium, as it is soil borne and anything you put in the ground will likely come into contact with the fungus.

 

[Toronado3800]

Plant a metasequoia in its place is my vote.

 

[LIG]

Thank you for your suggestion! Metasequoia, I’ll have to see it in person. Will definitely consider.

Im going to look for something I can climb and rig to, something pretty, non-evergreen and definitely wet soil or verticilum resilient. Pin oak has been awesome, but dont want another. Sweet gum, like the palo alto sweet gum was a consideration.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Thank you for your suggestion! Metasequoia, I’ll have to see it in person. Will definitely consider.

Im going to look for something I can climb and rig to, something pretty, non-evergreen and definitely wet soil or verticilum resilient. Pin oak has been awesome, but dont want another. Sweet gum, like the palo alto sweet gum was a consideration.

PJM is right I think, tulip,
so it makes sense you would choose sweet gum,
Jeff

 

[JTM]

If it’s that wet then plant a bald cypress or a sycamore. Sweet Gum will work too. Although they do make a mess.