Catalpa

[woody paul]

After some advice, had a lady on phone asking about a catalpa, it lost leaves earlier last year can into leaf this year but a lot of dead wood. 

And it doesn't look good, after some time of explain it could be a lot of things and not committing to anything she said it is in a chicken run area. 

So could this be ground is a little to rich. 

[Logjam]

Need to check for all possibilities but fresh chicken droppings are problematic for a lot of plants. Scorches roots & increases alkalinity so not recommended for plants that prefer acid soils.  https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/chicken-manure 

 

Slightly acid to neutral soil is generally recommended for Catalpa.

 

Chicken runs will typically have bare compacted soil, again not the best for healthy trees.

[peds]

If the chicken droppings are the problem, and she is unwilling or unable to fence the tree off from access, then it might be worth mulching around the tree with woodchip to soak up a load of the nitrogen, then scraping it up and replacing it every 4 months or so. It'd be rocket fuel mulch elsewhere in the garden then.

 

The right kind of companion planting could help too, nitrogen-hungry plants that could be fenced off until established then harvested regularly for compost, like comfrey or nettle, would cut through the richness. Or heavy feeders that could be given as forage for the chickens, like a perennial kale or perpetual spinach. Again, fenced off until established with a loose circle of chicken wire, and access given or plants harvested as needed. 

[woody paul]

Thanks, that's what I've been thinking. Looking at it later this week, she did say on the phone chickens could be moved as garden is big. 

[Logjam]

Not sure that mulch will be very effective. Our four free range hens redistributed the woodchip around our veg patch in a matter of days. They love scratching around in loose material. 

 

[peds]

Yeah they do, which helps knock the woodchip and the droppings about and mix them together. But they aren't going to move all the chip out from under the tree and past the dripline, they'll only toss it around. 

 

If the garden is big big though, and the girls have enough to occupy themselves with elsewhere, it's probably easiest just to fence off the tree until a solution is found and the tree is happy again. 

I put in temporary chicken fence with 6ft lengths of rebar hammered into the ground, threaded through 4ft chicken wire, or clipped to it with a snip of wire or cable ties. Easy to move around. 

 

It's worth doing what I outlined in the post above in a chicken run anyway, if they don't have an acre or more of free ranging. A few fenced off bits provide a haven for plants and creepy crawlies, which in turn keep the foraging options for the girls nice and healthy.

[daveatdave]

hope they have registered the hens with Defra (or whatever they call it now)