Half dead willow

[AardvarkTreeServices]

Went to see a half dead willow recently thats got fresh shoots on most of the limbs of 3" or bigger, but all the tips of the tree have died off. The trees on a bank held up by a retaining wall and the wall was repaired two years ago. When the wall repair was done a a section of ground about 6 foot from the tree was dug out while the wall was rebuilt. I assumed that the roots in this area were severed. Since the work the tree has struggled to come into leaf and is now dead at the extremities

 

Looking at the area that was excavated I reckon at least 25% of the roots will have been removed- could this have caused the branch ends to die off?

 

If the dead ends are removed is the tree likely to recover as the roots regrow?

 

As the customer desparately wants to keep the tree, any advice on the possible cause and remedy would be very welcome

[Paul Barton]

Hard to say, but it sounds like if you give it a fairly hard reduction it should put on some new growth as it is already doing so lower down. Perhaps go for a pollard if stability could be an issue after sever root severance.

[redmoosefaction]

Sounds like root tip damage.. as above pollard.. it's a willow.. It's do or die

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

i wouldnt say you need to pollard, reduce it yes but if they like the tree a rduction to about three fet below dead zone would probably suffice. Sounds as though the tree has compensated for the loss well enough and will develope new roots, tough as boots the willow

[AardvarkTreeServices]

Thanks for the comments. I guess they'll just have to wait and see if it picks up over time after a bit of a hair cut.

[Mozza]

Pollard gets my vote