un happy oak

[haljam]

Hi

Has anyone any idea what can be done to help this oak? I am not too bothered about the lean, no sign of root plate movement (yet), but the leaves this year (and last) are not forming properly, are discoloured and die back early on some branches. When I visited the site, the surrounding ground was very wet, and ochre coloured water was pooling in the bed at the base of the tree. This is waste water from an old coal mine/tip and probably contaminated with iron?. The lawn has been getting soggy with this water for about 2 years, the same time as the tree started to complain. Used to have bright green vibrant leaves at this time of year (as do other oaks in the same area). With the uneven weight of the tree and saturated ground have we got a failure waiting to happen? , or is the mineral contamination more of a problem

I guess the answer lies in stopping or diverting the water, but wondered what you guys thought? Client not keen on digging up the lawn and ground works. Tree has TPO.

Any advice welcome.

[Paul Cleaver]

two problems I can see - first the flooding issue -established trees don't react well to sudden changes to soil moisture levels that remain continuous - be it dry to wet or wet to dry.

I think high concentration of the chemicals /elements in the waste water is a big issue too.

[sloth]

Why is the water there now, if it hasn't been before, what (on or off site) has changed? Can it be 'un-changed'? As said sudden changes in soil moisture/water table are bad news. Any chance of ground works to divert runoff away from the rooting area? Contamination also a problem, perhaps planting of poplar or alder could help, though not ideal.

[openspaceman]

Why is the water there now, if it hasn't been before, what (on or off site) has changed? Can it be 'un-changed'? As said sudden changes in soil moisture/water table are bad news. Any chance of ground works to divert runoff away from the rooting area? Contamination also a problem, perhaps planting of poplar or alder could help, though not ideal.

 

My thoughts too. It looks like there is a hot tub on the veranda, they tend to get dosed with chemicals and emptied regularly. The chlorine based ones are oxidants so will oxidise iron in the soil from grey ferrous to orange ferric ions (possibly vice versa my chemistry lessons finished 50 years ago).

 

Prevent the rpa being in the drainage path and the tree may recover as a staghead.

 

Engineering solutions come to mind, the FC had some good results on mine tailings with biochar.

[Acg128]

I think the hot tubs a table and chairs