Malicious Oak Poisoning

[felixthelogchopper]

Could you not try and wash out whatever chemical has been out down then give it a good mulching? When I was in collage their was a yew that was looking pretty ropey, we watered it with sugar water then mulched and it came back well. From what I remember the thinking behind the sugar water was kind of like an energy kick for the tree.

 

 

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Same as molasses in water

[Essex arborist]

Could you not try and wash out whatever chemical has been out down then give it a good mulching? When I was in collage their was a yew that was looking pretty ropey, we watered it with sugar water then mulched and it came back well. From what I remember the thinking behind the sugar water was kind of like an energy kick for the tree.

 

 

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I've done this with younger trees with success but my concern is this is the second year of chemical attack on a mature oak so unlikely to succeed but could be worth a go if client prepared to pay.

[edwood]

Give it a red hot crack, worse that can happen is the tree will die. I love projects like this, make sure if you do go for it you stick some pictures up!

 

 

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[countrryboy]

U could set up a stealth camera, desgined for wildlife etc. Motion activated and most can work at night. Get them for about 100ish quid now.

 

Could use them for security on log piles etc if u suspect someone nicking stuff in the middle of nowhere.

[agg221]

Do you have any pictures? It would be very useful to see where the foliage has died. If it's low down and all around it suggests contact. If it's more general but the grass is dead then it suggests root uptake (this may also show damage to the leaves in 'columns'). If it is the latter, I think Tim's suggestion is highly likely - it almost certainly has to be something you can easily buy as a member of the public.

 

I suspect it won't be a true systemic ground-penetrating herbicide as these are now very hard to get hold of.

 

Injecting paraffin won't do much - it's pretty benign, won't be taken up well and will tend to just wash out. There are some very effective herbicides (e.g. Garlon) which are made up in diesel.

 

If it's Garlon or equivalent then yes, the tree has had it, but I suspect not. Trees are very resilient. If it is salt then you can buy a salt testing kit from ebay for less than a fiver - take a soil sample that fills a litre bottle, add water to saturate, pour off water and test. If it is salt then digging away the topsoil (airspade?) where the grass has been killed, then replacing with fresh, applying a couple of layers of cardboard and then mulch over the top with chippings from something from the rosaceae family (e.g. plum, cherry etc) and watering with a sugar solution, then making sure the soil doesn't dry out if we have a dry summer is probably about as much as you can do.

 

Alec

[Peasgood]

Tell the neighbours the tree is unfortunately dying and to mourn its loss you will be planting 10 leylandii in its place.

[Gary Prentice]

This may help.

 

Excuse the highlighting.

SOIL INJECTIONS OF SUGARS IMPROVE ROOT GROWTH OF ESTABLISHED URBAN TREES.pdf

[treesrus]

had a customer who's rowan had suddenly died, it was between hers and the neighbours house, next to the fence. when we took out the trunk, lo and behold, a finger sized hole in the trunk and a corresponding hole in the fence. of course the neighbours knew nothing about it.

[Essex arborist]

This may help.

 

Excuse the highlighting.

 

Can't open file?

[Essex arborist]

I'm going to visit the client next week so will try and take some pics.

 

Thanks for Feedback so far.