Is this a drill hole?

[growforest]

Hi SallyRZ

It's not the most beautiful tree ever, from the last pics. Be glad it's dead. (Doesn't look like a drill hole to my eyes, and wouldn't have killed it outright by injecting there.) You can have it taken out and replaced with something prettier. And a specimen guaranteed to cheese off your curtain-twitching neighbour. I'm sure there will be many suitable suggestions from the Arb Bretheren.... I might go for pyramid hornbeam, carpinus betulus fastigiata, to kick off.

[cornish wood burner]

Hi Sally Two points about this.

Firstly The more I see of that hole the less it looks like it was made by a drill.

Secondly that is a very small piece of soil in the corner of your drive/ garden. With the wall and fence next to it chances are that there is building waste etc under it which would only affect the deeper rooted things such as your tree and lavender. The tree experts might also have somethig to say about the area available for roots. Smaller plants and weeds would grow on top but probably not if some noxious chemical had been applied. I have had trees/ shrubs and there replacements die after building work

which I can only put down to building residues. As an aside ivy is pretty much hated by gardeners and arborists so I would have thought he was trying to do you a favour.

I'm afraid if I was a member of the jury I would find your neighbour innocent. Sorry if that is not the

answer you were hoping for, but that is my opinion.

[Mortimer Firewood]

Hi Sally Two points about this.

Firstly The more I see of that hole the less it looks like it was made by a drill.

Secondly that is a very small piece of soil in the corner of your drive/ garden. With the wall and fence next to it chances are that there is building waste etc under it which would only affect the deeper rooted things such as your tree and lavender. The tree experts might also have somethig to say about the area available for roots. Smaller plants and weeds would grow on top but probably not if some noxious chemical had been applied. I have had trees/ shrubs and there replacements die after building work

which I can only put down to building residues. As an aside ivy is pretty much hated by gardeners and arborists so I would have thought he was trying to do you a favour.

I'm afraid if I was a member of the jury I would find your neighbour innocent. Sorry if that is not the

answer you were hoping for, but that is my opinion.

 

Im with Cornish on this one why drill when you could just kill by soaking roots

[SallyRZ]

I love the suggestions for a huge replacement tree! My hope was that ultimately you would say it wasn't a drill hole, and from what has been said there's now enough doubt there for me to worry about it a lot less. Cornish wood burner, I do see what you are saying but the building work (2007) came not after but before the tree (and the lavender too), which appeared by itself maybe a year or so later and then lasted for several years until it died suddenly, so that's why I'm not sure that whatever rubble etc may have been left beneath the soil can have caused that to happen (and I do appreciate your point about the ivy too - it's just the way the neighbour attempted to deal with it that was so wrong). Growforest, agreed, it's not a very lovely tree, especially now it's dead...so with that and everything else that's been said, I realise it's now time to move on and think of a practical way to use that undersized patch of soil. I'll dig it over first to see what's under there and also do a test planting to see if anything decent can still live there. Once again, very many thanks for all your wise comments and advice.