Whitebeam woes....

[ChrisF]

We have this whitebeam at the side of the house that seems to get upset every July. It does fine up until then, but around every July it starts dropping its leaves, and not just a few.....about half its leaves are now dropped....it looks like autumn out there! They turn yellow/brown then dry, shrivel and drop. It gets plenty of rain water and how no immediate competition. I can;t see any sign of infection/disease. Another whitebeam in front of the house is doing very well and keeps its leaves till the autumn.

 

Any ideas?

[Wendelspanswick]

More info needed, size/age of tree, how close to the house, what aspect etc. photos would help.

[ChrisF]

More info needed, size/age of tree, how close to the house, what aspect etc. photos would help.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Age - probably about 10-15 years. Was about 12' when we moved here in 2009, now about 30'.

 

Position - on west side, about 10' from house. Doesn't get a great deal of sunlight. Lower half gets very little indeed.

 

Photos attached.

[se7enthdevil]

just my opinion but it's in the dark and way too close to the house with its roots covered up. don't think it's ever going to do well. experts may correct me though

[ChrisF]

Thanks Steve. It is a little dark there but most references suggest it should be ok in shade. Roots are at least 50% clear under well drained and well rain-watered soil. Maybe it's just a temperamental example....

[se7enthdevil]

as i said, an expert will come along at some point and give you the right answer:lol:

[Gary Prentice]

Seeing lots like that, so I think its unlikely to be due to the local environment. I think it's due to a leaf rust/fungus. Initially the leaf is yellow/orange, then brown before abscised and falls off.

[ChrisF]

Thanks for the reply Gary. Only thing that suggests that the local environment might not be the whole cause is the fact that we have another whitebeam about 25' away which is absolutely fine. The poorly one has been like this every year for the last 7 years, the good one's had no problem at all.

 

Having said that your description is spot on.

[Gary Prentice]

I haven't researched this at all and admit I know very little about rusts and how they colonize and reproduce. I don't know if variety or providence is a factor on rates of colonization, maybe some trees are genetically more resistant than others.

 

Any rust experts in the house?

[Rushes]

A tree under stress has little ability to fight back. It's shaded, reduced water and compacted with low oxygen / fungal activity at its roots. It won't do as well.

 

You can try and make it better but it will never have as good conditions as the other tree and will always look poorer, it will die sooner.

 

It's not small, near the house, let it die and put a shrub in.

[Taupotreeman]

We have exactly the same problem here and trees aren't shaded and neither is the ground compacted. With the little bit of research i did I found that the Sorbus were susceptible to both insect damage and fungus. We're going to attack ours with a fungicide and insecticide and see if that works. Happy if someone with a little more knowledge has more info though.