jeffpas

Love how Google tells you to prune the dead branches off, and never prune them off lol

Well, as a Juniper bush, I think its Chinensis... not 100% sure...... but if so says its max height is only 10 feet? I mean yes I did notice those buds are coming in now, not everywhere, just in a few places. I don't see it growing into a pyramidal shape again, at best its going to be an upside-down triangle. Or will the new "branches" grow faster than the ones on top? To make things more difficult, I had already picked up this great Blue Point Juniper replacement, which has been sitting in a pot the last couple days while I decide what to do. Its only a couple feet tall though, and the old one will be a bear to take out. .... idk

This was a great "tree", in the front yard which had acquired spider mites last year. In my wisdom I sprayed it with Neem Oil, which even though it says nothing on the bottle, which was labeled "Safe and All Natural", apparently works like acid on Junipers. The result was the mites got under control, but the entire tree browned out. The following Spring I began giving it regular waterings and fertilizer, just to see if there was any hope. As you can see, here we are in early June. The tree is clearly not dead, and if you look at the pictures, there are sprouts here and there, as well as growth at the tips on some branches. What I can't decide is... is this tree ever going to look normal again? None of the branches are brittle, they bend- which I have always understood as a sign that they are still alive. But even with the sprouts on the base, I can hardly see this ever "catching back up" and having a natural shape. I've heard of the theory of cutting off all the seemingly dead branches, to spur growth, but then I'd be left with a stick with tufts. Is quite a large plant, 10 feet high and established roots, I hate to dig it out and replace it. It will take years for another to reach this size. But maybe this is just hoping for too much. Take it out and replace? Leave it?? WWYD?

My feeling is that it is delayed post move shock (certainly understandable given how hard it was to pull out and move) and at the moment that it is now recovering. This tree was just barely small enough to dig out and move, its about 7 feet tall. But it couldn't stay where it was. I am confused though because the soil feels wet in the 'holes' of the plastic circle, and a moisture meter shows a '10' further down. Apparently the soil is very wet below the root ball, so my inclination is to leave it alone. At any rate, rain for the next few days so that debate at least now is moot. I wish I knew what kind of tree this is, as I said I bought 4 on clearance. The two I originally planted in full sun at a different house are very cool looking now, nothing like they did in the pots. They have sweeping arms that look rather prehistoric. My attempt to keep the two at my house the same height when they were porch sentinels resulted in me cutting off the top leader at one point on this one which of course failed, which is why you see the crick in the middle. I still have a 4th, its porch companion which is badly hunkered due to it being on the heavily shaded side of the porch, about 1/2 the size of this one. That one I pulled out and is in a pot, and appears to be doing fine at the moment. Although its still sitting under a large tree, in about the same shaded location. Might give it to a neighbor.

I don't know exactly what type of tree these are, but they are Norway Spruce-ish and I planted one on each side of the porch last year. Due to differences in shade, one soon grew 1.5x the size of the other, making it look ridiculous from the street. So, I had to pull them out. After hades-like work in the tropical Midwest summer heat, I got a good chunk of root ball about a foot deep, and moved the big one further out into the yard. All well and good. Its kept straight without any staking, and we're about two weeks in. Except for the browning. The tree has started browning, all on the TIPS. The brown is working its way gradually down, but the bases of each needle stalk still are green. Which brings us to the endless gameshow question in plant care. Does it need water.... or is it overwatered? It certainly got some good dousings for awhile after planting. Also for mowing sake I added a 2 ft wide plastic circle ring around the tree base, which was flat plastic but had a ring of punch holes in it for drainage. This was meant to hold river rock, which I added. Looks great. Except for the apparently dying tree. My lingering thought is that somehow the ring is not allowing the ground underneath to breathe, and root rot is setting in. But then, why would the national hardware chain sell them with said instructions, if they killed trees? The soil underneath feels moist, and when poking a moisture meter in, it reads moist, perhaps even 10 (very moist) further down. So, no further waterings have occurred for about a week now, and the ground has stayed moist. I'm inclined to say leave it alone, but rain is forecasted the next 3 or 4 days. Got me, I have no idea.

I want to point out this page: Tell-Tale Signs of a Tree on the Brink | Oliver Arbor Care - Professional Tree Care in Bend and Central Oregon in #2 it talks about a curved trunk or 'self corrected lean'. Now, looking up at this tree it does have a pronounced curve and its center leader goes back straight again, in fact it even goes a bit in the other direction. Albeit, its much less in diameter at that point. Aside from other branches which go out in all directions. You can kind of see that in picture #4. Thats what makes it tempting to cut off the side branches on the lean side, but then you'd seemingly be left with a towering telephone pole. Or there's the possiblity of chaining or roping the two trees together- there are two, side by side, leaning away from each other as they were too close to begin with. That would not be aesthetically pleasing, which I'm not as concerned about but would that really work?

Trying to get another photo. The tree is so big for a yard this size, I can't get the whole thing in one picture.

This is a black locust tree, at least I suspect... that grew up volunteer in the backyard, and it grew fast. There are actually two, a little too close together at this size and they have been leaning apart from each other as trees are apt to do in this situation. They are VERY tall now, towering height both of them. I had no idea they would grow this fast or so big. However, this one has a pronounced lean, and its toward my house and the neighbors'. To make matters worse, it has some kind of injury right where I would not want it to be. We think (after discussing with an arborist once) from a lawn mower at a young age. As you can see, the injury has two large taproots, thankfully, which appear to give it additional support. Other than this, the tree appears healthy and is fully leafed, if not growing even taller. A couple people have come out to look at the tree over the years. A tree cutter claimed this type of tree has a very deep tap root and not to worry about it, he said this tree (in his experience) never falls down. An arborist also looked at the tree, he was the one who pulled the bark off exposing the wound. He seemed to think it was better for the tree with it not being covered. Yes, I'd take it down, but we're looking at $1200 estimate and I'm out of work currently. Not to mention killing the tree, which I hate to do unnecessarily. Okay, so on to today. I'm in the backyard and I notice on the far side (away from the lean) the earth rises up a bit to the base, and some odd cracks in the ground, that seem not to be elsewhere in the yard Is this a sign the tree is working its way toward falling? Or am I being paranoid. Would appreciate feedback, and I can take more pics if needed, thanks!

I'm not sure what you mean by that question. The hibiscus trees haven't had a chance to self seed, as they have not been in the ground long enough for their flowers to produce this years crop of seeds. I'm sure they will self seed given the opportunity. I mentioned a locust tree in another post, there are constantly locust seedlings and maples cropping up everywhere. The locust in particular are quite weedy and grow extremely fast. I hope you're not working toward another "Give up, your yard isn't for hibiscus trees". I have to say I'm a little surprised at this forum, it seems people here have little enthusiasm to take on even small gardening challenges lol. Buck up campers, hang in there! Every yard is a winner

Dismissing all negativity. "Give up" is not helpful to me, or anyone else reading these threads. I found this video interesting. The leaf curl looks a lot like my tree. Calcium deficiency? But then I'm not seeing why it would strike one tree and not the other four nearby, which I've already said several times are healthy, thriving, and doing great. [ame] [/ame] There is a product called "Ironite", which is a mineral supplement I'm suspecting may be helpful here- however the gamble would be that it isn't any kind of contagious issue. Its complicated by the fact that as he said in the video, the original curly leaves would not straighten out with the fertilizer so it would take quite a bit longer to see if this makes a difference.

I should add that these are all hybrid Hibiscus trees and they are zone 5 cold hardy. They were planted last fall. I don't have any tropicals though I know those do have more showy flowers. Can flies affect all the tips of all the branches? Every one of them the leaves are small and curled like that. I'm afraid this is something contagious..... I will have to pull this tree out if I can't find an answer I can't afford to have the rest get whatever this is. Too bad its so dang diffcult to match even with that nice reference page Hidden Valley Hibsicus provided. As far as getting them into the sun, just not an option. I have large white pines that would cost $1200- $2000 to remove and the neighbors have extremely tall locust trees, so there is a canopy. I know its not ideal, but I have no choice. When you have a postage stamp yard, its a Vote for Hillary situation. Personally I would like to have hibiscus trees as opposed to never having them. Luckily the other four are doing quite well and flowering also.

Dieback disease is the only thing I can guess from checking these pictures Hidden Valley Hibiscus - Hibiscus Doctor

@Pinkfoot, if I had taken those plants and potted them, buried the pots in the ground and watered them with a hose pipe, the water would go right down and pool at the roots and drown them. The sides of the pot would keep them from getting oxygen and rot them further. And then even if it lived, the tree would be cramped in a pot. Why would I want to do that? I'm not understanding. Also, what is the advantage of slowly moving into bigger pots? Tree seedlings sprout outside wild all the time in the wide open ground and don't need pot exchanges. One would think a seedling of practically any size could go direct into a yard and go from there.

This isn't the same tree as the other thread. Sorry its a bit confusing I know. This is one of a few hibiscus trees I bought from a nursery last fall at a clearance sale. They were about 4 feet high and all of them are doing fine except this one, which has some kind of fungus, wilt disease or dieback going on. The issue I'm facing now is, is it contagious? The other post involves some hibiscus trees I later tried to grow from seeds, always a difficult prospect. They were doing fine until we had a freak stretch of 90 degree temps and no rain for weeks, leaving the watering up to my guesswork. My guess is that I drowned them, rotting their roots.

Both dead I didn't want to risk the trauma of uprooting them, but seems my gamble went bad. Well, ceste la vie.

Planted a small 'grove' of hibiscus trees- about 5 that I got on sale last fall. One of them looks odd (see pics). This year it has not produced one flower. Although it put out leaves, the leaves at all the twig ends are small and curled. Its been this way all year unchanged, and hasn't grown an inch taller. I have no idea what this is, does anyone? My thinking is to pull this tree out and discard it, and replace it with a new one because I would be afraid whatever it has, would spread to the rest. Or is that overkill, literally. Anyone have any thoughts?

But I don't want to give up... and these are full sized trees I can't grow them in pots.....

When you say surrounded, you think the ivy is sucking up all the water when it is watered? I'm wondering if digging them up at this stage and changing things will traumatize them when they are already on death's door. They're completely unrecognizeable at this point. They used to have rather large leaves somewhat rounded. Repot, and leave them outside? They were grown from seed indoors under a lamp.

Not sure why the pictures loaded in sideways. They are right side up when I open them. Well, you'll have to turn your head unfortunately, lol.

Well these trees have been grown from seed- something I've never been successful at doing (has taken about 4 months altogether). Unfortunately for me, we have had a freak drought this year and roasting oven temperatures in the mid 90s. Its been absolutely bizarre, the heat seems to suck the soil bone dry in less than 24 hours. The yard is brown and even fully grown trees are starting to yellow, something I have never seen this time of year. Although as you can see here, the ground ivy seems OK. Back to the baby hibiscus trees. They were both doing quite well, up to about 12" tall, and I've been giving each a bucket of water when they droop, which brought them back within a few hours. Seems simple enough. Evidently, they needed water. But then inevitably this happened and that, a few baking days and watering missed... and severe wilt and droop set in. First one, then the other. Watering does not seem to bring them back. I'm now absolutely lost as to whether I am overwatering, or underwatering as the regular rules don't seem to apply anymore. Here are the pics. The sticks are to keep the dogs and yard creatures from stomping over the trees, yes its happened in the past but they luckily recovered. You may notice one of them appears to have new leaves coming in, but again not sure what to do. There are water bugs around the roots, and maybe a bit of a rot smell, but then when I dug down a bit it near the tree root it seems the soil is dry. Immediate action is obviously needed at this desparate last stage, but what action??? Lost......

Sorry for the late response. Beardie I think you're right. The trees are not getting enough light and only leaf in the spots where the sun can get in. Unfortunately taking out the nearby giant volunteer trees would run around $2,000 apiece. So its looking like either go with the Halloween look for life or declare defeat, get the saw and start over with some Paw Paws maybe. Bummer, I can't say I could have seen that coming. Live and learn I guess.

Here are the photos, two trees I planted about 7 years ago. They are silver leafed magnolia trees, and were expensive. For the past 3 years or so they have basically looked like this, after what I assume was a hard winter. The trees are both definitely alive, but they look terrible. The 'sun facing' side of the 1st tree looks pretty good, but from the back its completely hollow. They haven't appeared to have really changed at all from year to year- gotten worse or better. As you can see Tree #2 is growing up new shoots from the root, but that's going to take a long time. I don't know what to do with these trees. Stakes and fertilizer, watering seem to make no difference. Its possible that other trees have grown up in the yard since and the bare side is not getting enough light to put out leaves, but not sure. Chopping them down and starting over sounds pretty harsh, but I'm not really into the year-round Halloween skeleton look.

>>> It appears that you are looking for justifications to fell the tree>>> I have to laugh if I gave that impression, because actually its the exact opposite- I'm looking for justifications to NOT cut the tree down. Largely because I've gotten feller quotes of $1200-$1600.00. Yikes. The tree appears healthy all of this is just paranoia of the worst case scenario, the tree falling on the neighbor's house. Which because of its slight lean, I was worried about even before I knew about the wound. It appears the tree grew with the lean deliberately because the yard is small and it was bending away from other nearby trees. Thats the price you pay for a postage stamp sized lawn. Nevertheless I had no idea the tree would get so tall- it grew like a weed and looks tortuously tall and narrow lol. Although it seems to have flared out at the base somewhat at least. I can only assume these trees know what they're doing aka its not going to grow itself so tall it can't stand. It looks like the solution here is pretty much to do nothing, and watch out for fruiting- if it grows mushrooms, time to cut it down. At least that's what I've managed to find online. Let me know if anyone disagrees. Thanks for comments!

Thanks much for the replies. I have since removed the loose bark and have additional pics which may be of use for those interested. About 1/4 the circumference of the tree has the 'heartwood' exposed. There is definitely some fungal infection but it hasn't gotten too deep. The obvious fear is it will progress to heart rot, and/or the wound if it ever closes over- will close up leaving the fungus inside. This would lead I assume to a by-all-appearences fine looking tree ending up with a mushy center and falling on the house one day. Nevertheless, it appears in good health at the moment. I've seen many products sold at the hardware store- fungicide even sold especially for trees- but keep reading online that it 'does no good'. It looks to me like some white rot, or wet rot. Which I understand is bad, but not as bad as dry rot. Also someone mentioned washing with diluted bleach to kill fungus, but I don't think that would work in this case. Any thoughts??? http://oi59.tinypic.com/11b10d4.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/2v00i8o.jpg http://oi62.tinypic.com/9krzih.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/2lubg20.jpg http://oi61.tinypic.com/1viox.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/30bhiqd.jpg

Hi all- I have a black locust tree, at least I am pretty sure that is what it is.... two of them actually which came up volunteer along the fence about 10 years ago. They grew pretty fast, and are now quite tall- trimmed them high above the power wires so they make kind of a canopy. All that is fine. What is not fine, is that one of them has developed the most perplexing of problems. And it couldn't be happening in the worst spot. The tree has a slight lean, and leans over the neighbors house. At least... sort of. I decided this year that maybe I should take the tree out- so then I called a tree cutter who assured me that 1) taking out the tree would be an astounding $1200.00, and that was probably the best price in town and 2) this type of tree practically never falls over, they are very solid and not to worry about it falling over. So I decided to leave it. Then something very weird happened. It seems like the bark is moving away from the tree, on the front side at the base It looks normal, but you can push the bark in about an inch. If you look inside you can see the heartwood which is flat, but white and there are a lot of 'shavings' like toothpicks. I brushed them out for the pictures. I don't see any bugs except there were some very small ants on the tree, after which I put ant poison in the area and they seem to have disappeared. There is also a large round 'root' on one side. I recently asked about this on another site and someone said this is a death sentence, the tree has to come down, it has fungal rot. They said it sustained some damage years ago and the 'root' is the tree trying to grow back over it, and as it grew it pulled the bark away from the tree. However the base is very large- quite a bit larger around than its sister tree next to it (both identical in age) so it seems to be artificially wide. The heartwood as it were seems solid. Why can't the fungus be treated, if this is what it is? Or is it something else, ants, another pest, etc? Thanks much for any input. Pictures (sorry for the rotation... unless the forum fixes it) http://oi59.tinypic.com/33fg4up.jpg http://oi58.tinypic.com/105xycz.jpg http://oi57.tinypic.com/30uqyqt.jpg http://oi57.tinypic.com/1z1wfg1.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/2u58dis.jpg http://oi57.tinypic.com/258468h.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/1yv891.jpg