22
In "The Garden Primer" (Damrosch), p 422:
Apple borers can also kill the tree outright just by tenneling in through the trunk [...] Painting the trunk with white latex paint diluted to 50 percent will make it easier to spot the sawdust residue produced by the larvae's tunneling.
Similar advice is in the Fedco Trees catalog; they suggest mixing white ...
17
These look like the tree lichens that are growing on my own trees. A lichen is a composite organism where by a fungus lives together with an algae in a symbiotic relationship. They don't hurt the tree, and are more commonly seen on the bark of older trees where the bark is not constantly being shed and regrown. So, it may also be an indicator of poor health ...
15
Lichens are considered to be neutral to tree health. They are not symbiotes or parasites. They just hang around..... ;)
However a tree in poor health may not be able to grow new bark faster than lichens can encrust it. Normally no control measures are necessary for lichen. Stimulating the tree by feeding, mulching, watering and applying a foliar feed ...
14
when trees are painted white from bottom up to a certain level of the trunk it is called white washing or winter washing. the practice is most common in countries where real winters occur but not exclusively there. it's an effective method of reducing reinfestation of borers etc that either hide in trunk bark to overwinter or overwintering in soil to crawl ...
14
Should all trees be staked when they are planted?
First, you have to find out Why people stake trees. What benefits are there to staking young trees? In nature, trees can germinate, grow, and mature without being staked. Here are some reasons why young trees are often staked:
Promoted wind resistance: Anchor staking is useful in newly planted trees, ...
13
I live a long ways from Northern California but these symptoms are the same for citrus grown anywhere in the world when the soil is alkaline. There are some great pictures here.
The most likely cause is a manganese deficiency
Leaves turn yellowish overall but larger veins remain slightly green
where manganese is deficient. Zinc deficiency symptoms are ...
11
Alex Shigo pioneered the research which has shown that anything that covers a pruning cut works against the natural habits trees have to wall off injury. His works (Shigo, A. L., 1982 Tree Health in the Journal of Arboriculture 8 (12) and a New Tree Biology 1986 helped to show arborists a more effective way to prune.
The basic idea is that trees seal off ...
11
Consult a tree surgeon. If you want to save it, it might be possible to cable the top parts (not "tie a rope around") to keep it from spreading wider. Depending on the decay of the trunk, this might or might not make any sense to do.
Image from "ask this old house" website at:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,1597909,00.html
10
It's probably very hard to tell simply by looking at a tree, that otherwise shows no obvious indications of being weak, but here are a few things to watch out for:
I would be very skeptical of a tree that is perfectly straight (yours seems to be that way). It is a pretty good indication that the person who planted it trained it to grow straight by staking ...
10
Yes, heavy shade is fine. In fact, it may be better, because the pile will dry out slower.
The compost and its leachates will be good for the tree. I don't know about apples in particular, but the tree will grow roots up into the compost, and you'll need to keep cutting them. On balance, it still should be good for the tree. It's a minor nuisance. Don't ...
10
Improper pruning can shorten a tree's life. However you would have to work really hard to damage a willow with bad pruning. Here's why:
Willows grow fast
they will bud from old wood, even really old wood
they are a messy tree, commonly dropping leaves and branches
they are used to breaks or cuts in the branch structure
willows have been coppiced for ...
10
Time and flies will take care of the problem with you, if you can wait a couple of weeks.
10
First, your Acer is not dying, it's just very unhappy. This is a common problem on Acer palmatum varieties here in the UK- usually, the cause is wind, that is, you've placed the plant in a spot which isn't sheltered enough. They hate windy areas, and they don't like hot midday sun in high summer either. What they do like is dappled sunlight, or morning sun, ...
10
Etiolation, or insufficient light strength, is a partial explanation - this tree is deciduous and normally would be dormant at this time of year. However, the process of thigmomorphogenesis is also missing. Thigmomorphogenesis refers to movement - when a plant is outside, particularly one with a tall, woody stem, it will be exposed to air movement. That air ...
10
Apple trees do well in clay. There are a few things you could do different next time:
do not put stones or other soil amendments in the bottom of the hole. If the planting hole has reached the clay sub soil or pan then plant it high or "proud" as described here.
The addition of organic matter provides little or no advantage to the
planting hole in ...
10
I had a large (massive) Elm tree that had all the roots on one side cut about 6 feet from the tree due to an idiot plumber running a sewer pipe. This was a deep trench, too.
I used an in-ground water injector to pump root stimulator into the soil all around the tree base. I went around with a hose and penetrated the ground around the tree about 20 feet ...
10
When you say 'recent', if that means within the last year, the only thing you need to do is keep it well watered during dry spells for its first 2-3 years. Hopefully you dug the soil over well and added organic composted materials prior to planting - if you didn't, you could mulch round the bottom of the tree with something like composted animal manure this ...
9
There are a few common issues with citrus grown indoors.
I have seen them get 5 or 6 feet tall indoors, we are talking a plant that wants to be a tree!
If it gets enough light indoors normally the environment is dry enough to encourage spider mites. Seeing your citrus webbed by mites is not a pleasant sight. Higher humidity discourages mites. Soap and ...
9
I'm not bothering to identify the tree - what I'm seeing in the pictures is a tree with bacterial canker in its main trunk. I'd have it removed before it becomes a risk to the property or people when it gets rotten enough to fall down in a strong wind. Be good to have the roots bored out too.
If you don't want to do that straight away, then you could call a ...
9
Of the eight pictures only the third picture shows a cedar that will look good. The rest are either dead or so badly damaged it would take years before they looked good.
This kind of dieback is often seen when they are not adequately watered after planting or when stock is planted late in the fall and doesn't have a chance to root before winter.
...
9
You cannot 'save' the branch if it has completely separated from the plant. This is possible only if the branch is still connected by a strip of bark (and cambium). It is possible to graft a severed shoot onto a woody plant like this, but this requires some well-practiced skill as well as some luck. It may also possible to root the broken stems, but this ...
9
Looks like an elm of some kind. I am unsure of the specific variety, but I will say that Zelkova serrata (white bark Chinese elm) is a popular bonsai species. I understand that some elms will behave as an evergreen indoors, but generally they will drop leaves in response to shortened daylight hours (I keep mine outdoors and they seem to drop leaves primarily ...
9
You definitely need to do some pruning. Before you start pruning a tree, you should find all of the graft points. Since you have multi-graft trees, there should be one graft at the point where each main branch comes off of the trunk. As you are pruning, keep in mind that if you cut a grafted branch off or cut it back so close to this graft that it will have ...
9
As Graham says they are lichen and moss. A tree will commonly live in a symbiotic relationship with millions of macro and micro-scopic organisms. In tropical and temperate rain forests overgrowth on the the bark is very common.
I cannot find any research which indicates that they harm the tree in any way at any age as these publications indicate.
That ...
9
Yes, a professional arborist could save the tree using cabling and bolts as the practical Ecnerwal illustrates. This would be something you would do as soon as possible. It appears that the two halves are held together by little more than bark. This tree would now be classed as a physical hazard to you and anything close to it.
If you did choose cabling ...
9
Oh my goodness. Do you understand the treasure you have? Find a master pruner to create a covered walkway! How wonderful. If you destroy this tree I will haunt you when I am dead! (Grins). That tree should not be getting taller at all. Weeping trees are two trees grafted together; a prostrate variety of the same species grafted on top of an upright ...
9
Moss will not harm the tree! Good news indeed because the forests around here would be in BIG trouble! Moss does not have true roots - their "roots" are just for the purpose anchoring themselves to things like trees, rocks and whatever really. The "roots" don't penetrate the tree or steal any nutrients or water from the tree. Leave the moss, and the ...
8
You might try sanding the soil..kinda like pounding spike holes into the ground and adding sand into the holes..pound at least 100 holes for a tree this size down at least 3ft with a metal spike .. fill in with fine sand..and maybe some fertilizer (kinda like a fertilizer spike with sand setup). I would use osmocote type to make sure it is released slowly. ...
8
There is lots of info online concerning growing citrus indoors. I know grapefruit trees get pretty big and so may be a challenge to keep indoors after a few years but you're not at a point to worry about this yet.
There are the basics to make sure are in place: keep your trees watered but make sure the pots have good drainage and offer room for the roots ...
8
No, I'm afraid not. The vast majority of conifers do not regenerate on dead parts, they simply continue to grow at the tips and top of the plant. Your tree has bare branches at the base and it will remain that way - planted outside in a garden, the bare parts wouldn't be noticeable as the tree got larger, but they'd still be there.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
