Evergreen Tree dying - Help !

Hi all,

This is my first post here and I wish it was to ask something simple, however I�m stumped (if you pardon the pun).

I noticed this weekend gone that my evergreen tree is looking awful. The leafs have turned bronze, crisped then fallen off. I�ve looked for signs of disease on the leafs and bark, but nothing stands out as being bad. Around the bottom of the tree are tiny branches, some of those leafs are dark green but some others have bronzed and dried up (like they have frozen dry). I�m fairly confident that the tree was fine a week ago, but last Tuesday we did have a very cold day, but it was only cold - no frost.
I don�t actually know the name of my tree, but looking back on pictures of the front of my house in all seasons it is green with plenty of leafs, even when it�s snowed!

To one side of the tree is a Golden privet bush. This too has areas is showing similar symptoms (though not directly next to the tree). The small leafs are appearing to dry out and drop off with no smaller leafs coming through, yet parts of that has dark green and golden. Other than that I have Lavender, Holly, Red Robins, a large passion flower a Conifer and two Silver Birch all within a small area of 5x3 metres of space.

Could it be a case of the privets and Tree needing much more water, or worse still, could the area somehow turned toxic? every year I add feed and mulch to this area to keep it healthy.

Sorry if the question is silly, it�s just that when I moved to this house, the tree was the only thing in the front garden, and I would hate to think I have neglected it.

I do have pictures of both the tree and privets, so if anyone would like to analyze them I�m happy to email them.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks


Greg

 

Upload a pic which would help
Could they have been affected by spray from a weedkiller?

 

Hi Greg welcome to GC. I think rather than emailing pictures individually you will get a better response if you post them on GC. The instructions are here, if you click on it:-

photo instructions

It really is very easy and that way all the real experts can see the problem.

 

Hi Whi4ey and Sarraceniac,

I've not used any weed killer on this area at all.

Here are (I hope) the pictures, thanks for the the photo tip, it's excellent!

This is the tree, as it should look ...



And this is how it looks today...



And this is how my privet bush now looks which is next to the tree, though this only has a few browned off areas.



I thought I'd upload this picture too, because it shows you what the front garden looked like only a matter of weeks ago...



Let me know what you think,

Cheers


Greg

 

Looks pretty drastic Greg,
All seems to have happened suddenly, it looks a bit like a laurel (prunus) to me.
Are you saying that some plants in the same growing area are unaffected but this and the privet are?
If so short of a very very bad attack by some insect or other its difficult to say as to what could be causing the problem.
I assume there are no manholes or similar in the growing area.

 

Ahhh Greg hope your tree recovers.its a lovely tree how sad :( .. DEE

 

Greg
I may not have been you using a weedkiller spray. Spray drift can be lethal
You can easily test for lack of or too much water. You could also have the soil tested for toxicity (is that a word? )
I am at a loss to think of anything else ....

 

Hello Pete,

Actully, the other side of the tree is a Manhole! Oh and I get the odd mole hill too.

The Tree, and two sections of Privet Bush is effected, everything else is fine - which is really really odd.

I was thinking of doing a toxic test - would I get a kit of some kind from a garden centre?

If it was an insect attack - what could I be looking exactly that could do this?

 

The only thing that comes to mind for me is that maybe the tree has rooted into the sewers, or the sewers maybe leaking, but not bad enough to notice.
As to insect attack, I cant really think what could do so much damage. Most insects damage but do not kill a plant.
Are the leaves still firmly attached to the tree, if so I think it may be dead.

 

I've just been out (in the pooring rain) and brought indoors some leaves. Most of the leaves on the tree have fallen off, leaving roughly 30% on it still.

Here is a picture of what they're looking like.



I have to say that they do look like they have been nibbled on. Just thinking about it, I did see a black and red catapiller on my cordy line (potted just infront of the tree yesterday)but didn't think anything of it - could that be my problem? the manhole is a good theory though!

The twig with the leaves on it is dead, and berries too have shrivalled up, though there is some green left on the tree.

For instance, the base of the tree has some healthy green foilage mixed with some bronze.


Greg

 

It appears to be dieing to me Greg. Even the green bits dont look healthy.
I could easily be wrong, have a s c r a p e around the base of the stem and cut into the bark, is it nice and green under the bark?
Better wait until tomorrow and hopefully the rain will have stopped.

 

You could be right Pete :-(, I'll take a closer look tomorrow (when I get home from work).

Thanks for your help.


Greg

 

Seen very similar die back on spotted laurel (acuba. Defoliated and looked poor then most ree buded several months later.

Give it time and hopefully it will come back, if not then take it out. nothing really that can be done especially with a tree.

 

Forget insect attack. They tend to strip the leaves off if its a bad attack unless you had something that attacked the bark and i doubt that. It looks like root damage or...have a look at the base of the trunk, s****e away. Is any sign of fungal attack? Black threads? I am wondering honey fungus. Isn't privet particularly prone?
Another thought you haven't been shovelling any soil around there, put anything against the trunks?

 

You could be right Geoff honey fungus springs to mind or something toxic leaching through the soil, Greg try and find out what was on the land before they built the houses.