What is wrong with this tree

Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:05 am

I'm not much of a gardener, I'm wondering if someone can look at these pics and tell me what kind of tree it is and what is wrong with it.
Its leaves have shriveled up.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:04 pm

I don't know what caused it, but it is looking kind of dead. Are there any new green leaves coming? Snap a little twig at the end of a branch. Does it snap easily? Is there any green inside it? If no green, then try scraping the bark on the trunk a little, just gently with a fingernail. Is there any green? If no, then your tree is probably dead. If you can find green growth, then its still alive, though not looking good, and perhaps someone else here will be able to help you help it survive.

It's difficult to know what kind of tree it is, in its current condition.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:07 pm

Found this pic from summer 2009 when the tree was healthy, looking pretty sick today. I wonder what could have happened to it?
Maybe the type can be identified from this.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:17 am

Hard to see the leaves real clearly, but it looks like possibly a plum tree.

Did you do the tests? What do you think about whether the tree is still green inside?

Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:41 am

Snapped a branch near bottom of trunk, seems dry and brittle, no green. However scraping the trunk reveals it is moist and green.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:38 pm

agreed - maybe plum...maybe crabapple.

are there as many suckers coming from the bottom of that thing as it looks? and where on the trunk are you finding green? I'm wondering if that main trunk got girdled by a borer of some sort, down where it was protected by all the other growth. the higher you're seeing green on the trunk, though, the less likely that's your answer... also, in general, leaving suckers to grow around the base (especially on a grafted tree) can weaken a tree, since the roots are sending up their own top-growth...and the more they send up, the more they feel they can let the main trunk die, since the roots are finally getting a chance to have their genetics expressed.

kind of weird way of explaining that - hope it helps.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:07 pm

Thanks a lot for answering.
The green is about 3-4 feet from the ground.
Good call on the borers.
I cleared the weeds away from the trunk and found that something had bored holes near the base of the trunk.
In the first pic you can see a branch that I snapped off. It was dry, brittle and hollow.
There is new growth at the base that looks healthy.
What should I do?
Thanks again

Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:28 pm

I would hazard a guess that as it looks very much like a member of the stone fruit family that it has suffered an attatck of Bacterial Canker.
Once this is in the tree the end will always be very swift.

There can be a year or so of small die backs and then in the space of a few days an apparently fairly healthy tree just gives up the ghost.

If you are going to replace the tree....plant the new one as far from the original site as you can.

Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:23 am

That tree looks done for. I would definitely remove it.
However, I LOVE that hosta in the background. It is huge and beautiful. Do you know how long it has been there? It looks like some sort of species of blue hosta.

Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:49 pm

Not sure how old the Hosta is, I've only lived here for 3 years.
I trimmed it back last year and it exploded with new growth this spring. It seems to want to take over. It just bloomed in the last few days, here is a current pic.

This little guy is in distress too, although there is some new green showing. Can I save it?

This one is a few feet from the little guy.

I was worried about this cherry tree, has some dead branches.

But is seems ok now as it has berries.

Here are a couple of others in the yard, sorry for pic quality.

These just bloomed too, the ants love 'em

Thanks to everyone for the replies!

Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:02 pm

Bottom picture is peony. The ants love the buds, which have some kind of sweet sap. Once the flower is opened like in the picture, the ants usually mostly go away. It is looking happy and healthy.

The second picture is something in the juniper/cedar/arborvitae kind of family. Unfortunately it's probably a goner too. They die in slow motion, stay green for a long time after they are dead. By the time it looks like that, probably can't be saved.