need help. my trees are dying.

[Toadsch]

can anyone help me identify the disease or issue that is killing off my trees. lost one last year and now another is on its way out.







What do I do?

[tomc]

Create a mulch area under the drip edge of your tree. Prune out dead wood. Add supplimental water at the rate of one inch per week, every week it does not rain. If you don't have a way a way to work out what a "one inch watering" is, get a water ring for your tree and fill it at least X 3 per week.

Moss or lichen does not hurt your tree.

[rainbowgardener]

To start with, do you know what kind of trees they are? Where are you located?

Lichen doesn't hurt the tree, but it usually only grows on wounded, dead, decaying wood. So it is an indication that the tree is in trouble.

I don't know if it is the only problem, but I can see lots of holes and chewed up areas in the leaves. Have you tried to find the culprit? If you can't find it in careful inspection in the daytime, come out at night with a flashlight and look again. A number of leaf chewers are only active at night.

[imafan26]

agreed lichen does not hurt the tree but usually means you have a lot of moisture in the air. The tree could use a feeding as well. Most people forget to water and feed their trees once they grow up.

The deadwood needs to be cut out. It looks like it was two trees planted together? The trunks have fused. It could use some selective pruning to improve the shape but if you don't know how to do that, and the tree is valuable to you, I would ask around.
The wounds in the tree are the bigger problem as they will let water and bugs in and that is what will do damage to the wood in the tree..

[Toadsch]

I think it is a crabapple. The tree was here when we bought the house so I'm not positive on that. The tree gets watered by the irrigation system which has an organic fertilizer in-line. I am planning on removing the dead branches, and spraying it with something for insects. Anything else I should do?

I'm located in Massachusetts.

[rainbowgardener]

Have you checked the soil to see if the irrigation system is set right? The soil around your tree looks dry. I have never used an irrigation system. My way of watering trees with the hose is to water very thoroughly / deeply until the the soil is moistened at least 6" deep and then not water again for awhile. That encourages deep roots, which draw nutrients from a bigger volume of soil and stay cool and protected. If your irrigation system just does a little bit of water frequently, that may not be good for the tree.

[Toadsch]

The irrigation is mainly for the lawn and is set for 15 minutes per zone every other day.

[rainbowgardener]

That doesn't sound right to me, but I have limited fruit tree experience and zero irrigation system experience, so what do I know? I posted a question about it with a link to this thread, in our Fruit Tree forum. We have some very expert people that hang out there including a professional orchardist, so hopefully we can get a better answer for you.

see https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 20&t=68689

In the meantime your tree would benefit from being weeded around it, then given a good layer of wood chip mulch. That may or may not have anything to do with the problem, it is just good tree care. What I meant by checking the soil is to dig down and see how far down it is dry or moist. That will help you know if it is getting sufficient water.

[Toadsch]

Thank you for the help. I'll look into the watering and check out the other thread. This tree is next to a pear tree so I'm hoping it's not contagious.

[imafan26]

Trees do better with deep watering and usually fertilizing twice a year for a fruiting tree. Once in the spring and again in the fall. Ideally you want a root feeder all around the dripline of the tree. 15 minutes every couple of days is not good for the grass or the tree. You should actually put down an inch a week. To test that. Put out tuna cans at 2 foot intervals going out from the sprinkler head. they will fill at different rates. You want to know how log it takes to fill the cans with water. When the cans are full you have given it approximately one inch. I divide the time by 2 and water twice a week for half the time.

[HoneyBerry]

Toadsch wrote: "The tree gets watered by the irrigation system which has an organic fertilizer in-line."

I think you should find out exactly what the in-line fertilizer is. If it is for lawns, it might not be good for trees. Even worse, there could be weedkiller chemicals mixed in with the fertilizer. I learned about this recently because I was trying to use up some old lawn fertilizers that I had in the garage. The grass you have there doesn't exactly look like lawn, but who knows what the in-line feetilizer is. Better find out.

[Toadsch]

https://ezfloinjection.com/

This is the inline fertilizer. Not sure exactly which ones are added but will try to find out. I know it's a mixture of pest control and fertilizer though.

We're currently in the process of improving our lawn. We had several large pine trees removed and weeds took over in the area. Recently hired a lawn fertilizer company to fertilize as well as aerate and overseed.

I'm definitely going to put a 2' mulch ring around the tree though just to help.

[ButterflyLady29]

My opinion is that the tree can't be saved. There is an awful lot of damage on the trunk.

[HoneyBerry]

I took a quick look at that website. The product descriptions are vague regarding ingredients. The disclaimer at the bottom of the product pages that I looked at state that the products are not certified for organic food production. I would look into the specifics for the fertilizer products if I were you.

[rainbowgardener]

Did you check the other thread I started? JONA, the orchardist responded and suggested the problem is a canker disease. Read the response for management suggestions.