I have a young Bald Cypress tree- about 10 feet tall. It has struggled but was putting out new leaves as spring settled. I went on vacation for two and half weeks and returned to find the leaves brown and limp. I scraped the trunk and it is slightly wet but brown, no green under layer.
I have a spinkler system that was functioning while I was gone so I don't think it died from lack of water. The only other event that happened was my lawn service. There were a few weeds growing out of the mulch bed with the tree and they are all dead as well. My thoughts are that they applied too much herbicide to the area and killed the weak tree as well as the weeds. Is that even possible?
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
That is definately a possibility. Sudden Oak death is a fungal infection so that may have been your problem as well.
You have no green cambium layer because it has already decayed.
Another note: Use of herbicides kills plants, bacteria, protozoa and fungi. They may also kill animal life. The broadbased use of herbicides in North America has also led the thinning of bird eggshells such that they break when the mothers sit on them.
Anyway, my point is that herbicides and organisms exist in an arms race and what we end up doing when we use these products is killing both pathogenic and beneficial organisms. We artificially select for organisms that are resistant to these herbicides, fungicides and so on. What happens is that in our yards we end up breeding these organisms.
So, this may have been a contributing factor to what happend to your tree as well.
Hope you can find a nice tree to replace you first one,
good luck!
You have no green cambium layer because it has already decayed.
Another note: Use of herbicides kills plants, bacteria, protozoa and fungi. They may also kill animal life. The broadbased use of herbicides in North America has also led the thinning of bird eggshells such that they break when the mothers sit on them.
Anyway, my point is that herbicides and organisms exist in an arms race and what we end up doing when we use these products is killing both pathogenic and beneficial organisms. We artificially select for organisms that are resistant to these herbicides, fungicides and so on. What happens is that in our yards we end up breeding these organisms.
So, this may have been a contributing factor to what happend to your tree as well.
Hope you can find a nice tree to replace you first one,
good luck!