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blobby3

Something wrong with my tree!

blobby3
10 years ago

Hi There

I am hoping someone can help. I am based in Watford just North of London, UK. I have a large tree at the end of the garden which I think is a Cypress of some kind. Its quite old and has been topped a couple of times as far as I know.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I have noticed some of the needles going yellowish and then brown. The tree sits in the corner of my garden and therefore only about 1/4 of the roots also sit in my garden (the other 3/4 sit in two neighbours gardens), On my part, although the UK has had a very dry summer, the roots that sit in my garden are covered by lawn which I have kept well watered throughout so I don't think its necessarily drought although can't speak for the parts that sit in neighbours gardens. I do fertilise the lawn and the previous owner did not but I am using a basic nitrate based fertiliser for that.

I have posted some pictures to show the problem and would appreciate it if someone with some expertise could help identify what the problem might be. I really don't want to lose the tree as its a beauty and losing it would totally change the garden.

Many thanks in advance!

Nic

Comments (10)

  • BobtheArborist
    10 years ago

    At first glance this looks more like a cedar than a cypress.
    Most common stresses for cedar are hot weather and lack of water. Not good that grass is growing over the roots at its base - the grass competes for the nutrients the tree needs and you should have a mulched area under any tree, ideally out to the drip line. Also might be a seasonal response. Ultimately, if watering and moving some of the grass away doesn't fix you should get a soil test checked at a lab to see what major and minor nutrients are deficient and replace them. Also to check the pH. Cedars like neutral soils between 5.5 (slightly acidic) to 7.5 (very slightly alkaline) Best, Bob :-)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    need an UPRIGHT pic of the whole tree ...

    no matter what you do.. you have no ability to perfect 75% of its root zone... your neighbor is probably killing it somehow ....

    get rid of it...its time for change ...

    its a conifer... but also a tree ... NEVER prune it like a tree...

    ken

  • florauk
    10 years ago

    I'm no good on conifers but the most likely candidate in a UK garden is Cupressus x leylandii. How tall is it? A picture of the whole tree would help diagnosis.

    There is fairly widespread dislike of 'Leylandii' among many gardeners here because of the rapidity with which they outgrow our tiny gardens and start to impinge on the neighbours' light and ground moisture. I'm not suggesting your neighbours are doing anything to your tree but just noting that they may not like it as much as you do.

    Ken - they're regularly topped here and cut into hedges. It's when people stop cutting them back the neighbourhood vendettas start.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Leylandii

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    One of the upright forms of Lawson cypress, maybe 'Alumii'. Condition is probably pathogenic, root rot for instance is prevalent on this species here - although when I was in Britain during the 1990s the tree was highly prevalent, without the scattering of dying ones seen in my region. Otherwise summer drought might cause it to lose some outer branches here and there.

    You probably won't be able to pin this down showing a picture to people on the internet - better to seek local guidance at a good independent garden center or other horticultural information source. Over here we have the Cooperative Extension Service network, maybe there you have comparable services from the appropriate Ministry.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    if i see.. what i think i see.. 75% brown/yellowing.. it is dying..

    i suggested MAYBE the neighbor is doing something over there... not even on purpose ..... my point was that the root mass could be 3 allotments over.. bob suggests a soil test.. ph adjusting.. etc...

    i picture a 3 meter square large british garden.. i dont care what the soil is in a tiny yard.. the trees roots are half way down the street .... that is what i am trying to suggest ....

    to suggest that if he/she... does a small mystical 3 meter square dance.. in his/her own space.. and the thing will magically recover is nonsense ... it may.. but it may not ....

    we need to see the whole.. and get some real facts ...

    ken

  • florauk
    10 years ago

    bboy, I wasn't clear whether this was another of the usual wrong side up pictures. Initially I thought it was an upright tree. But by clicking on the picture and turning it around I thought it could well be a more drooping habit. I've turned it round. What do you think?

  • blobby3
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi, thanks everyone, I could only post one photo before and it rotated. That was a close up of one branch, full tree now shown. It's by no means 75% yellow as you can see. To answer a couple of points, it's very unlikely the tree is being deliberately killed, we live in a very friendly and civilised area with great neighbour relations and this tree is part of several in our gardens which everyone loves. It's also worth saying this is quite big but regularly topped and must have been there 15-20 years or more (as have the neighbours). If anything is happening then very unlikely to be malicious.

    Most of the area immediately below the overhang of branches is not grassed, the grass starts a metre or so from the trunk.

    I was worried it might be a disease but sounds like more likely drought where it's been very dry, I may well get a soil test done to see if something is lacking.

    Many thanks for your input.

    Nic

  • blobby3
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Another photo

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    Not 'Alumii' but still Lawson cypress, which is the important point and not which cultivar it may be.

    Later yesterday I went for a walk and here was a grouping of a Lawson cypress cultivar with exactly the same side branch yellowing syndrome. The least dense example in the set had the occasional branch dying all the way to the tip, along with reddening of oldest sprays on the inside - this last would be in conjunction with summer drought - many kinds of evergreen trees and shrubs shed the oldest foliage as this time of the year. Where there is a problem is when the new growth does not maintain a dense appearance after the old material is dropped, as with the one example in the cypress planting I saw - it was markedly more red and thin now than the others. So there was a progressive condition at work. Root rot? More greatly affected by seasonal dryness than the others?

    One thing about root rot on this species is that what is often seen here is the tree looks normal - and then suddenly the whole thing goes red and dead all at once.

    Yours looks quite good except for the yellowing and thinning near the bottom.

  • blobby3
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks very much for the input. It's quite difficult to see from photo but the yellowing does go all the way up the tree but on the innermost branches as you describe. I have started to water around the base of the tree since dry weather started again and I guess just monitor it and see if it improves. I don't know if there is anything more I can do for now even if it has some progressive issue that will ultimately show itself more?