I fear your trees may be doomed. Liriodendron tulipifera requires soil
that drains very well. Being somewhat related to magnolias, it has
delicate, easily damaged surface roots. Your trees likely suffered from
soil that was too wet, and the depositing of eroded debris may have
damaged the vital surface roots.
You might wait until next spring to see if some of the trees recover.
In the meantime, apply a generous amount of gypsum in the "drip zone"
(the area from the trunk to the farthest branches) to improve drainage.
Lightly rinse the gypsum into the soil without making the soil soggy;
this should be a gradual process over 2-3 weeks. Otherwise, DO NOT
FERTILIZE; roots injured by too much water or being buried too deep by
debris will be further traumatized by fertilizer. Also, be very careful
about removing eroded debris; do not disturb the soil underneath but do
remove the debris.
On 6/15/2014 2:25 PM, ElCuartoMago wrote:
Here's youtube link I found. kinda long but that's exactly it.
http://youtu.be/bKSp40_OCuQ
Zone 7b. upstate SC.
I appreciate your time in answering.
Ismael
On Sunday, June 15, 2014 2:39:50 PM UTC-4, David E. Ross wrote:
Two distantly related trees are called "tulip": one is the species
Liriodendron tulipifera and one is the species Magnolia soulangeana.
Poplars are unrelated to either of them, being in the genus Populus and
more closely related to willows. Which do you have?
Also, where are you? That is, what is your climate?
On 6/15/2014 9:19 AM, ElCuartoMago wrote:
I have a wooded area in my back yard which is a "low lying" and wet area. There's a brook/stream that runs across it.
For nearly 20 years, I've had a number of large tulip poplars which have bloomed every year until this year.
Last year, around this time, there was a very large deluge which left a HUGE amount of sand, rocks, etc etc in the yard..... it's been unblocked and redistributed but is still several inches higher than in years past. ground cover hasn't yet grown in over what was the deepest pile of sand/rock......
As of this July (today) only, of the 5, one has leaves and only scattered in smaller branches up the main trunk.
Will they recover? How long should I expect to wait before I panic?
thanks in advance.
--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary
--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary