I was referred here by someone in alt.home.lawn-garden
and hope someone can help!

I live in north central Texas ...north of Dallas and south of Sherman if
that helps. I have three huge cottonwood trees that are in front of my
house. And another tree I'm trying to identify---they ALL seem to be losing
leaves. Isn't it awfully early for fall? Do cottonwoods lose leaves in
late July? I'm very worried...The last two days I've dragged the hose over
to them and just let it run at a low drip so the trees hopefully get
'filled' up as far as water goes. Of course, I'm watching not to drown them
or anything, but have been wondering if there's maybe too little water
getting to them. I've checked for any evidence of insect infestation and
see none. The trees are dropping leaves rapidly, as if it's fall. The
trees on the branches look fine, the trees themselves still look filled with
leaves, but the ground is covered with leaves already, as if it were fall.
This is my first summer here, so I don't know if this is normal or not. I
moved here last November and there were tons of leaves then....

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

mary

Since no one else has replied publicly and I'm sure there are more
wondering the same thing, I'll answer here. This kind of leaf loss is
a response to drought conditons. The tree probably doesn't have enough
water to hold on to all those leaves and drops them as a water
conservation action. At night, leaves open their "stomata", allowing
water vapor to escape into the air along with other by-products of
photosynthesis. The leaves covering the ground also act as an
inhibitor to ground dessication. Cottonwoods are water-loving trees
and are especially sensitive to drought. As long as there are lots of
leaves still left, the trees will do just fine when normal rainfall
returns. Watering them is a good defense and will also help the trees
fight off any diseases or pests trying to take advantage of its
weakened condition. A similar thing is going on in other trees around
the country. The incense cedar around my house are very early in
losing some of their inner foliage. Pines are showing drought strees
by hanging on to only 1 or 2 years worth of needles. If you're really
worried about an individual tree, you can manually removed some of its
crown to reduce water needs and also remove competing vegetation. Trim
back the lower and inner branches but don't overdo it. Any tree
surgeons want to chime in? This really isn't my forte.

Larry




"Mary Marzano" wrote in message . ..
I was referred here by someone in alt.home.lawn-garden
and hope someone can help!

I live in north central Texas ...north of Dallas and south of Sherman if
that helps. I have three huge cottonwood trees that are in front of my
house. And another tree I'm trying to identify---they ALL seem to be losing
leaves. Isn't it awfully early for fall? Do cottonwoods lose leaves in
late July? I'm very worried...The last two days I've dragged the hose over
to them and just let it run at a low drip so the trees hopefully get
'filled' up as far as water goes. Of course, I'm watching not to drown them
or anything, but have been wondering if there's maybe too little water
getting to them. I've checked for any evidence of insect infestation and
see none. The trees are dropping leaves rapidly, as if it's fall. The
trees on the branches look fine, the trees themselves still look filled with
leaves, but the ground is covered with leaves already, as if it were fall.
This is my first summer here, so I don't know if this is normal or not. I
moved here last November and there were tons of leaves then....

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

mary