What's wrong with my Boxelder (Acer Negundo)?
 

My tree is dropping tons and tons of leaves. We've had a very wet
Spring and Summer here in NW Arkansas. Here is a link to some close-
ups of the leaves. The yellow detached leaves fell from the tree
today. The green leaves were pulled from the tree. I'm trying to
determine if I can treat the tree and make it stop dropping leaves. In
prior years it has dropped some leaves due to scorching I presume but
nothing close to this year. I appreciate your help.

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/d...hoo677/Leaves/

What's wrong with my Boxelder (Acer Negundo)?
 

wrote in message
...
My tree is dropping tons and tons of leaves. We've had a very wet
Spring and Summer here in NW Arkansas. Here is a link to some close-
ups of the leaves. The yellow detached leaves fell from the tree
today. The green leaves were pulled from the tree. I'm trying to
determine if I can treat the tree and make it stop dropping leaves. In
prior years it has dropped some leaves due to scorching I presume but
nothing close to this year. I appreciate your help.

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/d...hoo677/Leaves/

Good question!
It may be too late. Could be troubles in the rhizosphere!!!!!!!! Could be
a combination of improper planting, improper mulching, and improper pruning.
These are the first things to address. If planted correctly, mulched
correctly and pruned correctly boxelders do well here in PA. I do know
Bradford pears do well here, biologically not mechanically, in our area but
the same tree planted in Southern Louisiana become plagued with diseases.
People plant them there because they then have a career treating these trees
all of its life for disease. Just the wrong tree in the wrong place.

Please post some pictures of the base of the tree with pictures of trunk
flare and soil under canopy and some old pruning wounds pictures. I will
then address these issues.

Just as a first step in diagnosis you may want to check these sites.

Many tree problems are associated with the following: They are Case
Sensitive.

Unhealthy Trees from the Nursery / Improper Planting
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20..._planting.html

Improper Mulching -
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/M/mulch.html

Improper Pruning
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/tree_pruning

Improper Fertilization (See A Touch of Chemistry)
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Tree Farming and Related Problems
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/SOUND/

Troubles in the Rhizosphere
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.

What's wrong with my Boxelder (Acer Negundo)?
 

The problem with your tree starts with the grade change around the base of
the tree. Actually if you would have built a well around the tree and
changed the grade beyond the well, it would have had a chance. If that tree
was there before the wall and fill, then I would say it is troubles in the
rhizosphere especially suffocation of the tree by reduction of free oxygen
at rhizoplane. Trees require oxygen for respiration. Filling in around a
tree like that greatly reduces free oxygen in rhizoplane. In that case it
may just be too late for the tree and trying to fix that very easily could
make things even worse. Trees do breath.

When was the grade changed?


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.


wrote in message
...
My tree is dropping tons and tons of leaves. We've had a very wet
Spring and Summer here in NW Arkansas. Here is a link to some close-
ups of the leaves. The yellow detached leaves fell from the tree
today. The green leaves were pulled from the tree. I'm trying to
determine if I can treat the tree and make it stop dropping leaves. In
prior years it has dropped some leaves due to scorching I presume but
nothing close to this year. I appreciate your help.

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/d...hoo677/Leaves/

What's wrong with my Boxelder (Acer Negundo)?
 

On Jul 28, 8:18*pm, "symplastless" wrote:
The problem with your tree starts with the grade change around the base of
the tree. *Actually if you would have built a well around the tree and
changed the grade beyond the well, it would have had a chance. *If that tree
was there before the wall and fill, then I would say it is troubles in the
rhizosphere especially suffocation of the tree by reduction of free oxygen
at rhizoplane. *Trees require oxygen for respiration. *Filling in around a
tree like that greatly reduces free oxygen in rhizoplane. *In that case it
may just be too late for the tree and trying to fix that very easily could
make things even worse. *Trees do breath.

When was the grade changed?

--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologisthttp://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and *www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.

wrote in message

...



My tree is dropping tons and tons of leaves. We've had a very wet
Spring and Summer here in NW Arkansas. Here is a link to some close-
ups of the leaves. The yellow detached leaves fell from the tree
today. The green leaves were pulled from the tree. I'm trying to
determine if I can treat the tree and make it stop dropping leaves. In
prior years it has dropped some leaves due to scorching I presume but
nothing close to this year. I appreciate your help.

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/d...oo677/Leaves/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

John,
Thanks for your reply. I bought the house three years after the tree
was planted (it has been there a total of 8 years) and the lttle wall
was already there when we moved in. They did create a circle around
the tree so that the the trunk didn't get covered at all. Picture a
shallow funnel about 8 feet across with the tree in the middle. Did
you see the pictures of the leaves? I thought it might look like a
fungus - we did get a tremendous amount of rain in the Spring and
early Summer. I do have mulch right up to the trunk. thanks again
for your help.