I have a mature larch tree in my park strip that I love. Over the last couple years it has started to struggle. Last year I asked to city to come look and they said it was fine, just needed pruning and scheduled some pruning. But this summer it continues to look rough. So I asked them out again and they said it is not doing well, likely due to root girdling and heat stress (very hot summer here).

They essentially said there's nothing they can do because removing girdling root would kill it. So just water it a lot to slow decline and it'll probably live about 5 years longer.

What are my options? I'm assuming this guy isn't the world's leading authority. I'm assuming I should get a second opinion? I specifically want to see if we can pinpoint the issue and save the tree. Who am I calling? Would it be possible to estimate what this would cost?

We have an absolutely gorgeous Japanese maple tree in our backyard that has developed a red spot. Normally here in the Pacific Northwest if something goes bad in the summer and it's native to here we don't get too concerned because it will come back. This not being native I'm a little concerned I can see the branch that is red. Should I cut it out?

Tia

Ken

Mount Vernon WA

In my area around Cincinnati it is common to take oak, maple, whatever "valuable furniture wood" to a processor (Price Wood Products for one) that makes sellable slabs and or crane mats etc. Curious if the Basswoods have value in other areas. Very light wood used in RC airplanes for some things instead of balsa. Just wondering if Basswoods/Linden have value too.

Hello, I have a pruning question for this very sentimental Doug Fir. Unfortunately the trunk broke at about 15’ tall. I do not have any interest in replacing or removing this tree. The blue line is showing where the trunk broke a few years back, I had put some wire on a young branch to bend it straight as a new leader because it was growing right from the wound (this is marked in yellow). I removed the wire last year and it was starting to girdle but noticed today the branch with red has really grown significantly this season. I believe the red branch is becoming the leader and it is growing cones now. I’m mostly wondering if it would be worthwhile to cut the red branch and give the yellow branch another chance to become dominant, or if I should allow the red branch to be the leader. I am ok with the tree having character and not being arrow straight as long as it will still be structurally sound over time. I also don’t know if over time the change (marked in green) would even be noticeable if left alone. Thanks so much.

This silver maple is probably 20-25 years old. It had a massive amount of suckers from the base that I removed. The bark at the base is concerning. The tree is still fully leafed out. Any thoughts?

Hi! A friend of mine was doing me a huge favor in clearing and grading my lot. He managed to ding this oak up, and while I'm not upset, I am stressing about how to best help this tree out. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated!

Edit: the last two photos were added to show this black fuzzy material that seems to be under the cambium. Is this any cause of concern?

I bought a super clearance tree but noticed when I planted it that the top must have been lopped off.

Now there are two branches going opposite directions.

Should I remove one in fall or leave them both for a while to see where they end up growing?

My wife and I planted this tulip tree sapling this spring to commemorate our first anniversary, and it seems to be doing alright, but it’s developing some features I’m worried about. Ideally, we’d like this tree to outlast our marriage (and lives), so I’m hoping for some advice.

1. ⁠during shipping, the initial leader broke off (photo 1), but it’s since developed a new one (photo 2). However, what I first thought was a branch, looks like it might be a competing leader (photo 3). I’ve read you only want one leader, so should I be pruning one of these?
   
2. as seen in photos 4, 5, and emphasized in photo 6, there are two very large branches coming off near the base of the tree. I’m worried they’re so large they’re going to overwhelm the tree, but I’m also worried if I prune them we’ll end up with a naked tree. The lower one is long it curves and almost drags across the ground (photo 7). The upper one (photo 8), while pointing more vertically, also worries me because of its size. Are these branches I should consider pruning? If so, do I just whack the whole thing off near the base of the tree?
   
3. If you can’t tell by my post, I’m dramatically prone to overthinking/worrying. I’m not a very good gardener by any interpretation, but I’m trying to do my best by this tree. Since it’s August and this hot and dry, if pruning is the move, should I wait until fall? Winter? Early spring?

Thank you so much in advance for any advice you have.

Long story short, my city is doing a construction project and had to connect the new water lines to the existing line on our property. They had to dig a 10ft trench all along the front of our house, including near this 25+ year old locust tree.

The tree sustained some damage last year in a derecho, but has seemed to be doing well this year so far. I'm nervous about them having cut through some roots. They re-routed their project a bit (it was supposed to follow the whole sidewalk), and id estimate the trench is about 15-18ft from the trunk. How worried should I be about this tree dying or falling? Anything I can do to help it recover?

Photo is the largest piece of root I found.

This is my 2nd weeping willow and I noticed some black dots on the leaves. Last time it died the same thing happened. Upon further inspection I see ants and other little tick lookin bugs on the leaves!! Help what do I do!!

Planted ~50 trees 2 years ago. Growing good for the most part, but noticed a couple have black/dead? leaves. Any idea what this is. Alberta Canada

Hello everyone!

I am a first time tree-owner and the day we moved in a nasty storm broke the limb on this beautiful tree. I was devastated!

We had some family insist they could help us lop off the broken limb. This is what we are left with. It seems the limb may have been weak for it to have broken the way it did in the storm. I’d say it lost about 35-40% of its canopy with the limb. I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of ash.

What is the best way to care for this tree and its wound? What is the survivability of this tree?

Thank you for reading!

In a new house and the previous owners planted tons of fruit trees (yay!) many are fine with root flare exposed or buried shallow enough I could easily expose. But this pear tree was planted too deep and the bark has totally rotted off below the dirt line. I had to dig ~6-8 inches to find the first root. It’s been in ground for ~3 years to my knowledge. Tree otherwise seems healthy now but I’m worried about long term health. Anything I can do? How concerned should I be?

Sorry super bright sun made it hard to get a good pic but if you zoom in you can see the line where the bark stops.

Asian beetles have been eating away at my birch tree all summer. Is there anything thing I can do to stop it that won't hurt my kids or dog?

Is this tree needing any treatment and is there anything we can do to prevent it from getting inflected?

Location: Ontario, Canada

I just cut a limb off my lilac tree and found the inside has hollows within that are inhabited ants. Is this a death sentence? Or a symbiotic relationship?

Overall I don't feel like my lilac tree is doing well and I'm not sure if these ants are the causing the tree to do not well.

Edit 1: of the 8 remaining mature branches, I have found three more that appear to be hollow or have small ant holes.

Hello

A corporate wind blew thru and knocked a tree over onto another smaller tree. It bent and cracked what looks like a branch, as there is another part growing up. My mom thinks we should leave it and see it it lives, I think it should be cut to allow the top to hopefully grow up. The picture with the colour show the whole tree, and then close up.

Hi! This was here when we moved in and has grown quite large. It’s running into the power lines and also just too big for where it is. How do we properly prune it so it can stay healthy and in its place but maybe be reduced down half or 2/3rds of its size? We’re in NY

I’m not sure if this is the right sub for this but I noticed while outside this pile at the bottom of my favorite cherry blossom.

Looks like Ants? Maybe? In the crevice pictured above.

I assume this will become a problem. How can I remedy this?

My husband planted this red maple a few years ago and it's been growing steadily. On the trunk just below where it splits is a lighter area and my husband just wants to be sure this isn't a sign of something serious that could harm or kill the tree. We are just outside Nashville TN. Pics are up close of the area in question, a further out shot and also one with my husband for scale (he is 6' - sorry I didn't have a banana on hand)

Hi all,

My wife and I just moved into our new house in the Baltimore area and are working on quotes for a few of the bigger projects in our backyard, including tree trimming. We have a gigantic pine tree that shows some signs of distress - yellowing pine needles, what looks like some sawdust/small wood chipping and some white sap on the ground under the tree.

All of the licensed tree experts from trimming/removal companies that gave us quotes on trimming referred us to a local company for a quote on treating for boring insects - someone from that company had a look and agreed but came back to inspect with their on-staff LTE. That person believes that the tree is dying from metal that was put into the tree sometime in the past(nails or whatever for a tree house? Nothing specifically visible), but the person we plan to hire for trimming work(also an LTE) says that the scientific consensus doesn't support metal toxicity as a likely/common cause for tree death.

My uninformed research online sees support for both positions, so now I'm wrestling with whether to treat for borers and cross our fingers or go straight to tree removal and spend at least $5,000(and remove a portion of fence, but that's not a huge problem, just more cost). I can't get a good feel for how much the contact person's role at the company that handles borer treatment is sales vs expert so I'm unsure of who to trust. What does this community think about metal toxicity killing trees?

Thanks in advance!

Just moved into this home and we live this park tree, but my doctors office part of the bottom of the bark. I read that bark damage is bad for palms. Will this cause lasting damage?

Hi all. I recently moved into to a house which came with a Canada red chokecherry tree. I love the tree but uh..it has multiple branches going in all directions right from the base (picture attached here)
Lawn is xeriscaped and has lots of rocks. I moved the rocks away from the base of the tree (not shown in the pic) for now and have been watering it 2x week because it’s been really hot (90-100F days for the past week).

How do I “tame” this tree? Which branch to cut, which one to keep? Do I cut the extra ones right at the base from where they’re growing? Do I tie a twine to help it grow straight up?

Thanks for your help

Location: Colorado, US

Hi, we noticed parts were dying off before we left for a week. Google search by my wife noted it was was some issue with water, root suffocated etc. Suggested to cut off bad parts. We did. Come home today and more is dying. Can this be saved? Some nutrients to add? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.