r/AskArborists

Should I cover the roots here with mulch?

BTW, the tape on the bottom is for catching spotted lantern fly nymphs

Hi all, our master HOA is asking our little HOA (made up mostly of retirees and fixed-income seniors) to remove this tree because it is “dead.” The cost due to proximity to the water was quoted as $10k which is prohibitive for us, not to mention that we like the tree and we do not believe it is, in fact, dead. It was neglected for a time but now it has some beautiful new shoots and seems to be making a comeback. Is there anyone out there with some credentials who would be willing to provide a quick letter, or even just your contact info, attesting that the tree is not dead?

The tree seems healthy, but the grass all around the base has died and I’ve heard it’s healthier for the tree if the base of the trunk is exposed all the way to flat ground.

Guys who dropped off trees said don’t add dirt additional dirt, cut the rope off around the branches and only make a cut at the burlap where the trunk is but leave the burlap on the rootball otherwise it likely won’t make transplanting. I hadn’t read that regarding the burlap sack. They have good reviews. What are your thoughts?

Planted this swamp white oak last year and just took bamboo nursery stake out of it. It had developed a slight lean before but leaned a little more when I removed the stake. Should I rope it and stake it straight or will it straighten out on its own as it grows?

Can anyone advise what is causing this and how to treat it? The plant apps are giving conflicting diagnoses.

It had ants farming aphids on it, which I have just managed to put a stop to. I’ve had to take most of the leaves off now.

I have a cherry tree that seems to have had leaf/scorch

I didn’t even realize these were endangered. I have a White Ash sapling that just popped up on my property this year. After doing some reading the consensus is it will likely be wiped out by Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The guidance was that it would likely not reach more than 5 years old or so and to just remove it. I feel like that’s just terrible. Can I not pot it up and give it to some group studying them or something more productive? I don’t want to just get rid of it. Any advice is appreciated.

Hi everyone. I have this northern red oak that stands ~ 12 ft high. This year, it has this gap that is probably 2ft and has developed a lean. I worry that it is growing too tall too fast. The pictures show the gap, a closer view of buds, and (for context) a photo of the base of the upright stem (branch?) with my thumb to show thickness. This is about 6ft from the very top of the tree.

I live in a high desert (SW Idaho) and planted this tree about 5 years ago with hopes that it could someday shade the south facing yard that gets murdered in the summer. This poor thing gets up to 16 hours of sunlight in late summer but has never shown signs of stress. I just want to keep it healthy, so any advice is appreciated!

Hi everyone,

My mom has these 2 holly trees in her yard on Cape Cod. They’re looking rough. I don’t know if it’s the cicadas from last year, winter, soil, etc.

Advice? Keep? Dig up? If we keep, how do we make them healthy again? Thank you so much in advance.

My wonderful neighbor clear cut a ton of majestic oaks between our houses after buying the property two years ago.

In the aftermath he planted a bunch of arbor vitae. He initially planted smaller ones (you can see them dead in the photo) but this year he wanted to plant more because he’s not convinced the dead ones are really dead and won’t pull them out (he replaced the original row last year because they died so these are the second set of dead ones).

Sorry for the rambling but onto my question - this Friday he planted one of these right next to an eastern white pine I planted post oak apocalypse (in addition to maybe 20 more that he’s planted this season - nice variety!).

I have a feeling the one he planted there will die based on past performance but anything I should do to give my pine the best chance here? I am going to mulch the area soon; was waiting for him to finish putting these beasts in….the property line is in a very unfortunate place.

I am so happy this subreddit exists. Thank you.

As shown, one branch of my Japanese maple has no viable leaves on it. It looks like this branch was trimmed previously. Should I cut the whole thing off? The rest of the tree appears very healthy. I am located in Kelowna BC. Thank you!

Hello,

We recently had a storm come through and my worst fear has happened.

This tree has been going through a lot, vines have been running up the whole tree for years so I followed the advice of a local arborist to clear a foot section around the tree, which to this point, the vines have been dying off and releasing its hold on the bark.

Because the last owner neglected them though, the vines have traveled high into the willow and the bottom couple branches have been dying off.

Flash forward to the storm we had the other day… one of the dead branches fell onto another branch that wasn’t dead and it ripped a chunk out of the base of the willow!

I attached pictures.

Is this tree still savable? It’s my favorite tree on property and I’ve been really trying to save it from the vines.

Any advice on what I could do would be greatly appreciated

As the title states. On my property I have a big coppiced scarlet (I think) oak. The first of the three trunks fell in 2020, now this one today. It looks like there was some degradation from termites or fungi. Wondering if the other should be removed as well.

Never dealt with this before so I appreciate the advice and help!