Growth Pattern Changes (or Early Detection of Decline)



By Don Williams, the Tree Wizard





UNDERSTANDING GROWTH PATTERN CHANGES ALLOWS YOU TO NOTICE WHEN A TREE IS DECLINING AND NEEDS ATTENTION
This Tree Topic is a discussion on how to look at a tree and determine whether it is declining.

Over a 52 year period of time I developed a method called “Growth Pattern Changes”. I have practiced this for many years to observe early on that a tree is declining, before it progresses to terminal which is the time when the tree owner usually notices it.


If you fail to follow these signs you will miss the opportunity to intervene when a tree is savable and afterwards attempting to treat when it is more weakened. This is the main reason some treatments are less effective as the tree is nearing the point where it has lost its reservoir of sugar energy. We might call it the lack of the will to live as the tree lacks enough of what I call adrenalin, aggression or energy to survive. This has led to slowing of the sap stream to the point of sap stoppage, which occurs about 4-6 weeks before most of the leaves yellow, to then turn completely brown.


Occasionally a tree (such as red oak or maple) will remain yellow for months before it browns. Sometimes a red oak with DNA from Louisiana planted here will always remain yellow because of the soil ph differences (acid to alkaline soils). Single trunk trees are more likely to brown all at once. Multiple trunk trees may have some leaves turn brown more slowly or faster on different trunks than on others.


TREES WITH DEAD TIPS

A tree can appear healthy but the tips are dead, yellow or browning. This is one of the typical methods to observe and this is one of the growth pattern changes. This tree is not just declining but dying from the top. They are usually treatable.


MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF LARGE DEAD LIMBS AND MANY LARGE AND SMALL DEAD LIMBS THROUGHOUT THE TREE

When you are looking at a tree closely, concentrating on one section at a time, you can easily see the larger amounts of dead and old stubs. This is a tree that has most likely been declining for many years, maybe a decade. It takes years for this deadwood to appear. At times the smaller 1-2 inch diameter limbs may start out being green, but when you look carefully at the smaller limbs the ends are dead. There will usually be many of these dying tips. It is good to remove the deadwood as borers can affect them. The dead limb is attached to the green part of the tree and this can create issues at point of attachment where borer openings can be created and pathogens may enter.


UPPER AND LOWER AREAS OR OPPOSITE SIDES OF TREE MAY HAVE DIFFERENT GROWTH PATTERNS

The tree is divided into four sections, the upper half and the lower half, then both sides. At times the lower half will have greener leaves and appear thicker. The upper part may be thinner than the lower portion. One tree may be yellow on one side and yellow/green on the other. Sometimes these different growth patterns are hard to see while on other trees it becomes very obvious. Sometimes if you walk a few houses down then look back at your trees it is easier to see. Drive around town looking at the trees and you will see each of those described. At times the lower half or third may have excessive sucker growth. This occurs when the upper part is declining and sufficient sap flow is not allowed to go past the area where tree is beginning to decline. Most of the sap and accompanying sugar energy is concentrating in the lower part, increasing new growth which some call sucker growth or water sprouts.


LEAVES ARE SPARSE THROUGHOUT THE TREE

At times it appears as if most leaves are missing, but there are still leaves throughout the tree. This is a tree that has been declining for many years and nearing sap stoppage, which is fatal.


LEAVES MAY BE NORMAL IN DENSITY THROUGHOUT THE TREE BUT ARE MUCH SMALLER IN SIZE

At times, most noticeably on live oaks, the leaves throughout may appear much smaller than other live oaks in the vicinity. This is not hereditary but means there is a lesser amount of sugar energy and nutrients divided up between the different leaves. There will be fewer leaves every year. On some, the lower portion may even have normal size leaves but the upper half has smaller leaves. This happens often where heavy new suckers appear in the lower half of declining trees. The suckers being active new growth, have more sugar energy available to them and have normal size leaves where the upper has smaller leaves. These are usually treatable.


RED OAK AND MAPLE TREES WITH YELLOW OR LIGHT GREEN LEAVES

This occurs when there is a deficiency of sugar energy as above but also lacking required nutrients or minerals. These are examples of what we generally see when consulting on your trees. The success of treatment is determined by how much energy the tree still retains. If energy levels are too low, the tree is close to the point of sap stoppage which is fatal. Customers who are aware of the growth pattern changes can call earlier rather than later when too much damage has been done.


LIMBS THAT APPEAR TO BE ONLY STRIPS OF GREEN AS THE LEAVES ARE MOSTLY GROWING CLOSER TO OR ON THE MAIN BRANCHES THE LEAVES ARE MUCH SMALLER

This occurs most often on live oak trees. When trees have less nutrients in sap flow, there may not be enough nutrients to create new branches, but seem to only be growing leaves on older limbs. This creates growth patterns where the tree appears to have strips of green only along main branches, then areas of daylight in between. There may be more growth pattern changes but these are the predominate ones. If you see any of these growth pattern changes this means your tree has been declining for years and nearing the point where it is difficult to bring them back. It is not that treatments fail, it is that the tree reached a certain point of decline that it cannot come back from. All the above occurred because the tree has less sap flow with less sugar energy and nutrients. This could also have been caused by many issues such as: Insufficient moisture or too much moisture, failure to plant a tree properly and leaving encircling roots that can later choke out sap flow decades later.


Construction damage, even 10-20 years ago, leaving too much soil over the root zone thereby suffocating the roots, or when too much soil was scraped from the surface when doing grade changes, damaging or exposing the root zone. Irrigation systems cannot be installed without cutting/damaging some tree roots, with some being more damaged than others. When building new homes large parts of tree roots are cut to put in the foundation. Concrete is poured over tree roots to make driveways or streets. Trees left in wells create water bogs and end up with most of the outer roots covered in over a foot of fill dirt. Drainage is sometimes installed but stops up from debris soon after. When digging the main water and sewer line, the roots are also cut on that side of tree. Some new yards have a foot of fill dirt put on top of original grade creating issues with the roots being covered too deeply. This not only suffocates the buried roots but it would take over 3 inches of rain to penetrate the excess dirt fill covering the original grade. Water from irrigation systems would never penetrate this distance as they are usually set at maximum to water 1-2 inches deep.


Patio construction can cover up over 1/3 of root zone. To build patios or additions they dig through the root system to put in a foundation. Some yards have a foot or more of soil added over original grade and this creates water bogs which rot the tree roots. This happens and is made worse when the grade is level with no drainage. This happened twice in Georgetown at Cimarron Hills, at one home killing all their large live oaks in front and right side yard. At another home it killed most trees in back. The houses were less than one year old. It is impossible to save those. Never let a contractor/house builder cover your tree roots more than 2-3 inches deep as the condition/damage created is permanent.


HARM FROM LANDSCAPE FABRIC

Over time, porous landscape fabric stops up from sediment and water cannot pass through fabric to the root zone, which will kill your trees. This is worst when the non porous black plastic is installed under trees and the water to roots is immediately cut off at time of installation. Damage wise, it would be similar to pouring concrete over the entire root zone from trunk outward. This will kill your trees. Removal of cedar trees with their moisture holding mulch causes the ground to hold less moisture and dry more quickly in hot dry summers. This will kill trees and if you bought a new home you probably did not know that most land was previously covered with cedar trees. The cedar mulch holds moisture during hot dry summers and prevents tree roots from drying out which causes permanent injury to the tree. This disruption creates a different environment the tree is not accustomed to and causes health issues.


PILING MULCH DEEPLY AROUND THE TREE WITH MULCH TOUCHING THE BARK, ROTS THE BARK AND KILLS THE TREE

See pictures of this under our Root Rot Tree Topic. This happens often as landscapers usually pile the mulch against the trunk several inches to 18 inches deep on some yards. Sun City has several trees with bark almost two feet deep at base of trunk. All bark is actually dead and when moisture holding mulch is piled against the trunk base, the mulch which stays damp rots the dead bark and kills the tree. To be safe keep mulch about a foot from trunk. If you had this situation for a few years and you removed the mulch, you will usually see many pin holes in bark where insects/borers have already started damaging the bark. This needs immediate trunk injection treatment as borers made their entrance through the bark and tree decline will soon follow if not treated. On pasture land, cattle, goats and llamas compact the ground under shade trees while their hooves loosen the soil which creates erosion. This will create a dust bowl. I have seen each of these many times in the past. Some of the above can also be caused by improper watering.


MY 52 YEARS OF EXPERIENCING TREE ISSUES AND BEING ABLE TO IDENTIFY THESE WITH EFFECTIVE REMEDIES SHOULD TELL YOU I AM THE PERSON TO CALL.