Question
Sycamore Tree
Sycamore Tree Loosing leaves
and some limbs are showing signs of dying. Hello, I water the area for over an hour twice a week. In the spring, I fertilized with 10-20-10 for weed control, then later with 29-0-10 for the Florenteen St. Augustine, all recommended by our local feed store and nursurey. The Augustine is doing fairly well, but the Sycamore and bermuda are suffering. We are Extreme drought conditions, but water as I said earlier. Any thoughts out there?
Best Regards,
Ted
AnswerA mature tree can lose hundreds of gallons of water a day through its leaves, especially in hot or windy weather. If trees don抰 get enough water, they will experience stress when they can抰 replace the water lost through their leaves. Signs of water stress are wilting, leaf scorch (browning of leaf edges), and even dieback of twigs and branches. The older leaves of some types of trees, such as sycamore, turn yellow and brown and then drop from the tree in response to water stress... without the appearance of the wilting or leaf scorch.
The time of water is not important but the amount is. Water with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it atop. Do this every third day for a month then once week unless it rains good. If your trees are growing in a lawn area, keep in mind that the grass may be using a large portion of water that抯 being applied through a sprinkler system. Even if you think you抮e applying enough water, check the soil moisture in the tree root zone. Make sure adequate moisture is reaching the soil and tree roots.
Water should be applied in the 搑oot zone? The fine feeder roots that absorb water are not located close to the trunk of established trees. Most are situated in the area beyond the 揹rip line? that抯 the area beneath the furthest spread of the branches. If the soil is shallow or compacted, the root zones may be wider and shallower than anticipated
Stop the fertilizer--the fertilizer maybe burning the roots since the tree is not getting a deep watering so I would not fertilize for a year or so. Also make sure that the fertilizer used on the lawn is not a weed and feed combination--these combination weed and feed fertilizers contain a herbicide that can kill tree.
