Question
Sick Tree
Hi, I am hoping you can give us some advice on what to do with this sick looking tree. It is in front of a building we are leasing, and I believe it is right beside the septic field. We would like to tell the landlord if it can be saved or if it should be taken down. It is a bit of an eyesore the way it is.
Appreciate your help. Thanks.
Diana
AnswerIt looks like a bad case of a disease called a canker--more than likely Seiridium canker. Foliage on affected branches yellows and turns brown in the spring. Small branches are usually infected first, and then larger ones will die.
A sunken canker can be found on the branch below the infected foliage. Bark turns brown, and small fruiting bodies form in the cankered area. Drops of resin are frequently found in and at the sides of the canker. Larger trees may slowly decline from the cumulative effects of multiple cankers.
The disease has been causing a severe branch dieback. Severities of dieback varies from tree to tree but upwards of 60% of branches are killed. The disease can infect many different kinds of trees like cedars, Leyland cypress and junipers.
The effective branches could be removed but it this case it looks like the entire tree maybe effected. I can not see the top of the tree and IF there is enough green needles left on the top, the lower limbs could be cut off but the remaining tree will look strange with no lower limbs.
I would recommend that the tree be removed Sorry!.
