Question
liquid amber
I have a liquid amber tree that is about 18 years old and about 40 feet tall, located in San Diego CA. For the last three years the tree has progresively gotten worse. It started out with leaves that looked "burnt" around the edges. Originally it was at the top and back of the tree. We took a leaf to a garden shop and we were told that we had probably shocked the tree with yard fertilizers. So we stopped fertilizing the lawn, but we did continue to use weed and feed on the yard. Now the majority of the tree has light yellow leaves with many that have "burnt" edges. We also have quite a few branches that are bare. We also just noticed that on the trunck we have an approximately 6 inch "scar" where sap has leaked out. We have no idea what caused this. One idea that did occur to us is that for a few years we would flush our pool pump out on the lawn which would have contained a lot of chlorinated water that would saturate the area around the tree. We have not done this for at least a year though.
We really want to save this tree since it provides much needed shade in the yard. Any ideas what is going on and what we can do to get this tree healthy again?
AnswerThe problem is the lawn fertilizer Weed and Feed. This contains a herbicide that will kill trees. Stop using this on your lawn instead use a fertilizer and spray a liquid herbicide for weed control. About the only thing that can be done is try flushing the root system by watering daily 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 stop. Do this fro a couple of weeks and this may dilute the herbicide enough that the tree can survive. The "scar looks like borer damage --an insect called borers will attack trees under stress which fits the description of the tree. The areas can be sprayed with an insecticide called Merit and this will control the borers under the bark. Check with your local garden type store for Merit.
