Question
We have a purple plum tree that is 4 years old.  We live in Texas and just recently experienced over 30 days of fairly heavy rainfall.  The tree is now loosing most if not soon all it's leaves.  Is this b/c of the increase rainfall? What can we do for the tree?

Answer
Trees respond to not enough water (drought) and too much water with about the same symptoms--dropping of the leaves. Check and see if the tree is dead --start near the end of a branch and scrape a small bit of bark off the twig and if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive at this point on the branch. If the color is brown the branch is dead at this point on the branch--continue down the branch toward the trunk and check at intervals and if the color under the bark is brown to the trunk the branch is dead. Prune any brown (dead wood back to the green live wood. would expect you to find green under the bark. Hardwood trees have the capability of shutting down during extreme weather conditions (the result is dropping the leaves). If the color under the bark is green the tree is still alive and will leave out again maybe this year when the weather gets back to normal but for sure next spring. There is really not anything that can be done for too much water.