Question
I am located in the foothills of San Diego County. I planted a Corkscrew Willow last year, my soil is clay so I dug a 3' x 3' hole and added soil amends. It grew quiet a bit before going dorment. This year it has a number of upper branches that never leafed out and seems to be struggling. There was a gopher that burrowed beneath it last year, but I got it fairly soon. Could the gopher have damaged it enough to cause this? Should I remove the upper branches?
Thank you for your time,
Heather Crocker

Answer
The gofher more than likely damaged the root system and the tree shows this by part of the foliage dying. The roots are a mirror image of the foliage--cut off some of the roots and a like number of branches will die. Prune the dead limbs off and it should be ok.