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TREE PROBLEM: I FIRST RAN INTO THAT TREE PROBLEM ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO…

by Donna | Jan 28, 2017 | PLANTS & DESIGN, Trees & Shrubs | 0 comments

“I find this inch and a half big indentation in the trunk of the tree. It brings tears to your eyes.”Arborist Kevin Lee

INTERVIEW – ALL ABOUT TREES

Donna Balzer : Tell me about this tree disaster you keep seeing in Calgary?

Kevin Lee : I first ran into [this tree problem] about 15 years ago and it just freaked me out. I ran into two examples again this spring. I’m looking at that tree and looking at that tree thinking about everything that I can. What can cause this?

I mean the [homeowners] have watered and looked after their trees. And so I start digging and I find this inch and a half big indentation in the trunk of the tree. It brings tears to your eyes. I’m seeing it again: sudden death disease on Colorado spruce, caused by landscaper error.

“This year the tree hasn’t broken bud. It’s off-colour and now its starting to drop needles. ” says Kevin Lee about trees like this one. As the needles start to drop the clients start to call in arborists. Save time and money by getting in and digging near the base yourself to see if your tree has landscaper disease. Was the strapping left on the tree? See More about Kevin Lee HERE

So typically pathogens have a very specific entry point. They get onto the trunk: maybe it’s a trunk fungus or canker. Or maybe it’s something on the end or tip of a branch; or maybe you’ve got some winter kill. So you would lose one or two branches on a whole tree.

But to see a whole tree go? The clients tell me last year the tree wasn’t bad, maybe a little sluggish. This year the tree hasn’t broken bud. It’s off-colour and now its starting to drop needles. And you dig down into the ground beside the trunk and you find those lazy buggers [the landscapers] did not even take that nylon tape off the basket of the tree and the tree has grown for twelve years and stretched that rope as tight as it can and now the tree is dead. And you know what that’s called? That’s called landscaper disease. When the tree was planted the nylon tape was not removed from the tree. Now that is something I’ve learned the hard way.

It breaks your heart when you see a tree installed and years later it is the ties that bind that kill the tree! Photo courtesy of (krltreeservice.com)

It breaks your heart when you see a tree installed and years later it is the ties that bind that kill the tree! Photo courtesy of Kevin Lee Tree Service

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Lee is a Calgary-based arborist and tree health expert. Check out Kevin’s website and watch this spot for additional tree wisdom from Kevin.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on a taped telephone interview with Kevin and any mistakes in transcription are my own. This article is not an endorsement of any one tree company or arborist and is meant to help gardeners better understand plants and gardening. I want to help gardeners grow!