Cypress in decline for 2 years?

[TINYHULK]

Hey tree fam! As y’all know I’m still studying for the isa arborist and have not gained knowledge on this topic yet. We all just came back from arborfest and a lady calls us for a phc concern. She absolutely loves this tree and has been in decline for a couple years. To our knowledge there hasn’t been any construction or major land changes nearby. Definitely interested in the yellowing behind the peeling bark. Zone 7b and lots of pictures coming

 

[TINYHULK]

Last of them! Thank you all!

 

[SeanKroll]

If the customer says 2 years, it means 10 +/- years.

Drought? Freeze? Intense heat?

Girdling roots?

Compaction?


IME, decline is often a combo of factors, sometimes/ often both biotic and abiotic.

 

[TINYHULK]

If the customer says 2 years, it means 10 +/- years.

Drought? Freeze? Intense heat?

Girdling roots?

Compaction?


IME, decline is often a combo of factors, sometimes/ often both biotic and abiotic.

Summer of 2020 was one of our hottest and had a long drought aswell but it hasn’t been super bad since. No recent construction so idk how compaction could be a thing, don’t have an air spade to excavate and check for girdling roots. Could be a watering issue. I’m more interested if there are any noticeable issues in the tree and what the mode of diagnostics would be. Is the browning just chlorosis, what’s causing the excessive bark peeling, what are the yellowing spots on the underside of the bark. And ultimately is there a reasonable way to save this tree or should it just be removed

 

[lxskllr]

What kind of cypress?

 

[TINYHULK]

What kind of cypress?

I’m not sure. My boss beat me to doing the assessment and I haven’t got my book out to ID it myself yet. There’s cypress trees here but not super often so I haven’t invested time into learning them yet

 

[Bermy]

I know I'm half a planet away, but we are seeing a phenomenon of what the boffins think is air embolism in severely drought stressed trees. It's been nicknamed 'ginger syndrome' the gum trees start to leak kino all over and they take on a ginger colour then die.

Discolouration under the bark in your tree would indicate to me something wrong with the transport system, whether causal or resultant...who knows?

Extreme heat causing ginger syndrome in eucalypts

Forestry Tasmania is studying stressed and dying 'ginger' trees and says it is caused by extremely hot weather.

www.abc.net.au

 

[TINYHULK]

It seems everyone I’ve inquired with about this tree is pointing to drought and the extensive amount of water it would take to even try to rehydrate this tree but with minimal recovery. Would you say the best course would be removal? Could there be an issue in the ph or soil levels necessary for this tree to properly intake water and nutrients?

 

[lxskllr]

I asked about what kind of cypress it was cause it looks like they tend to be wetland trees. I don't really know anything about this stuff, but if it is a wetland tree in the highlands, it may be an uphill battle keeping it going. We have bald cypress on the farm, and they appear unfazed by inundation.

Dawn redwood looks a lot like cypress, and might make a good replacement tree if removal is determined to be the best course of action. Fairly fast growing, but they lose their needles in the fall if that's an issue.

 

[SeanKroll]

Feel under your feet for soil compacting, dig with a trowel, bent piece of rebar as a probe. Penetrameter (sp?).

Watering is possible.

Mulch is generally always good except in trees that wouldn't have any natural mulch layer, maybe desert trees, maybe.

Rcx, starting away from the trunk about 1', carefully working inward with a trowel, compressor, garden hose.
Girdling roots can present a "sunken"/ flat spot above them, an part of the trunk outwardly-outgrown by non-impacted trunk tissue on the sides of girdle, like above a large included-bark fork.


All that said. It's gonna die, soon.

If not fungally-decayed. It's more likely strongly rooted.

 

[Bermy]

...and here 'rooted' means done for, all over, night night, buh bye. : 😂

 

[Altissimus]

In my world I really don't do PHC per say , won't touch spray work either. Decline Trees especially mature ones get trimmed and or eventually removed , using Sugar Maples as an example many times the cause is root disruption and age.

 

[FJR]

That is a tough species. Bald Cypress can thrive in all sorts of urban situations. I would like to see more pictures of the root flare on the side of the tree where the defect on the trunk is. I am also curious how high the defect goes up the trunk of the tree. Then we might be able to understand why the side of the tree is showing so much decay.

Depending on the amount of decay on the side of the tree the amount carbohydrates sent down to the root system can be severely restricted. The roots will decline because of the lack of carbohydrates, then respiration and energy production will slow down. If the roots are declining, then they will not be able support the existing upper canopy with enough nutrients and water, and as a result, the canopy will decline.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

It isn't a cypress at all, it's a sequoia sempervirens, the redwood, who loves a good suply of water and relatively moderate temps. That's why they stayed from ages ago in the low valleys of the pacific coast.

On the leaves's pics, you can see about 3 years worth of growth, each year builds one oval shape segment of leaflets. So the metasequoia /dawnredwood is out as it's a deciduous specie and it shows never more than one oval segment of leaflets.
The trunk looks in bad shape with a big dead area. It can grow over it if the problem is solved, it tries at least. But that doesn't looks good., especialy seeing the little sproots dying at the butt.

 

[lxskllr]

I've gotta disagree. Cypress has adjacent needle structure, while dawn redwood is opposite.

edit:
Had a reading comprehension failure. Sorry for the distraction

 

[TINYHULK]

It isn't a cypress at all, it's a sequoia sempervirens, the redwood, who loves a good suply of water and relatively moderate temps. That's why they stayed from ages ago in the low valleys of the pacific coast.

On the leaves's pics, you can see about 3 years worth of growth, each year builds one oval shape segment of leaflets. So the metasequoia /dawnredwood is out as it's a deciduous specie and it shows never more than one oval segment of leaflets.
The trunk looks in bad shape with a big dead area. It can grow over it if the problem is solved, it tries at least. But that doesn't looks good., especialy seeing the little sproots dying at the butt.

That’s crazy! Never seen a redwood before. They’re not native here so someone planted that. I’m curious how big it would get in this type of location. Seems to have a super fast growth rate. Would it be worth it to remove and replant the same tree or is there a better species?

 

[TINYHULK]

Feel under your feet for soil compacting, dig with a trowel, bent piece of rebar as a probe. Penetrameter (sp?).

Watering is possible.

Mulch is generally always good except in trees that wouldn't have any natural mulch layer, maybe desert trees, maybe.

Rcx, starting away from the trunk about 1', carefully working inward with a trowel, compressor, garden hose.
Girdling roots can present a "sunken"/ flat spot above them, an part of the trunk outwardly-outgrown by non-impacted trunk tissue on the sides of girdle, like above a large included-bark fork.


All that said. It's gonna die, soon.

If not fungally-decayed. It's more likely strongly rooted.

This my first learning of a penetrometer (had to Google the spelling myself 😋) is there a specific brand or two you would recommend? We do ALOT of grading and clearing jobs. Would be great to have something like that in our fleet

 

[SeanKroll]

I don't have any idea about one brand or another.


People compact soil underfoot playing. Dogs compact soil in walking paths.
Walking behind a mower during the wet season, especially a manual drive (not self- propelled)


Different soils compact more/ less easily, and are loosened more/ less easily. Moisture level during traffic is a factor.



Part of selection is knowing how it will be maintained.

Might get too hot and cold. You can/ may need to add water. You can't subtract water.

Most trees and turf hate each other!

 

[TINYHULK]

When I first looked into the penetrometers I liked how they gave a gauge of green, yellow, red. I could see myself checking soil compaction changes before, immediately after, and months later to see how it changes and is affected with our different machines. Another amateur question. What are some ways to know whether the tree is under stress due to soil compaction compared to a lack of water?

 

[SeanKroll]

Not either/ or.

 

[SeanKroll]

I work on lots of forested properties. For me, finding non- compacted soil would be easy as a benchmark, then test in the root zone.

Sell chip mulching to the customer, literally or figuratively.

Search Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott.

 

[Treeaddict]

What’s been done with the tree?

Also, is it possible that it was hit by lightning?

 

[Bodean]

All that grass…. is it clay? Redwood is a riparian tree… appreciates drainage.