Alas, poor tree!
June 21, 2019 10:47 AM Subscribe
Did I kill my favorite tree?
My husband and I live on a partially forested piece of property in the PNW. We have a beautiful grand fir tree near the wood shed. It’s probably 70-80 feet tall.
It has massive long limbs that make a beautiful shelter. It graces the border between the garden spaces and the firewood space and is just a lovely thing.
Last spring we were blessed with an large collection of rounds of fresh
fir firewood. We stacked them around the trunk of this tree to season for a year before splitting. Probably a couple of cords worth.
And this spring the grand fir is dead No new growth anywhere. Just dead brown needles. It seems to have died all at once, not a branch at a time. It did not previously show any signs of ill health. It had no signs of breakage or damage in the February snowpocalypse. (Which took out a dozen other trees, the patio roof, a car, and a yurt.).
My husband points out that it did have dead branches around the bottom that he cut out a couple of years ago when we first moved in. But most fir has dead branches lower down as the tree grows upwards. Right?
My question: can you kill a tree by putting a lot of heavy firewood under it? Did I kill my favorite tree?
My husband and I live on a partially forested piece of property in the PNW. We have a beautiful grand fir tree near the wood shed. It’s probably 70-80 feet tall.
It has massive long limbs that make a beautiful shelter. It graces the border between the garden spaces and the firewood space and is just a lovely thing.
Last spring we were blessed with an large collection of rounds of fresh
fir firewood. We stacked them around the trunk of this tree to season for a year before splitting. Probably a couple of cords worth.
And this spring the grand fir is dead No new growth anywhere. Just dead brown needles. It seems to have died all at once, not a branch at a time. It did not previously show any signs of ill health. It had no signs of breakage or damage in the February snowpocalypse. (Which took out a dozen other trees, the patio roof, a car, and a yurt.).
My husband points out that it did have dead branches around the bottom that he cut out a couple of years ago when we first moved in. But most fir has dead branches lower down as the tree grows upwards. Right?
My question: can you kill a tree by putting a lot of heavy firewood under it? Did I kill my favorite tree?
Alas, it looks like it's entirely possible that piling stuff around the tree smothered the roots and/or changed the moisture they were able to access. It seems like it's a very common type of damage when doing construction. You might find it worth calling an arborist and getting it assessed - it seems like it's possible re-aerating the soil could help, if the tree has any life in it at all.
posted by restless_nomad at 11:10 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 11:10 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Trees need to have the base of the trunk uncovered to breathe, and soil compaction is really bad for a lot of species' roots, which is why construction companies will place "tree protection zone" fences around trees during renovations (and one reason so many urban trees with parking nearby die). But if your tree has died, it probably wasn't one season's worth of compaction that did it. And if you're having a slow spring it may be just still waking up.
But honestly? If you are very concerned, you might want to hire an actual licensed in-person arborist to look at your tree. Arborists are tree doctors, and just like people on the internet are not your real doctor, I don't think any of us can tell you for sure what is up with your tree.
posted by epanalepsis at 11:44 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
But honestly? If you are very concerned, you might want to hire an actual licensed in-person arborist to look at your tree. Arborists are tree doctors, and just like people on the internet are not your real doctor, I don't think any of us can tell you for sure what is up with your tree.
posted by epanalepsis at 11:44 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Your town might have an arborist, call town hall and ask.
posted by theora55 at 7:52 PM on June 21, 2019
posted by theora55 at 7:52 PM on June 21, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
Be patient and you should see growth starting in a few months:)
posted by ananci at 11:05 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]