paul hill
ArboristSite Operative
About 4 1/2 years ago I planted a California Pepper tree that took off like a weed. It was about 6-8 ft tall and came in a 15 gal bucket. Watered and fed it and I could't hardly keep up with the trimming. Then, about 1 1/2 years ago it started looking sick. It started in about November of 2001. It started losing leaves rapidly and in a month or so it was bare. In sping it started to leaf out again but several large limbs and many small ones never came back. Trimmed out the dead stuff and waited. It stayed green through the summer and grew a little bit but not like it had. Again this winter it started losing leaves but only on certain branches.This spring, same as last, leaves never came back on those limbs, Tree is starting to look nude for all the dead stuff being trimmed out. Was told by a local nursury that it was to cold in my area for this tree. I know of several others within a 1/2 mile that look great. The other reason I'm skeptical about this is the first couple of winters it was planted were much colder that the last two. I have pictures of the tree covered in snow. I know that's not normal for this tree but the cold only lasted a few days and the snow only a few hours. The lowest it ever gets in my area is about 20 degrees but thats rare and doesn't last long. It's usually 30 to 40 at night for a couple 3 months. Any ideas?
