Can this tree be saved? (with pics)

[phil edwards]

First of all, I think it is an Elm tree. Can someone confirm?

This is my first year in this house and I notice the elm tree in my backyard has leaves+barks+branches falling in the middle of the summer. The leaves become yellowish as shown on the pictures below.

At first, I thought it caught the Dutch Elm Disease, but I didn't see any symptoms of 2mm diameter holes drilled through the bark. See close-up pictures below.

Then, I thought it was a drought issue. So I tried to dig up a tree ring and noticed there were 1 or 2 girdling roots around the bottom of the trunk. I removed them and put some mulch, but still it didn't help much.

What's wrong with it? Can I still save this tree?

Thanks,

 

[ropensaddle]

What kind of mulch is that ? It should not be against the bark ! Are you in severe drought ?

 

[Del_]

Have you been using any kind of lawn 'weed and feed' type fertilizers?

Lawn applied broad leaf week killers?

 

[ropensaddle]

Could be elm phloem necrosis

 

[phil edwards]

I didn't put any fertilizers at all. And I thought tree of this size has roots go really deep underground for water, and so it shouldn't be drought issue? Plus, all neighbouring trees look healthy.

 

[ropensaddle]

Could be elm phloem necrosis

I didn't put any fertilizers at all. And I thought tree of this size has roots go really deep underground for water, and so it shouldn't be drought issue? Plus, all neighbouring trees look healthy.

Trees absorbing roots are found in the upper soil level not deep!

 

[ropensaddle]

Droughts do not effect every tree alike and bully trees which are stressed in some way already!

 

[ropensaddle]

Note; leaf drop alone is not a death sentence, it can drop leaves and go dormant to conserve water and carbohydrates if drought stressed!

 

[ropensaddle]

In one of your pictures I see absence of a root flare was the girdling root on that side ?

 

[Pelorus]

You have a wood burning fireplace?

 

[ropensaddle]

Make some small cuts through the bark at several places around the lower trunk or buttress roots. Pry the bark from the wood so that the inner bark may be examined. If the inner bark, which lies next to the wood, is yellow or the color of butterscotch, and sometimes flecked with brown or black, the tree probably has phloem necrosis. If the inner bark is white when cut, and turns brown only after exposure to the air, the tree is probably not infected with phloem necrosis!

 

[pdqdl]

Yes, that looks like an elm to me.

I think Rope has a good idea with that problem identification. I would suggest reading this link carefully to see if a better identification of the problem can be made: https://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_dednecrosis/ht_dednecrosis.htm

In the final analysis, both diseases (Dutch elm & Elm necrosis) are pretty much fatal, un-treatable, and contagious. Once you get a more positive id of the disease, you should consider removal, so as to reduce the probability of spreading the disease to other trees.