Mature American Elm appears stressed

[Hoosier_Mom]

I have a large American Elm tree very close to my house and barn. We had an exceptionally cold winter (-20 to -30 for several days) then an early warm spring with a late freeze. Several trees and shrubs suffered but appear to be rebounding. The spring freeze occurred after most plants and trees were beginning to bud out, and the buds were killed.

The elm tree dropped a lot of yellow leaves early in the spring, but then stopped that. It leafed out pretty good, but yesterday was windy and it lost a good bit of green leaves. Consequently, the canopy isn't as full as usual.

I live in a rural area, and I'm having a heck of a time trying to get an arborist out here. I'm wondering if I should try to fertilize it to strengthen it. It's about 70' tall, with an 80' canopy. The circumference is about 13'. It needs to be limbed up, as it's nearly touching our roof.

Could you look at the pictures and tell me if there is any appearance of disease? How would I go about fertilizing such a huge tree? Is fertilizing a good idea? We're located in Southern Indiana.

 

[Raintree]

Your elm appears to be doing well, no signs of flagging in the canopy. Hard late frost is most likely the reason for the reduced leaf size. Best to take a soil sample before any action with the fertilizer.

 

[Hoosier_Mom]

Thanks for that! I'll do a soil sample for sure!

 

[Slicksty6]

What a majestic tree! You'll want to save it for sure..
Does there appear to be any limb dieback or is it mostly leaf litter?

 

[Hoosier_Mom]

What a majestic tree! You'll want to save it for sure..
Does there appear to be any limb dieback or is it mostly leaf litter?

There are a couple of dead limbs, but that's not new. We had lots of yellow leaves fall 2-3 weeks ago, but that stopped. I wish I could get an arborist out here to do preventive measures against Dutch Elm.

The barn is actually a Mail Pouch Tobacco barn. There are pictures of it all over the internet, and this tree is in every picture. It's a beautiful tree, and I really want to keep it healthy as possible. I've read that it's almost inevitable that it'll get Dutch Elm, but it's got to be 75-100 years old at this point.

We need to limb it up. Everything I've read is to wait until fall or spring for that. Which is better?