Hi colleagues,
Could you help me with this case:
location – Moscow, Russia;
weather conditions – too warm and rainy for a normal November and December, in fact, the warmest and the rainiest for the whole period of observations; too early spring; too hot for may, in fact, the strongest drought for the whole period of observations;
problem trees – Tilia cordata (one tree, not planted) and T. americana (one tree, recently planted);
symptoms – T. cordata looks like an elm in acute form of DED (only looks like – it didn’t get its normal fall leaf color and didn’t shed its leaves in fall, now it’s alive), T. americana looks like it is injured by 2,4 D-based herbicide or something like that; other lindens in the area don’t show this symptoms, in fact, I’ve never seen such symptoms on lindens before (I work from 1992), nor my employee (she works from 1978);
client says he’d never used herbicide or any other –cide.

I have photos of their general views and leaves and I try to attach some of them:

Липа_с._для_поста.jpg (167 KB, 71 downloads) T. cordata general view

This is T. cordata leaves:

Tilia_cordata_leaves_01.jpg (288 KB, 111 downloads)

Tilia cordata 'leaf'

Tilia_cordata_leaves_02.jpg (206 KB, 154 downloads)

T.c. twig

Tilia_cordata_leaves_03_small.jpg (109 KB, 65 downloads)

T. americana leaf

Tilia_americana_case_01.jpg (160 KB, 73 downloads)

T. a. branch and stem

Tilia_americana_case_02.jpg (201 KB, 73 downloads)

T. a. twig

Tilia_americana_case_03.jpg (171 KB, 69 downloads)

T. a. general view

Tilia_americana_case_04_small.jpg (177 KB, 72 downloads)

This looks very much like phenoxy herbicide damage, such as 2,4-D. The epinasty or curling of the leaves and the long pointed spikes at the edges are characteristic of this type of herbicide. Is it possible someone tried to poison the tree?

Not much you can do to treat this problem. Activated charcoal can be psread around the tree, if the herbicide was broacast over a wide area. Water only sparingly, and only when necessary. Do not apply fertilizers or other soil treatments for at least one year. Stimulating the tree could make it worse.