Help! I have a 50-year-old deodar that has become ill over about two weeks time. It has dropped far more needles (brown & green) than in past years. It has a few broken branches (since about last July). Most of the branches look healthy, including those at the crown, but some look lifeless (the lifeless-looking branches are mostly the bottom-most ones). The bark on about one quarter of the tree from the base to about six feet up has a hollow ring and is apparently no longer attached to the inner trunk. A large section was peeled, revealing a few ants, small moths, etc. Does anyone know what this is? I really want to save this tree. Thanks.

Hello, I have the identical situation and found this forum searching for an answer as to whether or not to use a sealant -at least on the edges of the remaining bark.

Our tree is almost 80 ft tall. I've lived here for 20 years and this is sudden change is heartbreaking in it's implications.

I will tell you what I have found so far. It is NOT related to the most-likeky suspected cause you might hear of (the disease afflicting Monteray Pines in California for the last 10 years)- I forget the name, but it is a fungus spread by moths.
On inspection of the soil, we found honey-mold had attacked many of the roots-turning thenm to spongy-useless debris.

We are clearing the area around and under the tree (of overgrown foliage and pine needles. A nearby ficus tree had fallen over during the recent storms. It seems the mold (which is omni-present in the soils in our area- usually known as oakroot-fungus) had been traveling and working for some time, though unnoticed.

We are desperate to save the tree. If you learn anything helpful, I hope you'll share this with me.

I found something which seems to have stopped the mold (so far) and ended the weeping sap at the same time. Coal tar shampoo, in a garden sprayer, sprayed around the trunk, liberally, and also around the infested soil.
This seems to help. I don't know why, but my wife found some info from a British site which led us to this solution.
Don't ask me how- it was a long process, and my wife has a background in chemistry (she runs a lab).

We are hoping to help the tree heal itself (if it hasn'y gone too far). This tree went from full and healthy-ready for spring- to barely alive in something like a week and a half.
I wish you all the luck in the world and hope your tree makes it through this.

Do check your soil, under the dripline and inwards to the trunk. Inn our case, the mold was obvious.
The caol tar shampoo was not.
By the way- I found 3% coal-tar at Saveon. Most products are 1 percent or less and have fragrances, etc. This stuff was for serious conditions- but not for trees.
I'm sure there will be some snickering over this, but if my tree survives, I could care less how silly anyone thinks I am.
There *is* something in the coal and pine-tar acids which has something to do with our reasons for using it- I just don't remember precisely how we arrived at this conclusion.
Good luck.

In both cases, my suggestion is the same... find a local arborist to help you diagnose the problem. There are many things that can cause the loss of bark, needle shedding and dieback of branches.

Go to American Society of Consulting Arborists . Check the Referral Directory to find an arborist in your area. Note that there may be costs involved to get the diagnosis.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Carlson:
In both cases, my suggestion is the same... find a local arborist to help you diagnose the problem. There are many things that can cause the loss of bark, needle shedding and dieback of branches.

Go to American Society of Consulting Arborists . Check the Referral Directory to find an arborist in your area. Note that there may be costs involved to get the diagnosis.

Thank you for the reply. We will be calling in an arborist (regardless of the cost), although I'm not sure what an expert can do at this point. The symptoms appeared so quickly and progressed very rapidly. I'm very worried that the tree won't recover. It sounds very much like symptoms reported in the previous post, i.e., fungus. There is a distinct layer of white material just under the top layer of soil. I believe the source is from a walnut tree stump (which I thought had long since been removed) and which is now being removed, along with the infected roots and soil.
My understanding is that any infected material in/around the root crown of the deodar must be excised down to healthy bark; however, I'm not sure how much of this can be safely removed without harming the tree further. The arborist will be able to explain this, but I wondered if anyone here has any wisdom to impart, since I'm not one to sit on my hands while waiting for the arborist to come along. I just have to do something!
Also, does anyone know if a deodar that has suffered an attack severe enough to kill off the lower branches can recover? I don't know enough about tree biology to know whether recovery is possible and, if so, how to help it along. Thanks.