Phil Hawkins

Hi all, new forumer here...! We have a problem with one of our beech trees, which was planted along with another beech and 2 hornbeams in September 2015 (all 4 are pleached). At first, it was one of the strongest looking of the 4 and did very well for the first year it was planted. However, the following autumn the leaves turned brown and dropped quite quickly (whilst the other 3 turned brown more slowly and then held-on to their leaves most of that autumn/winter). The following spring (2017) it was very slow to bud and come into leaf and then, again last autumn, lost its leaves quickly. This year it looks almost like a junior tree - the leaves are small, sparse and light green, rather than the thick bushy large dark green leaves of the trees next to it (see pictures). It seems to be keeping pace with the other trees in terms of height, trunk size etc, but I fear we’re slowly losing it. It’s been watered well (certainly no more or less than the others) and I can see no outward signs of disease. Any thoughts, please, on why it’s struggling and what we can do to bring it back up to full strength again? Many thanks in advance for your help & advice!!