Sick alder
Frankie6
Posts: 85
Hi, I am seeking advice on how to perk up my alder. It is about 20 years old. It is on the edge of a pocket of soil roughly 4m square, surrounded by tarmac/road paving. I had it pruned back by a third last year as it was suffering with drought, and watering it has only limited effectiveness. For the last couple of years it has increasingly looked sickly. The younger leaves are yellow between the veins, and some leaves are stunted. It is planted in poor soil/rubble overlaying magnesian limestone/clay. I have greatly improved the surface soil in the square by regularly adding several layers of good rich imported soil. The tree is popular with birds and is the only fully grown tree on our new-build street as all the other occupants dug their saplings out, so I am keen to keep it, but not in the state it is in now! It has had chlorosis all summer.
Posts
Poor thing! It sounds like it was planted in completely the wrong place in a desert! Alder likes wet soil, give it a stream to put it's feet in and it's happy....I don't know what to suggest.....maybe dig a pond around it?
A pond isn't feasible I'm afraid - the front gardens are all tiny and open plan. I feel very sorry for it. I could replace it with a drought tolerant tree but it would take such a long time to mature, although someone nearby put a Eucalyptus in and it grew amazingly fast - too fast - and took part of their roof off one windy night, so it was chopped down. The blue tits really like it though.