Yes Bob - I noticed today that there are root like growths actually on the surface of the soil - we put the trees in about six years ago - they were the first we planted when we moved here and got the garden going but they were not very small saplings - probably about 12' tall at that time. I guess we are going to just have to grit our teeth and call someone in, less we lose all of them but thanks for the tip.
Good morning Bob - getting obsessed with the situation now - but when I went out to put the bird food out, I looked at the tree and moved some of the soil- seems to be okay, and the roots on top of the soil were from a fruit tree, but I did notice this am that there were slugs of all things climbing the bark at the bottom of the tree and apparently feeding! We did have on hawthorn which never really flourished, and all out problems seem to have started when we followed a grower's advice and moved it to a different place in the garden. We had hoped not togo to the expense of hiring an expert, but it looks like we have no choice.
Hi Lulubella, You may be lucky enough to have some kind of gardening club in your area - worth a google. There are often very experienced folk at these and many will be happy to be paid with a cup of tea and bit of cake!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Well, Bob - so much for the guy from the local gardeners association - I knew more than he did, I think! he noticed that the laurel tree trunk was black and thought that that also was diseased - but that trunk is always a much darker brown than anything else in the garden and is rock solid - it has always had a split trunk as long as we have been here, and is still growing strongly. (It was just a huge shrub, but we took a tip from Highgrove and chopped all the lower branches off to make said shrub into a tree). He brought the Gardening Expert book on Pests and came to the conclusion that the problem was somesthing whose name I cannot remember except that it began with a P - but the description was nothing like what we have got. Husband chopped half the hawthorn tree down and will dig the remaining trunk and root out tonight so that at least if it is the honey fungus we are removing the host. When we had the tree onthe ground, chopping it up for disposal, some of the leaves looked fine but most of it looked complely dead - as if it had been poisoned. We do know that the people who cut the field at the side of our garden put weed killer down the edges where it abuts to us, for ease of cutting, and we cannot help but wonder if some of it has affected our tree - but then, would it not have affected all the blackberries that we have climging up the same fence, but in a different part of the garden? We also but up to a a woodland area which belongs to a Govt Dept and cannot be touched, so we also wonder if something has eaten the roots where they might have spread into this area. I guess we are just going to have to bite the bullet and call in the experts but, in the meantime, when we have got all the root out we will spray the soil liberally with Armilladox (I think thats what it is called) to sterilise it. Said man had not a clue about the apple tree, but it is still fruting nicely so we will hang fire for a while with that and see if it recovers. Watch this space!
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Yes Bob - I noticed today that there are root like growths actually on the surface of the soil - we put the trees in about six years ago - they were the first we planted when we moved here and got the garden going but they were not very small saplings - probably about 12' tall at that time. I guess we are going to just have to grit our teeth and call someone in, less we lose all of them but thanks for the tip.
Good morning Bob - getting obsessed with the situation now - but when I went out to put the bird food out, I looked at the tree and moved some of the soil- seems to be okay, and the roots on top of the soil were from a fruit tree, but I did notice this am that there were slugs of all things climbing the bark at the bottom of the tree and apparently feeding! We did have on hawthorn which never really flourished, and all out problems seem to have started when we followed a grower's advice and moved it to a different place in the garden. We had hoped not togo to the expense of hiring an expert, but it looks like we have no choice.
Hi Lulubella, You may be lucky enough to have some kind of gardening club in your area - worth a google. There are often very experienced folk at these and many will be happy to be paid with a cup of tea and bit of cake!
Thanks for the tip Bob - got a guy from the local gardening association coming around tomorrow pm - if he can help I willl let you know what he says.
Well, Bob - so much for the guy from the local gardeners association - I knew more than he did, I think! he noticed that the laurel tree trunk was black and thought that that also was diseased - but that trunk is always a much darker brown than anything else in the garden and is rock solid - it has always had a split trunk as long as we have been here, and is still growing strongly. (It was just a huge shrub, but we took a tip from Highgrove and chopped all the lower branches off to make said shrub into a tree). He brought the Gardening Expert book on Pests and came to the conclusion that the problem was somesthing whose name I cannot remember except that it began with a P - but the description was nothing like what we have got. Husband chopped half the hawthorn tree down and will dig the remaining trunk and root out tonight so that at least if it is the honey fungus we are removing the host. When we had the tree onthe ground, chopping it up for disposal, some of the leaves looked fine but most of it looked complely dead - as if it had been poisoned. We do know that the people who cut the field at the side of our garden put weed killer down the edges where it abuts to us, for ease of cutting, and we cannot help but wonder if some of it has affected our tree - but then, would it not have affected all the blackberries that we have climging up the same fence, but in a different part of the garden? We also but up to a a woodland area which belongs to a Govt Dept and cannot be touched, so we also wonder if something has eaten the roots where they might have spread into this area. I guess we are just going to have to bite the bullet and call in the experts but, in the meantime, when we have got all the root out we will spray the soil liberally with Armilladox (I think thats what it is called) to sterilise it. Said man had not a clue about the apple tree, but it is still fruting nicely so we will hang fire for a while with that and see if it recovers. Watch this space!
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