Weeping Willow

[willowjay]

Well my poor Weeping Willow in the garden is now completely leafless. It started to lose leaves in May - they turned yellow and dropped, and every week since then we have been mowing them up. I posted on this forum earlier in the year, asking if anyone had any idea why this should happen.

It has no obvious disease, no black spots on the leaves, no damage to the trunk, no obvious dead parts to the trunk or branches. It was pruned to the crown in 2005, and has been very healthy until this year.

So, my question is - has anybody else had problems with weeping willows this year - we had a hard winter, followed by a drought - but all the other trees in our garden seem OK.

How long do they live?

[Besnard Lake]

Hello,

It's probably drought stress. Trees, if they can't support their leaf cover, will simply drop leaves early as this is a less expensive way of expending energy.

With a knife shave off a small piece of the outer bark on a largish branch. If it is green underneath the tree is alive. If it is alive and no signs of lesions, black marks on the twigs (anthracnose) or anything else untoward then have a look at it again next spring.

Best regards

Bes

[willowjay]

Thank you. I will try that this weekend. The willow often sheds small twigs in any breeze, often thin yellow live ones as well as dead bits. It has shed quite a few over the past few weeks, many half yellow, half black.

Other trees in the garden have not been affected at all. Just 15 yards away there is another willow (not a weeping willow, another species - not sure which one) which is completely fine, healthy, doing it's usual trick of wanting to take over the world. The contrast between the two is stark.

[pobjoy7]

Hello,

I have seen a lot of trees this year that are suffering from the lack of rainfall. Even though we have had some rain, the soil is as dry as dust.

In a garden situation it sometimes helps not to mow the grass underneath the crown of the tree as this creates a closed turf through which water cannot penetrate. In effect, mowing can create desert conditions for a tree. In a wet summer it doesn't matter but in future dry years, let the grass grow and this will protect the soil.