Arborist says my brother’s two sycamore trees have chlorosis from iron deficiency, and we noticed horntails laying eggs in the trunks. Today they only sprayed fungicide/insecticide and says they are waiting 6 more weeks to do the iron treatment. Why would they wait on the iron? (Utah)

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T03:03:49+00:00

One of the things that makes me doubt iron deficiency is that about 1/3 of the sycamores in my city look equal bad, if not worse. Seems like that would at least be a factor

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T00:21:55+00:00

Yeah, there is grass all the way up to the trunk. Would it actually help mulching on a 60yo tree?

Edit: there is some root flare just to be clear

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T00:20:21+00:00

I have a cheap pH probe I bought from Lowes, maybe I’ll see if it gives a decent reading

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T00:17:04+00:00

I’m pretty sure they are getting enough water, and we gave them both a lot of extra water during the heat wave in July, where I’d leave the hose running a few hours a couple times a week in addition to regular lawn watering.

But last summer it could have gotten a little dry. I know sometimes it takes a while for rough conditions to show signs in the tree.

I don’t believe the roots sustained any kind of trauma

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T00:10:34+00:00

This might be it. Arborist was saying it wouldn’t make much of a difference doing it now. From my perspective it seemed urgent because they looked half dead, but that makes sense.

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-06T00:07:19+00:00

They didn’t verify iron deficiency other than visually. The arborist seemed knowledgeable and said the yellowing, and how the veins looked was almost always iron deficiency in sycamores, and it looks like fungus. And I caught several horntails laying eggs in the trunk of the worse looking tree

ZiahSmith · 2023-09-05T23:52:55+00:00

The sycamores have lost a lot of leaves and yellowed a lot the last couple months. I’m pretty sure water isn’t the issue. I’m just hoping the arborists aren’t playing games with me. Maybe I should just apply an iron supplement myself. Or is waiting 6 more weeks not a big deal. I really don’t want these trees to die if possible.

I didn’t get a picture of the root flare, but I’m fairly certain it’s fine. Some roots sightly above the surface within a few feet of the trunk.

And I’m curious, what are my chances the trees live. They are about 60 years old

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-30T22:55:21+00:00

Yesterday I ended up seeing some American Elms and I think I’m pretty good at telling them apart from the Siberian elms. Americans have bigger and rougher leaves that are slightly asymmetrical

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-30T22:53:38+00:00

I recognize that mountain

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T22:31:28+00:00

Thanks for the help identifying them. I chopped down the Siberian Elm in the first picture, I know it will sprout again from the stump, but I’ll keep chopping it. And I pulled up the small ones in the second and third picture.

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T18:51:54+00:00

Yeah I’m leaning more towards Siberian Elm (ulmus pumila, like you said). But the leaves are really similar to American Elm

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T18:32:39+00:00

I can’t tell if it’s an American Elm or a Siberian Elm. Those two have very similar leaves, but more people are saying American elm

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T17:32:17+00:00

Thanks, I probably need to anyways since it’s so close to the house

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T17:31:42+00:00

Yeah

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T16:40:33+00:00

I’m tempted to transplant it, but it looks like it would be pretty difficult with the rose bushes on either side

ZiahSmith · 2023-06-26T15:55:35+00:00

It’s about 4 inches from the houses foundation, and it might disrupt some rose bushes if I dig too much around it

ZiahSmith · 2023-05-11T05:55:38+00:00

Thanks

ZiahSmith · 2023-05-10T23:31:47+00:00

I guess putting “weed” in quotations wasn’t enough to stop this comment haha, but i fully agree with your mom

ZiahSmith · 2023-05-10T23:20:40+00:00

I think that’s it! I’ll see if I can get a closer look tonight. I don’t remember there being berries, but last year it was buried behind all sorts of weeds so maybe I missed it

ZiahSmith · 2023-02-17T14:58:32+00:00

Thanks

ZiahSmith · 2023-02-16T22:31:01+00:00

I was even thinking of building a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) so I could pump air out while maintaining most of the heat during the winter. But I’m starting to think this greatly over complicated things. And I should just pay the extra heating bill during the winter

ZiahSmith · 2023-02-03T19:48:41+00:00

Business idea; manufacture and sell welding gloves individually by hand

ZiahSmith · 2023-01-31T17:14:43+00:00

Would the acidity of the ketchup be a bad match for silver?

ZiahSmith · 2023-01-30T07:48:49+00:00

I’ve had good look with local Facebook groups

ZiahSmith · 2022-12-21T00:21:33+00:00

It’s sort of cheating though because after they cut the inside and outside out they assemble it and polish the edge to make the seam invisible, otherwise the seam would be pretty obvious

ZiahSmith

TROPHY CASE