Definitely a Sorbus. Damaged part of trunk has fungal fruiting bodies coming out of it, which means the wood is being rotted - I would cut it down if it were mine.

i dont see the fruiting bodies ...

my concern is the power line.. how close is it ... there may be a better site in your yard.. for a new tree ...

when ken said short lived.. that could mean.. in tree time... 25 to 50 years.. as compared to 100 ... just fyi ...

ken

Thanks to all!

@kentrees - The curled leaves are simply because it is late autumn here, it was early in the morning, and we had a couple of days of very heavy rain. They normally look very health like the rest of the tree. Other trees around are already dropping their leaves.

Would wrapping the trunk help at all? Is there any sort of treatment I could give it to help it heal?

@Ken_adrian: Th power line looks closer in the picture than it really is. There are several feet between it and the tree. Unfortunately, it can't be moved. I've appealed to the power company and city to bury the lines in our neighborhood, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

The European mountain ash in my area is, I think, commonly called Rowan. I had come across that tree in my photo searches. The only reason I doubted that was it is that the pics I found are all very full, much bigger around than this one. Would you all expect that this one is young and will grow rounder and fuller (if its trunk doesn't rot first)?

The fungus is eating dead wood, not harming the live bark or cambium. I have a couple of trees with terrible sun scorch on the south side and they are covered with fungal bodies and have been like that for a decade or so. They are off in a part of the garden that I don't see much, and every time I do, I think 'gee, that looks ugly, I should cut them down' and then I forget, as the top of the tree looks fine. If you like the tree, continue to care for it. That wound is not new. As Ken says, it is a short-lived tree, and this may shorten its life even more, but it still may outlive all of us.

Yes, it will rounden up a bit with maturity. And I wouldn't be too concerned about that damage, the tree can handle it.

Nice to see rowan leaves still nice and green this time of the year. Mine has been full of insect damage for weeks, maybe month.

I do like the tree otherwise. It is pretty and carefree. I just don't like the bottom of the trunk. Wondered about wrapping it.

Where is that fungus you are talking about? I can't see any.

Right in the center.

Don't wrap the wound, benign neglect is best.

Growing up in CT, there were a few of these trees around, they were always taller than wide, but sometimes a very heavy crop of fruit would splay them apart, much like a sticky snow or ice storm would. Invariably, the trees I watched would succumb to a heavy borer infestation in the trunk. They are attractive when young, but they don't age well, a cold climate may enhance longevity, at least in this country.

From the picture it appears that there are two power lines. One running upper left to mid right nearly over the small tree. The other, a thinner line, runs from mid left to upper right.

Several feet on a small tree means that it will have to eventually be removed or get a power company cut.

The higher lines will also be an eventual problem, but it is hard to say exactly where they go. From the picture it look like they go into the larger tree.

The leaf curling looks peculiar to me. Maybe it's your climate but here, where Sorbus aucuparia is native and abundant, the leaves don't curl up just because it's coming into Autumn. They get scruffy, change colour and fall but they don't curl up while still green.

Floral: I agree completely. I would guess some kind of weed killer damage

@krnuttle - I see what you are seeing when I look at the picture. Part of it is an optical illusion. In reality, the darker black power line that appears to skim the right side of the tree does come fairly close. It is currently about 2 feet from the branch that sticks out the farthest. So it will eventually become a problem. This is a power line that drapes from the main power lines across the yard to the top of my house to feed the house with power. Not sure how common that is elsewhere. I've lived many places in the US, and this is the only time I've seen the line from the main to the house stretched across the air - I think it's usually underground elsewhere. But in this city (I moved here from out of state 2 years ago) it is common.

The other two thinner power lines in the picture (nearer the top of the photo) are in reality at least 30 feet away from the tree and are at least 15 feet higher than the top of the tree. The photo perspective makes it look like they run through or close to the tree. Those are the main power lines, connected to poles. They are what the black power line running to the roof of my house is connected to at a pole.

@Floral and @Huggom - I will watch those leaves closely, but until today they haven't looked like that at all. They have looked quite healthy.

I do have my lawn professionally treated (fertilized and weed treated), and in fact the guy did come and spray both of those a week ago. He's been in the business for 25 years and is well respected. I can't imagine how he would have gotten any on the tree leaves. Hmmmm... if he had gotten it on or near the damaged part of the trunk, would that have done anything? It was broadleaf weed control.

If he actually sprayed rather than applied granular weed control, that is the problem. Most broad leaf herbicides contain 2,4-d which in cheap forms is highly volatile. Farmers around here use it in spring and I see leaf curl all the time. Your guy will probably deny it.

My guess is trunk damage caused by careless mower/string trimmer. Its old damage.

Kentrees, compartmentalization is an internal physiological process and can't be seen from the outside. It may be observed when the tree is cut down. What we can see on this damaged tree is simple external callus formation.

I also see the fruiting body growth but not well enough to identify it, so don't know if it's parasitic or saprophytic. Neither is a good sign, in my opinion.

spamfree, there are no treatments or wraps that you can apply to a tree wound to "heal" it. Most of them will actually make the problem worse.

Mower and weedeater damage can and should be entirely avoided by applying a generous swath of mulch all around but not touching the trunk, in a 2-3 inch thick layer.

My guess is that he used a granular weed killer on the lawn and it leached on to the roots. That's why the whole tree is affected. Ask him.

If he sprayed the lawn and some of the volatile spray hit the leaves, the whole tree would not be affected, especially high up.

Mike

spamfree, herbicide damage can occur easily, even if not intended. "Weed and Feed" products are famous for damaging non-target woody trees and shrubs, for example, but most homeowners or landscapers don't seem to be aware if it.

Broadleaf weed killers, applied as a spray to lawns, can do a number on lawn trees when the conditions are right.

I'm not saying that herbicide damage seems likely....I can't tell from the pictures....but you should be aware that it happens all the time. Even when a landscaping company has a good reputation.

It seems I've seen these with similarly curled leaves many times here. I don't think it's chemical injury, or anything else that dramatic.

>don't know if it's parasitic or saprophytic. Neither is a good sign, in my opinion<

Yep. If the fungus has developed enough to be "fruiting" it means there is a decayed area of some size inside the trunk. Whether this particular species of fungus attacks live wood itself, is going to go on to kill the tree - or only decomposes previously dead wood is therefore somewhat secondary. Right now the core of the tree already has a rotted out section right at its base.

The powerline issue is a red herring...the tree isn't going to get much taller (somewhat wider though) than it currently is. The 220V feed adjacent is high enough that even if the tree were to fall in the direction, the upper branches would bend on contact with the 220V and fall past it.

Maybe we need another pic of the trunk damage, from a different angel. I still can't see any fungus fruiting bodys. All I see is callus wood and pieces of loose bark.

Mike, the spray does not have to hit the leaves, think gasoline fumes. The farmers routinely use herbicides here on no till crops, and whole trees are affected to the tops and hundreds of feet and more away. This happens every year here, I don't know what the repeated exposure year after year will do to the trees, I suppose at least it will slow growth, besides making them look ugly.

Embo, I see it EVERY year here. Farmers spray, next day leaves are curled. Lawn was treated, leaves curled, could be coincidence or something else, but I don't know what that would be this late in the season.

Kentrees, I understand the vapor issue. It would be more pronounced in a commercial farmer's field than it would be in a suburban yard with a hand sprayer.

Sorbus aucuparia is quite common here. In most cases I treat it as a weed and pull several every month. There's a little green worm that travels in packs that skeletonizes the leaves.

Mike

Later today I went out and drove past a larger example here with the same leaf curling. It was not in a situation where it would be immediately expected that herbicide was recently applied.

But I didn't stop and go look for signs of it around the tree.

With the dry summers we have here what could be expected is that these trees are curling their leaves to conserve moisture, as dogwoods often do.

But that is not how sorbus aucuparia reacts to drought. I have seen them lose all their leaves due to drought and a bad growing spot upon rocks or similar, and they don't curl their leaves. They just turn fall color and drop.

smivies, as a former power-plant engineer, the highest, very thin line is 8000V or so. Something touching that line is obviously an issue. The lower very thin line is the earth-ground for the 8000V line (so it's near-zero volts except during a ground-fault). The lowest, twisted line is the 220V (each line in the twist is 110V at opposite polarities) insulated feed to the house. Tho it could be an issue if the tree fell on the twisted line & stressed it, the tree simply touching it won't ground it (they're insulated just like the wires in a house).

You guys are all awesome. I appreciate the attention on this.

Regarding weed spray, I should add that:

1. It is definitely a liquid spray rather than granuals - it was a weedcontrol + grass fertilizer mix, and
2. It rained heavily an hour after he sprayed, so he is coming back after 2 weeks to redo the weed control.

Regarding the trunk damage, I have uploaded additional photos.

1. Another close-up of the trunk base damage. I am facing north when taking this photo, so it is the south side of the trunk.
2. Moving slightly around the trunk to the west
3. Moving around to the east side of the trunk
4. I'm now facing south, so this is around on the north side of the trunk base
5. This is to show the condition of the trunk just above the main damage area we've been discussing
6. This is in a different spot, around eye level, where it appears to me someone removed a branch at some point, but maybe it's a knot. Hard to tell
7. This is a close-up of the V where the tree divides.

Until now I hadn't examined all these areas so closely.

OK, I see that this forum only allows me to upload one pic at a time (rather than from a bulk selection). So that one is the first one I described. Here are #2 through #7

Sheesh :-) Those were 2 through 4. Here (hopefully) are 5, 6, and 7

There is no fungus in that wound. Just let the tree handle it, a few more years and it will all be covered.

I saw one of these up in the mountains yesterday. Where could I obtain one? Really cool-looking tree.

Looks like the wound is self healing..

Yes, now that we can see better it looks like the roughness was all bark. Nevertheless the tree has a lot of wounding - trees do not heal wounds, they cover them with new bark. Inside the new outer shell any damage to the wood that occurred remains.

Seeing the one yesterday confirmed for me that I have seen Sorbus aucuparia with curled leaf margins many times here. These diverse individuals located on numerous different sites weren't all demonstrating herbicide damage. Probably pretty much none of them, in fact.

Sorbus with curled leaves

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2053340/sorbus-with-curled-leaves

@beng12 OP has already pointed that the tree isn't close to the 8kV transmission corridor. Only the 220V is in play and there will likely never be enough branch weight above the 220V line to cause a problem if the tree were to catastrophically fail (worst case).