Half dead trees after winter. How do I fix them ?

last year

last modified: last year

Not sure what caused this disaster but we noticed this in the spring. I have not done anything yet because I was hopping some of the branches might come back.
I was told it was a fungus but I am not sure since it is not progressing
Most of the below pictures are from my backyard, excepting the big tree above the roof ..that is in on adjacent property. I have three potted Euonymous plants like the one you see below, all killed

Mild winter followed by sudden temp drop is the other thing that I suspect it might caused this. It also selectively killed only one species of the ornamental grasses that I have in my backyard, see the last picture, marked with red arrows

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Embothrium

last year

last modified: last year

It's quite abnormal for a single kind of fungus to sweep through an individual planting site and damage a variety of unrelated plants. It is normal for a killer winter to hammer a variety of unrelated plants throughout a region. With the low temperature effects manifesting as complete to partial top death. And the most secure followup response being replacement with significantly hardier kinds of plants - sharp winters do not come on a predictable schedule and if it happened once it's going to happen again. Be it 30 years from now or 3 months. With how long currently damaged plants have been in place without showing the same effects having no significance whatsoever if they have never previously been exposed to the same level of cold.

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Comments (15)

L Clark (zone 4 WY)
last year
Unfortunately, if this is freeze damage, there is not much you can do other than give exceptional care to your plants and hope for the best. A couple of your trees look very bad and I

m not sure if they are salvageable.

I had 19 degrees on May 20th this year and some of my plants got damaged pretty badly. Early and late freezes are the worst for plants.
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
I was hopping there are some procedures or ways to cut the dead branches and train the remaining to make the tree look good after such an issue.
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Tornado, our spring was early but not and overabundance of moisture during the winter.I live about 35 miles west of KC,and yes these trees are suppose to do well in this area. Famartin, I have never done the scratch test any certain part of the branch should I scratch? Near where the branch meets the trunk? I will wait awhile before I trim but they sure look like crap in my yard. Someone told me years ago that if you trim a little off of the tree it will help stimulate the growth but I don't know about that, has anyone ever heard of this? Thanks for the response guys and have a nice day. Jimnks
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It's not clear which part of the tree is dead - you've positioned in front of trees outside which didn't help either, but the whole tree looks the same to me - what part do you think is coming back to life? You say the tree was drying out, but I bet anything it was watered like a house plant by the 1st owner and that's probably what killed it, or at least part of it. Olives like to get pretty dry between waterings (think of their native homes). Just curious - why exactly do you think it's dead? Have you scratched the trunk and seen green or brown underneath? Or are the leaves in fact really dry and dropping? The first thing I'd do is cut back those branches by half, at least, and then stop watering (if you've been doing that) and come back in a week and tell us what's happening. There likely won't be a lot of new growth yet, but I'm curious to know if things change at all... right now there's not much to go on.
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callirhoe123
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Remove the dead branches and see if what's left seems worth salvaging, Seems, though, that these species are nopt hardy enough for your area's winters, I'd plant something that is.
cecily 7A
last year
The redbud may releader and turn out fine. The Japanese maple is pretty badly damaged, I'd remove that one.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
where are you.. big city name ...

when planted.. what are the trees..

if planted in summer last year.. how planted... how cared for .. etc.. ALL PERTINENT HISTORY..

other than showing and describing that they are damaged.. you havent given us anything to work with ..

it is not not some random fungus attacking everything in your yard... simply unheard of.. period.. most likely suggestion by the fungus remedy guy...eh...

you have waited long enough.. all dead material is properly pruned out.. period.. itss a very simple idea.. and of little mystery .. just prune it out...

tree time is counted in decades.. so it might take a few years for your trees to recover.. and in the meantime.. you will have to do some maintenance pruning to shape it ...

but a good par of hand pruners.. and a tree saw ... good tools make jobs easier ... i like felcos ...

all trees releader.. period.. no mystery to it.. the only downside is.. sometimes it creates more than one.. so you prune out extra leaders.. just like the growers who pruned your trees for sale...

now give us the full history... as lane suggest.. i am thinking you dont know what a bad winter is.. and that isnt the issue in any sense.. and winter doesnt cause fungus... so lets go nero wolf on this.. and figure it out... real winter starts where your ground freezes solid for 4 months .. if it doesnt.. it isnt a severe winter.. and its low odds that is the issue ...

if you have any warranties.. exercise them now...

my best guess.. improper planting.. perhaps in the wrong season.. with improper followup care.. including deep watering to maintain truncated roots while a recent transplant regrows lost root mass ... see primer below..

are there any facts to support my supposition????

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
btw.. if that one pic indicates the plant is in the power lines.. the tree should be removed ...

might be a camera pic though ....

ken
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
The Japanese Maple Tree has been there for years (around 4-5 at least). Unlucky tree, it survived a fence falling on it a few years ago. It never had problems in the winter

The red bud was planted a year ago and it was affected by some improper watering so this one might be my doing .

@Ken -can you comment on the other plants affected (see the pictures)

The plant is not in the power lines that is an internet provider cable (low voltage)

I am in Toronto
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Well, the Eunoymus is stone dead. Nothing you can do about it. The pot is infested with Oxalis so don’t tip the soil on your garden.
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
Oxalis is another problem I am fighting but that is another story.

I asked for comments on the vein of "fungus vs freeze caused issue".

I am not sure if those grasses are prone to the exact fungus that supposedly attacked everything else. I am seeing different plants attacked at the same time so it is either a common fungus or the weather. Now I am not sure how fungus would propagate from one plant to the other (they are in different areas without affecting others in between (ex it skipped the other species of grass or it jumped from the south edge of the property to the patio which is central close to the edge. I also have some climbing roses that I totally forgot to mention (those died back but are relatively fine -the plants are growing like crazy trying to catch up with the roots)
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Like Ken, I think the fungus story is a red herring. The Euonymus, being in a container, could have suffered cold damage although it is very hardy. You don’t say how low the temp went. But it could also be a water issue. No way of telling from photos. You asked how to fix them, and for the Euonymus the answer is that you can’t.
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
The subject line says trees. Euonymous is not a tree so obviously I did not ask how I can fix those and I did not hope that a dead plant can be "fixed"

I could suspect watering gbut I did not water my neighbors tree. That one was affected too.

I do not remember the temperatures but it was like late warm fall for a few days and then it dropped below zero

https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/12/toronto-broke-heat-record/
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Yes, the subject line said trees. But you wrote about your 3 Euonymus and included a picture of one. My mistake was to assume that meant you wanted to discuss them.
Dutch
last year
I would not dismiss the possibility of a fungus. Japanese maple/ Acer palmatum and Cercis / Redbud are reasonably prone to verticillium wilt. If someone showed me the above pictures of the Acer palmatum and Cercis my first guess would be verticillium wilt. Unfortunately, there is little you can do about verticillium wilt. If you prune the dead branches of the Acer and Cercis you should disinfect your pruning tools.

What tree do we see in the first picture?

What kind of grass do we see in the last picture?
ivan_turbinca_2
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
don't know the exact answer to any of those

The tree is not mine but it is some Canadian species of evergreen which I have seen in my trips in Ontario

The grasses were bought long time ago and we propagated them for years (what you see there originated from one small pot of each) they looked very good before they died, you could not see the horrible fence which I am waiting for my neighbor to agree so we can replace it ("the wood is too expensive this year")

Half dead trees after winter. How do I fix them ?

Embothrium

Comments (15)

L Clark (zone 4 WY)

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Half dead trees after winter. How do I fix them ?

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