Dying Trees Can Be Deadly: Two Warning Signs To Look For

The trees surrounding your home are beautiful and majestic. However, they can also pose a serious risk to your home and your safety if they are dead or become riddled with disease and begin to die. Dead and dying trees can easily topple over during a storm or send heavy branches crashing down to Earth as they rot. In addition to causing property damage and injuries, falling trees and branches can cause death. In fact, OSHA estimates that landscaping accidents and trees kill 100 people annually. Because of the dangers dead and dying trees pose, it is essential that you become familiar with the warning signs that indicate your trees are dying. Here are two of them.

Fungal Growth

Your trees are susceptible to a number of different types of fungal growth. The presence of fungus on your trees is a bad sign. The fungus will often destroy the trees from the inside out, rotting the trees' internal support structures.

Because tree fungus typically does its damage internally, you may not even realize your trees are dying until they come crashing down. That is, unless you know what to look for. Many types of tree fungus often appear on the outside of your trees in the form of mushrooms or conks.

Mushrooms and conks are both signs of fungal infestation, although they look different from one another. Mushrooms have gills underneath their caps while conks do not. Because there are many different species of these fungi, it's important to have any growths on your trees examined by an arborist, who can assess the damage they have caused. Some fungi, like the red Ganoderma lucidum (a conk) can kill your trees in as little as three years.

Crown Dieback

The crown, or top of your tree, is made up of leaves, small branches, and twigs. If you've noticed that the tops of your trees look unhealthy because of reduced leaf growth, discolored leaves, or less woody growth (like twigs), your trees are sickly.

Several things can cause crown dieback (the loss of leaves and twigs or discoloration) including

• poor water supply to the tree
• insect infestation
• soil problems
• disease

Signs of crown dieback should be addressed immediately. If left untreated, whatever has caused the crown dieback will spread to the entire tree, causing its death.

Keep in mind that these are only two signs that your trees may be dying. Other signs, like disease and insect infestation can be more difficult to spot. Because of this, an arborist from a company like Tree Sculptors should inspect your trees at least once every three years. You should have an arborist examine your trees between inspections if you notice anything out of the ordinary. This will help to keep your trees healthy and you and your property safe from the dangers that dying trees pose.

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