Hello,
I have an eastern redbud that I planted around 10 years ago. Location is suburb of Chicago Z5b. It's been doing very well up until last spring only about half of tree had flower buds, followed by a very poor leaf out in the summer. I had an arborist onsite for some separate tree trimming in the fall, and he stated that he was seeing this in a lot of redbuds due to the previous summers drought as well as wide swings in the freeze thaw cycle we had in the spring, and it likely just needed some extra watering.
Looking at the tree now I am seeing what looks like a lot of decay through the majority of the trunk, bark turning reddish color as well as some possible dead wood and insect boring. I've attached pictures of the how the trunk/bark currently looks as well as an image from last summer showing how little leaves there were.
What's going on with this tree? Any help and insight is greatly appreciated.
by Takaman523
2 Comments
Could have been stressed, but certainly at this point it looks like it was attacked by borers, which has/will kill it
Was it previously in the shade of a larger tree that is now gone?