Monday, July 14, 2008

Tree Issues

My post today is not about a container plant. Instead, I'd like to discuss a tree planted in front of our house. As far as I can tell, the tree in question is a Rhus lancea which is native to South Africa and sometimes referred to as African Sumac or Karee (it took lots of Internet searching to figure that out, and I'm still not certain!). It came with the house a little over three years ago as a very small sapling. Having really thrived, it now stands approximately fifteen feet tall with a spread of about ten feet.

Over the past month or so, the tree has started showing signs of stress. Many of its leaves have yellowed and dropped off, while much of the new growth appears misshapen. The new leaves look very strange, as they emerge twisted and fused together.
lots of brown leaves
new leaves look worse than the brown ones

The weird thing is, that nothing has really changed concerning the tree's care. It's on the same watering schedule as always and the weather hasn't been abnormal for this time of year. I'm hoping it's not some sort of tree disease. Maybe I just need to fertilize the thing. Any ideas?

1 comment:

DP Nguyen said...

Wow, I have no idea why your tree is sick. It does sound like a disease of some kind. Has the weather changed in your area?