Tree Health

The spot where trunk meets roots hides many tree problems. Buried flares, string trimmer wounds and wet mulch can all start decline there. Here is what to look for at ground level.

Mushrooms popping up beside a trunk after the first fall rain tend to cause alarm. Some are harmless. Others are the visible tip of tree root fungi that have been working inside the roots or lower trunk for years. A mushroom alone cannot tell you which case you have,...

A mature shade tree rarely dies the week a project ends. It thins out a year or two later, drops limbs or leans after a winter storm. By then the crew has filled the trench and finished the patio, so the cause is easy to miss. Construction root damage often sits...

A crack in the bark is easy to spot and hard to explain. Many owners call it tree bark sunscald, and sometimes the guess is close. Several other problems leave similar marks. The right response depends on which one is at work. UC guidance draws a line between sunscald...

Every winter, deciduous trees drop their leaves and look lifeless for months. Some of those bare branches will leaf out again in spring and some never will. Sorting dead branches versus dormancy is worth the effort, since dead wood can fall, while dormant wood just...

A tree that turns pale or yellow in the middle of the growing season gets noticed fast. The common reaction is to buy fertilizer. Tree leaf chlorosis, the loss of normal green color in foliage, often has causes in the soil and roots that fertilizer will not fix. UC...

Large shade trees look tough, yet long rainless summers test them. Sacramento summers bring months with little or no rain. Mature tree drought stress can build for years before the damage becomes obvious. Catching the early signs gives a tree time to recover. The...

Cutting a tree back to stubs can look like a quick fix for a tall tree. The City of Sacramento calls topping harmful and unacceptable, and the problems it creates often show up years later.

Mulch piled high against a trunk looks tidy to some eyes, yet it keeps bark wet and invites disease. UC guidance calls for a gap between mulch and trunk, and fixing a mound takes only a rake.