2 out of 4 rowan trees have died - why?

[shitshowdown]

Bought house a few years ago with plenty of well established and mature trees. There was a row of 4 rowan trees, 2 a bit smaller than the others it still I’d estimate 10+ years old. 1 died the first year with another struggling. Now it’s also died. The other 2 are absolutely fine.

any ideas why 2 may have died while 2 nearby seem absolutely fine?

Hoy, dry weather? Mine have been dropping leaves early and looking pretty sad for the last couple of years and they are 30+ years old, very well established and in a slightly shaded position. They probably like it a bit cooler than it has been recently, if you are in the south, try a really good water once in a while in the summer.

Maybe they were competing for water and 2 had better roots or soil or some other factor than the other two?

Thank you that makes sense. They're south facing so in the sun all day and we had the ~37C heatwave in 2022 which probably triggered it.

I'll try giving them a good soak and hope the last 2 survive.

I had a lovely flourishing eucalyptus tree for years that sadly didn’t survive two harsh winters in a row. Our climate isn’t as reliable as it once was and sometimes plants aren’t able to cope with it.

Are they growing in a lawn? If so they're competing not just with the other trees but the lawn which can take up much more water than you'd think. You could try removing an area of grass around the trees and adding compost and mulch to keep the water in.

You might want to do an internet search on honey fungus, fireblight, and also phytopthora root rot. One or other of those could also have played a part, but I suspect that the most likely cause was that horrendously hot 40 degrees summer a couple of years ago followed by a severe winter. If they weren't in the best of health, that would have been enough to finish them off.

Trees do take a long time to die by the way, and they can be on the way out for several years before it really shows.

They don’t thrive in alkaline/limestone soil, they prefer a slightly acid/ericaceous soil. Our parish council planted loads of them and they all died, despite us gardeners of the village telling them they wouldn’t do well on limestone brash.

They are but only a small strip. I'll remove some grass around the trunks and mulch with ericaceous compost.

Thanks I'll mulch with ericaceous

The fireblight looks most like it, it was every single leaf that dried and shriveled. There are apple and pear trees nearby which are unaffected.

Here are the trees. The first to die has been chopped with just short remaining trunk.