Sad about my tree

[wafflesmgee]

I asked my dad to water my garden for me whilst I was on holiday. I have a very small garden with lots of water butts next to two raised beds and lots of pots. It takes 15 mins to water it thoroughly.

He and my mum ask the same of me when they are away, which is frequently as they are retired. It takes me an hour to water their garden properly, which I do three times per holiday for them.

I came home yesterday and my tree is dying. We have nicknamed it my fourth child, I sit and watch it with a cup of tea after a stressful day at work and got so much joy and peace from it. Now it’s dying and I’m genuinely grieving.
Part of me thinks I’m being silly, people have lost houses in the heatwave after all. Part of me is bloody raging…it’s one tree and I have water butts next to it, how hard can it be?!
I spoke to him yesterday and he was adamant he’d watered it…he thinks it will recover. Now I feel like every time I will look at it next year I’ll be angry and feel robbed of the peace of mind I need to survive my stressful job.

yabu-it’s a tree, get over it
yanbu- it’s ok to be sad and angry

It wouldn’t die that quick just from when you were on holiday surely.

It’s not dying. Give it a good soak and you’ll see a huge difference by tomorrow.

A tree does not die in a week

it may just be shedding its leaves

what kind of tree is it? We may be able to give more targeted advice 🙂

One or two weeks won't have killed an established tree. Just water it well now. Some trees have started autumn early due to the heat but this is a normal response to stress and not signs that the tree is dying.

YANBU to be upset about your tree… however more information is needed!

What kind of tree is it?
Is it in a pot or in the ground?
Is it newly planted?
Is it actually dying? The trees in my garden are looking a bit sad and a few leaves turning yellow and brown from the drought.. but they’ll survive.

Please may we see the tree?

Is the tree in the ground or a pot? Its been incredibly hot in many parts so even with regular watering, many plants are stressed and will drop their leaves. Especially if in the ground, I'd be surprised if its completed died. can you post a pic and what type of tree it is?

It’s been the heat, I water mine for ages every night and I’ve still lost some, this isn’t your fathers fault.

And yes trees shed leaves when stressed ie by extreme heat,

Are you sure it isn’t just heat stress?

Yes a tree can definitely die in conditions like this.

@wafflesmgee is it in a pot or in the ground, and what species of tree is it?

If it’s in the ground and not newly planted it will almost certainly be fine. Get a tree bag to give it a good sustained soak.

What type of tree ?

One of my massive trees is shedding its leaves months early as it did in 2022
it will recover

Another of my trees died in 2022 but took years to lose its last leaf (palm)

they vary.

Similar thing happened with a standard Salix Mount Aso(sp?) I've got in a pot. My partner's parent did come round and water everything two or three times when we were away for a fortnight. Possibly the frequency or amount of watering was insufficient. When we came back it had one green leaf, everything else was brown and crispy. I thought it was done for. It has come back though, the tips of the branches died but it's put on lots of fresh leaves. So there may be hope for your tree too. I've been giving it thorough soakings in the interim.

There is watering and there is watering.
Around here I see people sprinkling water from a single watering can around half a dozen plants (including young trees), a completely pointless exercise as the ground is so dry the water is probably not going deeper than a couple of CM (and certainly not reaching the roots).

Your tree will not be dead (unless it was struggling long before you went away).
Give it a good drink (as in a couple of watering cans) directly around the base every day and it will come back next year.

The tree is probably just shedding its leaves - it is called "false autumn". Soak it and it'll be fine, it won't have died in 2 weeks even with hot sun.

It may just be loosing its leaves early. It has been a very long hot summer. I wouldn't have thought to water a tree unless specifically told as trees are usually OK. Hope it does recover.

A lot of people have absolutely no idea how to water things properly, and give outdoor plants something approaching a mug of water every few days. No. You need to think in gallons.

With deciduous trees, it isn't the leaves you need to worry about, it's the roots. If all the fine feeder roots shrivel up (which can happen in a matter of hours sometimes) it loses the ability to drink. If it can't drink and it can't photosynthesise because it has lost its leaves, it can't produce the energy needed to recover.

We have a couple of trees losing leaves and drying out despite regular watering

I've got a 20 year established birch in the ground. Half the leaves are brown and falling off and the rest don't look good. I am 95% confident it will come back next year. The camellia in the other hand has probably gone for good, but I didn't water it enough so down to me.
If you had been watering your tree regularly I recon it's just had enough of this summer and will be back next year.

People’s idea of what constitutes watering is highly variable.

I was in hospital recently and a friend had agreed to water my garden for me.

When I came home the most vulnerable plants were half dead and it turns out the friend’s definition of watering in a drought was a light sprinkle every other day whilst mine is a good soaking daily.

It seemed more like my friend was trying to wean my plants than hydrate the poor things.

My bay tree gave up the ghost overnight a few weeks ago and now my two fuchsias have decided that they’re not up for it anymore - all happened literally overnight - in the space of a couple of weeks. The bay tree was about 12 years old. I trimmed it right back to twigs and new green shoots have come through. Going to do the same with the fuchsias later.

All might not be lost…

Most of my plants are in tubs so I gave them a good soaking each night after it went dark. I am exempt from the hose pipe ban (being disabled) but I did them at night and my garden is pretty private. I have soaked the bushes too but not the small lawn as it will recover.

There's a difference between a 'false autumn' and 'dying' and unfortunately, I think that far more trees are on the edge than people realise.

In the countryside round here (the Serengeti formerly known as East Anglia), it seems like the large mature birches are worst affected, along with field maples.

Could you contact a professional arborist to come have a look and see if they can help in any way ? I’m on holiday right now and I can’t take care of plants to save my life but I’ve really tried hard with a plant I was given for my birthday and my father in law is taking care of it. I would be quite upset to come home and find it dying. I hope your tree can be saved.