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

If it's a deciduous it'll probably be ok and it's just shedding it's leaves early, give it some good watering. There's a bunch in the park here dropping early. If it's evergreen, water the ever loving crap out of it and hope for the best.

Thank you for all the messages, I’m surprised how upset I was/am to be honest but have now calmed down. I’ve given it bucketloads of water from our Waterbutts and also some with seaweed based plant food, so will keep everything crossed that it’s just a false autumn! I’ve shaken the tree and got rid of as many dead leaves as possible so it looks a bit happier. It’s a type of birch I think, I’ll try to send a photo. I think lots of you are right, based on how much water was in the butts my dad took a gentle sprinkling approach to watering rather than bucket loads.

It had a hydrangea next to it that looked truly dead so I’ve pruned that right back and planted a new one next to it just in case.

this is it now, when I first got back approx 1/3 of the leaves were orange…I may have overreacted…but I’m sure it stood straight when I left and now it’s bending (no wind today).

That’s a good idea, thank you

Ah - it's a birch. They have a very dense and shallow root system which typically does not send out long tap roots deep into the ground. Seaweed is okay as it is a tonic not a fertiliser, but don't be tempted to give it anything else. Just water. Loads of it. You literally cannot overwater it at the moment.

There is a group of birch trees on some council land at the top of our road and they are all drooping considerably as well.

Forgot to mention - don't just water it at the base of the trunk, water the ground for a metre or so all around it as well.

My giant 40ft Silver Birch has gone yellow and dropping leaves. I think they are just stressed but ok. So keep watering and feeding it and it might be ok. Fingers crossed for your tree.

I’d put an apple tree in its place! Looks like a silver birch? They are nice trees, but a bugger if you suffer from tree pollen hayfever! Many will be struggling in this drought, your dad may well be telling the truth with the watering, but they are a very thirsty tree!!

That tree is not dead!

The tree looks pretty healthy to me 🤷‍♀️

If you go and look around locally you will find many trees in distress. When there’s a hot summer they kind of go into an early autumn to survive and leaves turn brown and fall. I live in the New Forest and it is like autumn here and I rake my garden every day as it’s full of leaves. The tree is protecting itself and this is nature working for itself. Trees put down roots so far into the soil that they should never need watering once established. I think you owe your dad an apology to be honest.

Came on to say it'll be fine so just joining the throng. Seaweed's OKish but I always adhere to the mantra 'Never feed a sick plant.'
Oh, and the hydrangea will almost certainly bounce back too.

I've got a silver birch that is looking very sad at the moment. It's dropped a large amount of leaves over the last month. It is an established tree so hopefully it'll recover with a bit of rain.

I've also noticed my rowan has started to look like it's wilting, more worried about that as it is much younger.

Hydrangeas really suffer in drought conditions, they wilt like crazy.

something to do with their massive floppy leaves not being able to draw the large quantities of water needed to fully hydrate them.

mine suffered badly during the pandemic, I had to throw all my basins of dish water on them every day until they eventually recovered. This year I haven't - I mulch them well in the autumn and they always come back again.

I haven't watered our apple tree for about 5 years, but it's still very much alive and bearing fruit!
I'm definitely no expert, but I can't see yours dying from just one week, it's not a goldfish

It looks fine, many trees will shed their leaves in late summer in heatwaves.

It doesn't need seaweed feeding though, if it is planted into soil.

Trouble is it's got a very constricted root run which is raised above the ground, meaning it is always going to be drier. I have heard these narrow raised beds as 'plant coffins ', with good reason.

It will need a lot of water as it’s in a planter.. maybe 2 or 3 big watering cans every couple of days… maybe every day in hot weather.
You could put some kind of mulch, like a thick layer of wood chip in the planter to slow the drying out of the soil.

The heat this year was fierce. I wouldnt be angry with your dad. I'm sure he did water it, but even after a good soaking, it would have fried during the day.

Trees will drop their leaves as a survival tactic. It looks very much alive in those photos. Part of your problem is that the tree is in a planter and not the ground so its root formation is limited and generally won’t do as well as a tree in the ground. It will need way more water than a tree in the ground (my established trees haven’t needed watering at all this summer because they’ve got their roots down and established).

That trees absolutely fine.

Yes I think your tree will be ok OP. I have a c40 ft silver birch whose leaves are turning brown. Shallow roots and no rain for 2 months. Lived here 28 years and have never seen this before. We’ve al ready lost two silver birches in our garden in the last few years so keeping everything crossed for this one!

Fingers crossed yours will be ok too!

It’s only dead when the wood becomes totally brittle. Chances are it’s just become dormant and is dropping leaves prematurely to reduce evaporation of water. Wait til spring and it’ll probably come good