Question From: D. Frye - ILLINOIS
Q: Our crabapple tree leaves had tiny holes all over the tree last summer - although they did not change color or fall off. We are in the Chicago area and there was drought. There were no spider webs or anything else we could see as far as bugs or the like. It is somewhat close to a retention pond - with geese and ducks if this might influence anything. (However the pond pretty much dried up last year) one branch died at the end of the summer - and quite a few more are dead now. What caused the leaf damage and is the same thing causing the branches to die? Should we do anything special when trimming the dead branches? The tree is maybe 10 - 12 years old now - although we have only been here 2 years. Please let me know if you need any further information - we would like to save the tree if we can learn what to do. Thank you very much.
Watering it weekly is a good start. I recommend you have a certified arborist do an onsite inspection. The drought was very tough on trees and treating for unknown problems can do more harm than good. Best And Happy Yardening, Nancy
