Hi guys,
I just noticed one of my trees is looking very sick... please see the attached pictures... can anyone tell me what this is and what could I do to help it get betteR?

I'm not very knowledgeable about trees, so any help would be appreciated .. I don't know what kind of tree is it. but I'm worried about it spreading to other trees.

Is this bad?? How can i prevent this from spreading>?

 

Take a pic of the leaves. We would need the tree type to help you better.

Looks like it was hit with say a mower. It could a disease... Canker?

 

Hate to say...that looks like a goner. You have extreme damage to the several layers of the trunk and wood and apparent mold/moss growing.

There may be some specific disease, but we don't know the species of tree. Looks more like major weed whacker or lawnmower damage that the young tree couldn't recover from.

Do sprinklers wet that area?

 

dang it! i was fearing the worst... here's a picture of the leaves / rest of the tree... as far as i can tell the leaves look normal

i don't remember hitting it with the lawnmower, the "scar" is pretty high off the ground so i'm not exactly sure how it could've been damaged

there are no sprinklers in the area... the picture is wet because I was hosing it at the time..

 

here are some pictures of a nearby tree where i can see some "cracking" in the trunk.. I'm worried it may be starting to get sick. too, do you guys see any reason for concern on this one>

 

I'm not sure but i think the sickest tree is an oak tree of some sort... and the other an ash something tree... i'm in central texas so i think they are common around here...

 

The bigger pics help. Those are young trees. Much smaller than I thought. If the leaves are ok and not dropping...just let it go for another season.

Depending on how long they've been in...you should be watering around the perimeter...not directly at the base of the trunk. You want the roots to grow outwards.

Yes..the one with the damage is an oak...not sick..just damaged. The leaves look fine.

Can't tell on the other one...but it could be just heat stress...where are you located?

 

Hard to tell but it looks like it was maybe planted too deep, can't see the crown. Big no-no, can lead to rot which could be the problem there.

Another thing is mulch. When I planted my maples I cut a piece of cardboard 3' across with a hole in the middle and a slit to the outside so you can slide it around the trunk.

Mark around the cardboard and remove all grass/sod in the circle then mulch 2-4" deep, keeping the mulch a couple inches away from the trunk....it will rot if it can't dry out.

Mulch will help retain moisture for the roots and keep them cool. Seems I've heard Texas gets a little warm now and then.

I use bagged cypress mulch which looks nice and tends to stay put.