Symptoms are beginning to appear on trees stressed by the continually saturated soils. The idea soil has some pores occupied by water and others by gases, but the continual precipitation has altered this balance and oxygen has been displaced by water. As soil oxygen levels drop, roots absorb less water and elements and eventually the fine roots begin to die. Oddly enough, the trees are beginning to suffer from the lack of water while standing in water!
– John Ball, Forest Health Specialist SD Department of Agriculture, Extension Forester SD Cooperative Extension
One of the most common symptoms of saturated soils is premature autumn color change to the foliage. I am already receiving pictures of maple trees that are turning red. Many of these trees have been standing in wet saturated soils is premature autumn color change to the foliage.
The information above is an excerpt from the July 10, 2019 | Vol. 17, no. 21 Pest Update published by the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and South Dakota State University.
Read the entire report here
Topics covered in this Pest Update:
- Wet soils and trees
- Emerald ash borer update – the woodpeckers strike back
- Cicadas
- Dog vomit fungus
- Pear slug
- Brookings County (bacterial blight on lilac)
- Butte County (Kabatina twig blight)
- Faulk County (herbicide on hackberry)
- Minnehaha County (follow up on pine wilt sample)
- Pennington County ( verticillium wilt on catalpa)
- Turner County (dying spruce)