Question by Christina: Help save my cottonwood tree?
We have a cottonwood tree on our property in MO that is at least 60 yrs old. It would take two and a half adults to wrap their arms around the trunk. There use to be two cottonwoods but Laclede gas damaged the second ones roots when digging up our yard 20 yrs ago. After the damaged tree was taken down, the surviving one stopped producing as much cotton but looked relatively healthy. Then bark started falling off the tree and at one point it was struck by lightning. The tree has healed from the lightning damage and new bark has scabbed over most of that area. Branches started dying off and it was losing more bark so I called a tree trimmer to take off the dead growth. He found that the tree had been infected with some kind of grub and that carpenter ants had invaded the tree going after the grubs. But now it’s still infected with carpenter ants and they’re making swiss cheese out of the tree. This tree is very important to our family and I don’t want to even imagine our property without it. What can be done to get rid of the ants but not harm the tree? There is also invasive Japanese honeysuckle growing close to the base of the tree. The base of the honeysuckle is at least 3″ wide. Try as I might, I can’t seem to kill the stuff. I want to use vegetation kill on the honeysuckle. The bottle says to cut the plant being killed to ground level then using a paint brush, brush on the vegetation kill. Its suppose to be safe for surrounding trees. With the honeysuckle so close to the base of my cottonwood I worry the poison will infect my tree. Any help with the ants or how to kill Japanese honeysuckle would be greatly appreciated.
Best answer:
Answer by fluffernut
Once a tree starts to decline, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to turn it around. Each and every wound on a tree, from lightning to a simple beetle nibble remains within the tree……trees don’t heal, they “scab” over….grow new tissue covering the wound, but the wound remains. Every wound is held in check (hopefully) from spreading disease/rot through the tree by chemical barrier walls. These barriers are maintained 24/7 draining the tree of energy. If the tree cannot produce enough energy to carry through the next year, certain functions are “turned off” in an energy saving measure: flowering, fruiting, growth, etc. Parts that are not fed (for one reason or another) die off……what was removed by the arborist. Not knowing that type of grub you have, it is no doubt further destroying the food storage regions and the transport tissue within the tree. About all you can do is call back the arborist and ask about systemic insecticides injected into the tree. But if you don’t have the transportation system to carry the chemical……..
The honeysuckle can be sprayed with Roundup, repeatedly, it does not contaminate the soil, only kills what it touches…….not bark. Ants can be controlled with Amdro on the soil back near their nests.
I have several old dieing cottonwoods myself. They don’t last forever. You could be taking “poles” from the younger (if reachable) wood and rooting those to carry on the tree as a new generation. However if you tree has slime flux (and I can’t see how it doesn’t) the disease will transfer with the cuttings.
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