Q:Β I live in Barrio Santa Rosa and have two massive Aleppos that were planted on my property in the early 1950s. I have noticed recently that many of the lower branches on one of the trees are dying.Β I am seeing brown needles throughout the tree, but not a lot. These trees have defined our property and it looks like they may have fallen victim to the bark beetle. One of the trees looks fine; the other I can see a dozen of the lowest limbs dead. This one has brown leaves sporadically throughout, but mostly at the bottom, not at the crown.
I have had the entire property on drip for 15 years or more, so I always considered them adequately watered. Also, the gutters from the roof drain into this part of the yard. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. What Iβd really like to hear you say is that they just need a bit more water!
A:Β Your trees donβt appear to be infested with bark beetles from the photos. The holes look like woodpecker damage and the dead branches in the crown of the tree are normal as the trees age. It would be good to hire an arborist to climb the trees and cut out the dead and damaged branches both to clean it up and also to prevent dead limbs from falling and hurting you or damaging your property. Watering these large trees is difficult because the root zones extend two to three times the height of the tree. You are likely not getting water to the absorbing roots at the end by using a hose. The best you can do is drip irrigation with emitters arranged in a circular fashion outside the drip line of the tree. The schedule for watering should be every seven to 14 days in the summer, every 10 to 21 days in the spring and summer, and every 14 to 21 days in the winter. The water should reach a depth of 24 to 36 inches each time and you can use a soil probe to determine how deep the water is going. So itβs not time to give upΒ
Peter L. Warren is the urban horticulture agent for the Pima County Cooperative Extension and the University of Arizona. Questions may be emailed to
