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Thursday - September 25, 2008

From: The Woodlands, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Pruning, Transplants, Shrubs
Title: Survival of native yaupon in The Woodlands, TX after hurricane
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

One of my large native yaupons trees (8ft) fell away from a group during the hurricane. I have uprighted and tied it off for stability. Now the leaves are all brown and falling. Is the tree dead or dormant? Any suggestions?

ANSWER:

We are so sorry to hear about the damage in The Woodlands. In reference to your Ilex vomitoria (yaupon), determining if it's dead or alive at a distance is difficult. First of all, how exactly did the tree go down? Did the trunk crack or break, or did roots get pulled out of the ground? Often, yaupon is multi-trunked. Could the fallen portion have been a trunk that was only part of one plant? If the main trunk of the plant is damaged, cracked or broken, even if it was fairly deep beneath the surface of the soil, it probably needs to be removed. The trunk is the carrier of moisture and nutrients to the rest of the tree, and the likelihood of recovery is pretty small. Not only will it probably not recover, but various diseases and molds could attack the damaged area and then move into the healthy part of the tree.

If it appears to have been a separate tree and the roots were pulled out of the ground, you probably gave it the best chance you could by putting them back in the ground. Start by giving it the thumbnail test. Scratch the outer bark of the fallen plant in several places. If there is still green beneath the outer bark, there is some hope for the tree. It has been subjected to super transplant shock. An eight-foot yaupon could be considered to be pretty mature and to be forcibly transplanted by having its roots yanked out of the ground is obviously cause for concern. The main damage in a case like that is to the tiny hair-like rootlets on the root that have direct interaction with the soil around them. A large proportion of those have probably been destroyed, and will take some time growing back. First, as we always recommend in transplant shock, trim off the upper 1/4 to 1/3 of the tree, to cut down on the load on the roots which are trying to get nutrients and moisture from the soil up to the top. Don't fertilize, plants in shock can't assimilate fertilizer. One bright spot, as we move into Fall, woody plants tend to go into semi-dormancy. Make sure moisture is getting down to the roots, and mulch the root area to protect them from the sun and to help retain moisture. If, by Spring, you're not getting any new leaf buds, it's probably a lost cause.