One of my favorite trees is my Oklahoma Redbud planted in the backyard. Redbuds are pretty trees with their brilliant flowers in spring, then the beautiful bronze-colored leaves after that. Shade in summer, then open bare branches in winter. My tree has been growing into a beautiful shape over the last few years, too.
This year something shifted with the tree. The bloom was minimal in April and only lasted about a week and a half. Disappointing, but given our weird weather I didn’t give it a lot of thought. We’re now into July and not one single leave has sprouted from the tree.
I called a nursery to get an opinion, but no one had anything useful to say about my dilemma except to keep the watering to a minimum because without leaves too much watering will stress it. If nothing else, I can hang my hummingbird feeders.
Well today the mystery was solved. Well, sort of…
This is one of two sizable cracks in the trunk of the tree. That pretty much makes it official – the tree is kaput. 
So, now I know the tree is dead, but I have no idea why. I”m all ears if anyone has any thoughts on this. Goodbye, tree.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
When trying to figue out why a plant dies, I play the 100 questions game, (Not really 100 but It feels like it)
* How much water does it get in winter and summer? (If its too much water, it can crack the trunk, the cells litterly explode)
* It looks like its in planter, does it have a bottom or open to the soil below?
* It is posssile that a main water line is leaking under it? or sewer?
* Do you see any incects on or around it? Beetles can boring to truncks and kill it from the inside out.
* Can it be exposed to any chemicals, Pool gasses, soft water or spa/jaccuzii water? Even roof runoff can hurt plants, pollution lands and settles on the roof all dry season and then first rain all thoses checicla land in the ground, its ususally quite acidic and can burn roots – think acid rain)
*It looks grafted, it could have girdeled roots that choked itself, dig down and check the roots.
* Do the roots smell rotten or like fungus, do the roots have white growth on them?
* When you prune it, did you clean your pruner before? You can spread disieses by prunig.
*How old is it, what it the trypical lifespan of that kind ot tree?
* When you cut it down look at the inside layers, that might give a clue to bugs or disiease.
*What is the pH of the soil? if its from OK then I would like to be on the acid side.
Good luck!
Thanks Kat! There are things in your list I hadn’t considered, but I am thinking it might have been overwatered. It’s in a big raised planter, about 5 years old, drainage is good, but I did see it fill up a couple of times in heavy rain. I’ll check out the other things you mentioned, just to be diligent. So sad….
Hey Leslie and kat, good questions about the redbud tree. My heart goes out to you and the tree. The picture shows a very clean and sudden cut or crack. I sense the over watering may have contributed to weakening cellulose of the trunk. The crack looks like someone climbed into the tree and jerked it to the side or perhaps a big gust of wind. Usually when a deep crack happens at the truck it is from an area that “had” rotting bark, and minor cracks inside the crack get darker by watering and being exposed to the elements. This process is quite evident for months. But again, this looks too deep and clean. Maybe a gust from one of those low flying A6 fighters you have in coronado. Maybe a multi trunk “arbutus marina” , the truck is very strong, red bark, evergreen and stunning flower clusters . keep in touch
sir charles
Hey Chuck! Thanks for chiming in on the subject. The cracks developed suddenly, not over time. I can’t imagine it was wind because there haven’t been any leaves on it for months to get caught up in blowing wind. Yes, maybe it was a fighter jet. That makes a better story anyway! Or a really big hummingbird!
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that spot yet. I’ve come up with some “interesting” ideas, and so far Mi Esposo hasn’t made any critical remarks so apparently I haven’t gone completely over the edge with my creative thinking. I’m still too bummed out about my beloved tree.
Are you ever coming back? Maybe you’re too busy now that you are a knight.
Les
This exact same thing happened to my 4″, 12 ft. Eastern Redbud in KS at the end of the 2012 Summer. Mine has several smaller and one large crack like photo. The leaves stayed on the tree until early Fall. I planted it in the Spring of 2012. I’ve tried using wood glue to fill and seal the crack. We’ll see how this does in the Spring of 2013. The tree isn’t dead from the crack. It was a very hot Summer and the tree was well watered but I don’t believe over watered. A Redbud can take 20 gallons per week. I’ve successfully used wood glue on another Whitebud to repair and strengthen a large branch. Thanks for posting the issue. I feel your pain. Hope this helps.
Hi Bob,
Good luck with your tree. Interesting use with the wood glue. Let me know how it works out. Thanks for reading….
Leslie