Poorly Rowan Tree
By Hobbes
United Kingdom 
Please help we have a rowan tree which we planted five years ago, it did quite well in its first three years but last year although it did flower and produce fruit the fruit just fell off under ripe, this year there are only three sets of flowers and the leaves are very lifeless they actually look as though they are about to fall off, there is also a moss like substance on the bottom half of the trunk. Please help our blackbird looks forward to the berries.
22 Jun, 2008
Oh dear. Whatever it is, it seems to be effecting the whole of the canopy, which makes me think it might be something to do with the trunk or the roots. Has the bark been damaged? Sometimes people use a strimmer around the base of a tree and accidentally remove the bark, which kills trees. Otherwise, has anything happened to the roots? Soil piled up there, or compaction, or waterlogging? Wouldn't worry about the moss, but it might point to excess dampness.
22 Jun, 2008