What can kill big trees & grass in a few days?

[Elixer]

There is a row of pine cone and blue spruce trees that have been fine for 45+ years. About 4 of each intermixed, average 38ft high.
In the course of one week, they are all brown/gray and look dead.
Grass under trees is yellow/brown, all pine needles have pretty much fallen off.
All flowers are also dead.

Anyone know what can kill trees/plants & grass in about one weeks time?
I am thinking poison of some kind.

 

[richardycc]

herbicides, someone will be building a fence where the trees were?

 

[NutBucket]

Yeah, definitely sounds like chemicals of some sort....

 

[Elixer]

herbicides, someone will be building a fence where the trees were?

No however, the plot about 25ft away does have a pool, and they have said before that the pine needles are getting into their pool. Never mind the fact that no branch is going into their property, but, on rain storms with high winds it does blow them all over the place.
So, they are the prime suspect.

 

[highland145]

Aliens or your neighbors need their house burnt down to compensate.

 

[Blain]

To kill large trees that fast would take some powerful juice. With something that powerful, I would think you could have smelled something.
Cut a section of a (formerly) healthy branch and have it analyzed.

 

[Raizinman]

Check the soil around the tree. To sabotage a tree someone might dig a hole near the tree, pour in a few gallons of a poison, and then refill the hole with dirt. Freshly dug dirt could be a sign of where to take a soil sample.

 

[turtile]

If it killed both the grass and trees that quickly, I'd assume it's a mix of glyphosate and diquat. Get it tested asap.

They had to use a pretty large amount to kill mature trees!

 

[highland145]

If it killed both the grass and trees that quickly, I'd assume it's a mix of glyphosate and diquat. Get it tested asap.

They had to use a pretty large amount to kill mature trees!

Doesn't this break down pretty quickly?




On Judge Wapner...:whiste:...one time, the defendant cut down the neighbor's trees. Plaintiff got triple damages but the $$ went way over the amount allowed by that particular court.

 

[mindless1]

Take a lot of pictures, get a police report, and find a landscaper or better still an arborist to write up a detailed survey including soil analysis at ground zero.

I'm doubting roundup/glyphosate because of the expense to pour a sufficient quantity into the ground opposed to pouring only a fraction as much into holes drilled into the tree, though looking for holes in the trees is also something to do but it wouldn't work it's way down into the grass so quickly if at all.

I'd sooner suspect plain old salt or given the pool nearby, pool chemicals.

 

[turtile]

Take a lot of pictures, get a police report, and find a landscaper or better still an arborist to write up a detailed survey including soil analysis at ground zero.

I'm doubting roundup/glyphosate because of the expense to pour a sufficient quantity into the ground opposed to pouring only a fraction as much into holes drilled into the tree, though looking for holes in the trees is also something to do but it wouldn't work it's way down into the grass so quickly if at all.

I'd sooner suspect plain old salt or given the pool nearby, pool chemicals.

You're probably right. Both chemicals would need to come in contact with the plants since they become useless once in contact with soil.

Bleach/pool bromine/chlorine or vinegar could have been used too.

 

[Elixer]

Well, had more heavy rain, so, I am guessing anything in the ground is long gone.
All that is left around the trees is lots of mud, wouldn't be able to tell if any holes were dug.
The landscaper was supposed to be here today, but, rain put that off until tomorrow.

 

[mizzou]

Take a lot of pictures, get a police report, and find a landscaper or better still an arborist to write up a detailed survey including soil analysis at ground zero.

I'm doubting roundup/glyphosate because of the expense to pour a sufficient quantity into the ground opposed to pouring only a fraction as much into holes drilled into the tree, though looking for holes in the trees is also something to do but it wouldn't work it's way down into the grass so quickly if at all.

I'd sooner suspect plain old salt or given the pool nearby, pool chemicals.

As a previous pool owner, I've never had one blade of grass die from contact with any pool water. That includes a complete discharge of the pool that included heavy doses of winterized chemicals(that include algeacide). In fact, the water still promoted grass growth.

I would talk to a certified arborist and have them do an analysis. At the very least, if it is a natural cause, you will want to know if it will or how it will affect the rest of your landscape.

 

[mindless1]

^ Contact with diluted chemicals in pool water isn't the same effect as full strength. Same thing goes for salt. I can melt ice with it in winter and not kill the grass but leave a pile of it (or even fertilizer for that matter) on the lawn and the grass around it will die.

 

[Binky]

These trees are on your property? If you can show chemicals in the soil, you might have good grounds for charging them with vandalism of some type, and maybe a civil lawsuit. It's not cheap to replace a 38 foot tree.

Sounds like a modern day Hatfield–McCoy fight!

 

[Elixer]

These trees are on your property? If you can show chemicals in the soil, you might have good grounds for charging them with vandalism of some type, and maybe a civil lawsuit. It's not cheap to replace a 38 foot tree.

Sounds like a modern day Hatfield–McCoy fight!

But, how can you prove it is the question.
Sure, they have the most to gain from those trees being dead, but, that isn't evidence.
You would need some kind of video evidence catching them in the act, would you not?

 

[Blain]

You may be freaking out over a totally natural occurrence, but you'll never know for sure unless you have a sample of the trees analyzed.
At this point the trees are dead, the damage is done. Put this thing to bed and have a sample checked.
If the trees absorbed some kind of chemical that killed them, traces of that chemical will be left in the wood.

"Cut a section of a (formerly) healthy branch and have it analyzed."

 

[Binky]

You could always plant an even more pool-unfriendly tree even closer to their property. No proof needed for that!