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  Geoffrey King June 11, 2012 at 11:46am

  Maybe the more unusual weather we have had, has been too much for it.
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  Pip Howard June 11, 2012 at 12:22pm

  I'm very interested to find out more about this - were the trees cultivars? What are the distances between the trees? were they in the same soil mass? and where did they origin? I think it far too much of a coincidence and would be tempted to call in the FERA guys - Rowans are very hardy and adaptible to harsh growing conditions, this is a bit scary.

   http://fera.defra.gov.uk/contactUs/contactPlh.cfm
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  Robin Richardson June 11, 2012 at 6:49pm

  Hi Pip,

  The two Rowan trees near my house are either side of the house and about 120foot apart.

  The one in the back garden did use to produce a lot of suckers at the base until last year. It produced a superb autumn colour display but never produced any leaves this year and on inspection was totally dead when I started to explore. I have saved the larger branches for a friends wood burner.

  The one in the front garden is dying and has most of the bark just falling off. My cats love them as scratching posts. The council tree aborist did appear 3 weeks ago when I was loading up my van so I asked his opinion. He said it was the first tree he had to condemn but could see no sign of fungii or bootlaces. But there were some last autumn in the small 2 foot square of soil left bare within the tarmac.

  The 3rd tree was about 3-4 miles away and I intend to look at other gardens but trees are rare in gardens as most of my neighbours do not like them and prefer a small sunken lawn surrounded by concrete paving and a bungalow/shed at the bottom of the garden.
  
  Pip Howard said:

  I'm very interested to find out more about this - were the trees cultivars? What are the distances between the trees? were they in the same soil mass? and where did they origin? I think it far too much of a coincidence and would be tempted to call in the FERA guys - Rowans are very hardy and adaptible to harsh growing conditions, this is a bit scary.

   http://fera.defra.gov.uk/contactUs/contactPlh.cfm
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  David Cox June 11, 2012 at 7:00pm

  I remember reading a journal a while back regarding street trees :-

  Rowans were found to be very prone to root-death under tarmac and hard surfaces which got direct sunlight as the soil reached (relativly) high temperatures, however where the canopy shaded the ground this did not occur. The article made reference to the shallow(ish) rooting nature of rowans and their habitat often been cooler, shallower soils, and this being what they were evolved for.

  IF I remember correctly, The problem was most found in fastigate and white berried cultivars - I am trapsing through My PDF collection in the hope of finding the article (1000000's to go through)
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  David Cox June 11, 2012 at 7:07pm

  Further to my above post - I've found my txt file with Links to other forums discussions: -

  If anyone else recalls the article in question please let me know? I think ive saved it with an all numbers file name (e.g. 123546.pdf) so finding it is going to be slow.

  http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/8603-whats-up-rowans.html

  http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/9269-sudden-dieback-row...
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  Gareth Wilson June 11, 2012 at 7:08pm

  If the disease seems to be killing mountain ash (Sorbus ) in very close proximity to each other then it could be a problem. I've seen seen similar cases over the years but they were isolated. Close monitoring of the situation is required. If any more case are recorded then I would certainly get on to the RHS.
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  David Cox June 11, 2012 at 7:16pm

  edit:

  Ive attached an article on Rowan root structures which may help understand how they can be vunerable on heavier soils due to shallow roots (IE london clay, drying out over the dry winter and dying in spring is a possibility that springs to mind)
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  Pip Howard June 11, 2012 at 7:19pm

  This ties in with the spate of Sorbus cultivars coming in during the 80's - the ultimate street tree! If as arbtalk suggest and also recently I was asked about a row of Sorbus, but aria,  in North London which had all died off it seems they have just lived a life that wasn't fit for what they were touted to do.

  Thanks for links. 
  
  David Cox said:

  I remember reading a journal a while back regarding street trees :-

  Rowans were found to be very prone to root-death under tarmac and hard surfaces which got direct sunlight as the soil reached (relativly) high temperatures, however where the canopy shaded the ground this did not occur. The article made reference to the shallow(ish) rooting nature of rowans and their habitat often been cooler, shallower soils, and this being what they were evolved for.

  IF I remember correctly, The problem was most found in fastigate and white berried cultivars - I am trapsing through My PDF collection in the hope of finding the article (1000000's to go through)
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  David Cox June 11, 2012 at 7:29pm

  Pip - thats okay.

  
  I've also attached a more recent PDF file - which includes some material on Frost and drought issues with some mention of rowan. Given the recent Dry cold weather (winter) we have had, that could certainly have caused alot of stress for an urban rowan. (Hot dry summer, Cold Dry winter - quick dessication).

  Alot of people do not realise that the one of the most common cause of cold-related death in trees is drought stress and de-hydration - and we've certainly had weather combinations over the past few winters which could cause this stress.