Q: Help! My lace bark elm has suddenly turned brown. It was green then in a weeks time it turned yellow and then brown. What happened and what can I do?
A: The bad news first, there is nothing that you can do. The tree is most likely dead. What had happened is that most likely the tree has died from a soil disease called “cotton root rot”. I know that this was an elm tree not a cotton tree, but that is what the fungus disease is called that killed it. This disease is in the soil of central Texas and Lace bark elms and most other non-native elms are susceptible to it. All you can do is to replace it with a non-susceptible tree such as the native Cedar Elm or a non-native adapted tree such as Chinese Pistache.
SUSAN ABLER says
I live in close by to the dead tree. Will my tree become infected?