Is my black tupelo (black gum) dying or just stressed?
Interveinal yellowing on high-pH soil is the most common call, alongside leaf spots, cankers, and drought damage. The point to make with a homeowner is that this tree colors scarlet in September, weeks ahead of the maples, so early color is normal behavior — chlorosis alone is a correctable soil problem, while sunken canker faces on the trunk with matching whole-branch dieback is not.
Why black tupelo (black gum) ends up on a quote here
The headline is soil pH: Illinois Extension lists it as tolerating neither alkaline soil nor salt, and stripped, limestone-influenced subdivision clay is exactly that. The result is a tupelo that looks perfect for six or eight years and then yellows every summer — and because its scarlet fall color is the best of any native, homeowners pay to try to save it rather than remove it.
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