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My tree stood in water after the yard flooded and now it looks sick — what should I do?

Standing water or spongy, saturated soil over the root area for days at a stretch. Leaves yellowing between the veins, and wilting while the ground is still wet — wilting in wet soil is the tell — plus curling, drooping, and early drop. New shoots come in short, and some species redden early. Later: dieback at the top, water sprouts on the trunk, a sour smell from the soil, and mushrooms at the base. In severe cases soil cracks in an arc on one side of the trunk or the root plate lifts, which is a different and far more urgent sign. Roots need oxygen, and water fills the pore space that delivered it. The tree is suffocating rather than drowning, and fine absorbing roots die within days in oxygen-free soil, so the tree shows drought symptoms while standing in water. Past the root loss, saturated soil shifts chemically and favors water-mold pathogens like Phytophthora that attack the root collar. Saturated soil also grips a root plate far more weakly than dry soil does, so a tree that was stable last week may not be this week.

What to do about it

Within days. Normally a hazardous tree removal job, $800–$5,000 around Indianapolis depending on size and access.

Can the tree be kept

Depends on species and duration more than on anything you do. Silver maple, sycamore, swamp white and pin oak, river birch, baldcypress, and willow tolerate extended growing-season flooding; sugar maple, most conifers other than baldcypress, yew, dogwood, cherry, and beech are damaged quickly. What helps: get the water off — clear the blockage, redirect the downspout, cut a drainage path — then stay off the soil entirely while it is wet, because foot and vehicle traffic on saturated soil compacts it worse than the flood did. Mulch, skip fertilizer, and water through the drought that often follows, since a damaged root system cannot take up water even when it is there. Do not add soil to level the low spot; that buries the root collar and is the most common way people finish off a tree they were trying to rescue. Removal becomes the call when the root collar is decayed, conks appear at the base, or the tree has shifted.

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