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

My tree stood in water after the yard flooded an…

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. In Whitestown — Anson, Walker Farms and The Neighborhoods at Anson included, that's normally a hazardous tree removal job at $800–$5,000. Within days.

Why this comes up in Whitestown

Boone County has recorded 34 tornadoes since 1950 — 20 deaths, 105 injuries, about $31.1 million in damage. The catastrophic one was the Palm Sunday F4 of April 11, 1965 (20 dead, 80 injured, $25M), followed by an F2 and an F3 on November 26, 1965. Since then: four tornadoes in a 33-minute window on June 2, 1990; the Lebanon F2 of May 14, 1995; the Jamestown F1 of April 20, 2004 (8 injured, $1.7M); and two EF0s near Thorntown on March 31, 2024. NWS Indianapolis also logs a July 15-16, 2024 derecho and a March 15, 2025 wind-damage and tornado event across central Indiana, though the local wind figures were not confirmed.

Whitestown's canopy

Young, planted, and legally curated rather than inherited. Whitestown's UDO Approved Plant List leans heavily on oaks and maples — white, swamp white, bur, shingle, chinkapin, Shumard, northern red and pin oak alongside red, sugar, black and Freeman maple — with sycamore and London planetree for large-scale sites, so most removals here are storm damage, construction conflict and HOA-driven work rather than failing 70-year-old giants. Ash is explicitly off the planting list for emerald ash borer and Callery pear is on the town's own Prohibited Plant List.

Boone County rules

No permit is required to remove a tree on private property in Whitestown, with one big exception that catches residents off guard: if your lot touches a recorded Tree Preservation Easement (T.P.E.) shown on the subdivision plat, the easement controls. Inside a T.P.E. you may remove invasive species, dead and fallen material, vines, and hazardous or at-risk trees and plant natives — but mowing, seeding, sodding, gardens, fire pits, sheds, fences, pools, tree houses and playground equipment are prohibited, all work must follow ANSI Z133.1 and A300 practice, and anyone who damages protected trees must replace them at minimum 3-inch caliper. UDO Chapter 5 governs landscaping for new development, and the Prohibited Plant List — which cannot satisfy any ordinance requirement — includes Callery pear, Norway maple, Amur maple, hedge maple, tree of heaven and Russian olive. Callery pear is a LOCAL Whitestown prohibition, not a state ban: 312 IAC 18-3-25 covers 44 species and Pyrus calleryana is not one of them.

The tree lawn in Whitestown

Street right-of-way is dedicated to the Town of Whitestown on the subdivision plat, but maintenance responsibility is unusually explicit here: in the Anson core-area district the UDO states outright that street trees "shall be maintained by the ownership association." Practically, in most Whitestown subdivisions the HOA — not the individual homeowner and not the town — is responsible for the trees along the street frontage, and HOA approval is usually the real gate on curb-strip work. In that district street trees run one per 40 feet of frontage (30-50 feet on center where utilities interfere), set in 5x5 tree grates with vaults, raised beds, or a road verge at least 5 feet wide.

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

Why this comes up in Whitestown

Whitestown's canopy

Boone County rules

The tree lawn in Whitestown

Crews near Whitestown

Circle City Trees

Townsend Arborcare

Bartlett Tree Experts

Trees R Us Inc.

Evergreen Landscaping of Indiana - Lawn Care/ Tree Removal / Snow Removal

MTZ Stump Grinding LLc

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