Is Kevin's Redbud dead?

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Ah, it's spring and the redbuds are in full bloom, like the one at St. Mark United Church of Christ.

There is however, something terribly wrong with my redbud. It's barely showing any signs of life.

So, I called on my friend Jim Luzar from the Purdue Extension Office to see if he had any ideas on what was wrong.

Unfortunately, he did.

Jim says, “Live limbs should not be brittle. We should be able to do the pinch off here. Very brittle, very dead.”

Going on, Luzar says, “Definitely this tree has some die back issues. And that's not going to be cured by fertilization…by pruning…plant nutrition…hormones, or other ways to soup this tree up. It's definitely on its way out.”

Then, Jim dropped the bomb, “So my prognosis is I would take it out at some point…whether it's this spring or this summer…I wouldn't plan on it being here this fall.”

Jim tells me my trees aren't the only ones suffering. I know what I have to do.

As for you, you can contact your own local extension agent to see if your sick trees are worth saving.