City of Toledo working to find out why newly-planted trees in city are dying

The city is working to find out why the trees are not taking and may have to replace some of them come fall.

TOLEDO, Ohio —

Some green dreams for Toledo are turning into more of a brown reality.

Trees planted by the city earlier this year are already dying. It looks like autumn in some parts of Toledo, as some trees that were planted just a few months ago have browning leaves or no leaves at all.

“Some residents had called in to Engage Toledo, as well as our forestry crews being out doing normal maintenance of our city tree canopy,” Megan Robson, the director of Public Services for the city said. “They noticed some of the trees just maybe weren’t taking.”

Some of the trees, like the ones at the intersection of Cherry and Summit streets, were planted through beautification efforts. A city representative said the city planted 83 new trees at the intersection and it cost $45,335. The funding source was the Capital Improvement Program.

Other trees were planted through the city’s RE-TREE program.

“We will be planting 10,000 trees across the city over the next five years,” city council member Nick Komives said. “Nature is going to nature, and in this case, it certainly is.”

The city has planted around 1,500 trees this year and chose a diversity of trees to plant. City officials said there’s no clear reason why some are thriving and others are dying.

“We are able to start to do a little bit of an investigation to find out if perhaps maybe there was a bad batch from a nursery or if there was a planting issue that happened,” Komives said.

The city is still in the process of figuring out what could be the root of the problem. However, Komives said heat could be playing a role.

“The higher temperatures, the fewer days of rain that we’re receiving right now, all of these things are going to impact the growth of the trees,” Komives said.

New trees need 15 to 20 gallons of water per week, and the city said neighbors can help trees by helping to fill the water bags on them.

If the city finds there is a significant issue with the trees, it has a contract that will get the trees replaced. If the trees do end up getting replaced, Robson said that will most likely happen in the fall.

The city still has more than 8,000 trees to plant in the coming years.

If you notice trees in your neighborhood that are not doing well, you can report them to Engage Toledo.