Just like humans, trees can fall ill too. But because trees take so long to begin displaying symptoms, you may not immediately notice if your tree is sick. But unless you treat your tree early, you may not be able to save it. This is why you need to be able to spot signs of tree sickness early, before your tree passes the point of no return.

Here are some of the most common signs that your tree is sick, starting from the roots and proceeding to the canopy.

Check the roots

The surest sign that your tree is sick at the root level is mushrooms growing on the roots. Mushrooms indicate that your tree may have a root disease, such as armillaria root rot. A root system weakened by disease could render your tree unstable. Because curing root rot in mature trees is very difficult, you may need to consider removing your tree.

Check the root collar

All trees have root collars and branch collars. The root collar is the section of a tree trunk that rises from the soil. A very common sign of sickness in trees is suckers, which resemble tiny branches with leaves, growing on the root collar. When a tree is sick or injured and it is struggling to transport food to its branches, then that tree might then grow suckers in response.

If you see many suckers at the base of your tree, your tree may be very sick. You'll need to hire an arborist or tree service to assess the health of your tree.

Check the trunk

Disease often enters trees via wounds in their trunk or branches. If you see any wounds on your tree's trunk, with soft, dead wood, your tree is sick. Your tree may also have suckers growing at the site of the wound.

Check the branches

Dead, leafless branches could indicate disease in a branch. And if you see an abundance of cankers, which resemble woody growths on branches, then this is another sign of a dead or dying branch. Cankers are areas of dead and decaying wood on trees. You need to hire someone to trim dead and diseased branches before the sickness spreads to the rest of your tree.

Check the leaves

If the leaves on your tree are deformed, spotted, curled or have holes in them, this is a common sign of disease. Hire an arborist to assess your tree's health before the disease can spread further.

If your tree is sick, you need a professional to assess it as soon as possible. If your tree is very sick, the best course of action might be tree removal.