There was a knock on the door of the comfortable suite of Sherlock Holmes in Tarrant County. "Come in Inspector Lestrade" he said without turning around "Enter and tell me the purpose of your visit."

The door opened and Inspector Lestrade entered. "You amaze me Sherlock Holmes," said Lestrade "that you always know when it is me. How do you do it? Do you sit by the window and watch everyone who comes along the street?"

"Nothing so simple as that Inspector, I assure you. You always allow the torn sole of your right shoe to drag the ground as you bring you foot forward causing a 'chi-clump' sound that your left foot does not make. Instead of buying a new pair of shoes you have the shoemaker patch up the sole, but it is loose again in a few days. If I can hear your footsteps at all I can tell it is you. I see that you ate breakfast at the Hamhock Cafe this morning."

Inspector Lestrade sat up straight and said, "How did you know that? I haven't been there in days until this morning." Holmes replied "Because you always get jelly stains on your sleeve when you reach for your coffee. It's as simple as that. But tell me Inspector why you have paid me this special visit? Do you seek me to solve one of your cases?"

"Now see here Holmes," said Inspector Lestrade "Oh well, yes, it's about a case I went on. I received a call from a homeowner early yesterday at Falcon Lane and Crestview. They said 'Our Texas Red Oak tree is dying and we don't know what is happening.' Well, I went to the location and sure enough it was sick as could be. I suspect insects."

"Very interesting" said Holmes. "Tell me more."

Inspector Lestrade continued, "Well, the tree is about 10 years old, has always done well until this year. It showed lackluster last summer, but now it has branch die back, foliage wilting and turning brown, but the leaves do not drop. The symptoms are noticeable in all parts of the tree. I found brownish-black beetles with yellowish wing tips beginning to bore into the branches that I think is the cause."

"Has there been construction or landscaping in the last two years? I remember this is a newly developed area."

"Well, yes" replied the Inspector "they did some extensive landscaping work around this oak tree in the back yard about two years ago and even put in a raised flower bed around the tree. Last year they added an octagon bench that encompasses the tree. It's really an attractive site to see."

"Inspector Lestrade your eye for details is excellent" put in Sherlock Holmes hoping to lift his spirits before striking the blow between the eyes. "I have solved your case. Do you want me to tell you now or go with you to the site and do one of my melodramatic revelations?"

"What? Exclaimed Inspector Lestrade resounding like a lark. "How can you? I have worried over this all night and nothing fits except disease or insect damage."

Sherlock Holmes picked up his gardening bag and was out the door with Inspector Lestrade trailing behind him. Upon arriving at Falcon Lane and Hillcrest Inspector Lestrade showed

him the problem tree. Holmes walked over to the tree and began examination. He paid particular attention to a damaged area about three feet up from the ground that had healed over. Next he examined the leaves.

Dropping to his knees he probed the soil around the tree. Each time the instrument stopped short, he wrote down a measurement in his note pad. Next he plucked his garden trowel from his bag and began digging around the legs of the bench surrounding the tree.

"Inspector," said Holmes "cause and effect is not always an obvious relationship. Your natural reaction when faced with a perplexing set of symptoms is to look for something obvious and assume you have correctly diagnosed the problem. This is what I call the "ah-ha" syndrome-a fixation on the first obvious clue as the reason for a tree's decline. This is not the answer.

"Imagine yourself as a young child being dressed by your mother in boots and a blue coat. You remember that when you wore this blue coat it's been raining. As you step outside and see that, once again, it is raining, you logically conclude that putting on your blue coat causes it to rain.

"Now, as an adult, you've come to diagnose a tree problem to find a mature oak covered with dead and dying branches. It was a beautiful tree until a couple of years ago. Why is it now dying and what can you spray on it?

"This tree is suffering Oak Decline. But, that is not the cause of the problem. The tree is under stress. If the symptoms were in other trees the problem could be abiotic, but that is not the case here. Also the die back is occurring throughout the tree and not just in the canopy.

"Oak wilt causes leaf drop over the entire crown and the leaf veins have a discolored yellow or brown color while the rest of the leaf will remain green, but no progressive branch die back. So this is not your problem.

"When the flower bed was installed they brought in 10 inches of soil to create a bed around the tree. This has caused soil compaction and roots are smothered. I probed the soil to find the roots to determine the increase in soil elevation.

"The contractor then built a bench around the tree. The bench has legs that extend into the ground for support. When they dug down and hit a root they simply cut the root rather than shorten the leg. They also damaged the tree trunk with a vehicle. The decline started two years ago, but oak trees usually take 2-5 years to manifest their symptoms.

"The tree has declined to protect itself. Thus, while die back appears alarming, it can serve as a survival mechanism. Trees cannot get up and move when environmental conditions change, so their only recourse is to alter their size to conform to the resources available.

"Removing topsoil in the flower bed and radial trenching between the roots will help. Aerate the soil and insert plant spikes in the ground at points around the drip line. Do a soil test and get the proper balance of nutrients in the soil and hope for the best. It is much harder to reverse the damage than to prevent it in the beginning."

Author Derald Freeman (Story #3, published and ©copyright January, 2005)