Is this Sycamore still alive?

Please see new pic on the first post, taken 22 May 2025. Someone said that the leaves at the base of the tree prove it's alive, but the leaves on the tree have withered. Alive or dead, what do you think?

 

Please see new pic on the first post, taken 22 May 2025. Someone said that the leaves at the base of the tree prove it's alive, but the leaves on the tree have withered. Alive or dead, what do you think?

 

Althorne, Essex CM3 6BZ
Please see new pic on the first post, taken 22 May 2025. Someone said that the leaves at the base of the tree prove it's alive, but the leaves on the tree have withered. Alive or dead, what do you think?

 

Planted November 2023.
Please see new pic on the first post, taken 22 May 2025. Someone said that the leaves at the base of the tree prove it's alive, but the leaves on the tree have withered. Alive or dead, what do you think?

 

It was about 10 foot when it was planted.

 

Please see new pic on the first post, taken 22 May 2025. Someone said that the leaves at the base of the tree prove it's alive, but the leaves on the tree have withered. Alive or dead, what do you think?

 

@cc120 That is a picture of a dead sycamore, yes there is a bit of growth at the bottom doesn't look healthy.

 

The leaves at the base are just about alive, so the tree is just about alive.
The leaves further up the trunk look dead or dying, so the trunk is likely dead or dying.

(caveat - I'm assuming Sycamore doesn't get grafted)

 

Hi

Taking in to account where it is growing I would cut the old tree down to the base, just above where the new growth is sprouting , clear a circle of the grass a meter from the new growth as I would assume slugs snails etc are eating the new leaves . Top dress with bark but keeping a space away from the new leaves and base ..

Give it a opertunity to grow, it may produce a multi stemmed tree in the future.

or just call it a day and dig out and take it down to the tip

ps the tree in the background needs the tree stake removed.
Is the area a park or your garden ?

Spruce

 

The chances are, looking at your pics., that the main part of the tree has died off but there is still some life in the root ball where the new growth has appeared. Leave the tree for another season, if there is still no new growth higher up next year, remove all of the bare trunk down to the new growth. You can then remove all but one stem of the bushy growth, to give you a single stem tree, or you can leave the cluster of new stems and grow it as a multi stemmed bush/tree.
Sycamore are as tough as old boots and will seed everywhere. If young ones are "pollarded" they grow into dense tree bushes as I call them and they can be a real problem in a garden, growing in containers and places where they are not wanted. I have one growing on a bank which I have had cut to ground level several times and dosed with stump killer etc., but it still keeps sprouting every year.
It depends on what effect you are after with your overall planting. If you want an immediate single stemmed forest of native trees I would be inclined to dig it out and replace it with a new one. They are not expensive to buy, or find a stray seedling and grow it on yourself, which would take time. Keeping large trees going when transplanted is a big job as they need a lot of water for the first couple of years of their lives.

 

I wouldn't be too hopeful about that either. It was a fairly large specimen on planting, but if it lacked enough water through the following summers, that will have affected it enormously. All the other grass etc around the base will also have been competing for that moisture. If you aren't in a reliably wet area [and I'm guessing Essex isn't by any means reliably wet!] then it will have struggled to thrive. Ideally, you'd clear a much bigger area around the base, as said. It might recover, as there's that new growth at the base, but I'd follow the advice given re cutting back and clearing that proper space around it's feet. Hopefully, it will come back and you may get a result, but you'll need to ensure it doesn't go short of water through this summer. The heavy mulching after a good soaking will really help, and will also benefit the soil, which may not have been brilliant to start with.
I've not noticed them ever being eaten by slugs, and we certainly have plenty of those here, but we also have plenty of maples/sycamores of all sorts and they spread very readily as our climate suits them. Fingers crossed it'll come away for you though.

If you want a tree of any kind, it's much easier to plant a smaller specimen - around 3 or 4 feet [a metre or just a bit more] which will establish more readily.

 

Possibly the bark has been damaged somewhere low down (could be bark nibbled by rabbits or deer, strimmer damage, maybe disease), killing everything above, but there's growth from the roots. Even mature sycamores sucker like that (not sure sucker is the correct term if it's not grafted tree, but I mean producing multiple stems from the base or roots).

 

They get aphids and rain honeydew. Parts of Essex get less rain than Jerusalem.
If you lived nearby I could let you have any number of 1 ft to 3 ft plants that have been dug out of the flowerbeds as I always miss a few seedlings.
If you decide to replace it I'd look for small tree, probably bare root and plant in winter, it should grow roots in the damper conditions and so be ready for when the buds break also no worry about the rootball drying out and not rewetting; will still need a space clearing around it, mulching and watering over the spring summer, it should grow rapidly.

 

I wish my neighbours would die their seeds are a pest in my garden and on my car.

 

@waterbut, I hope that you mean you wish their tree would die?