Is My Tree Dead? How to Tell (and When It's an Emergency)

A tree with bare branches isn't always dead, and a tree with green leaves isn't always healthy. Here's how to tell what you're looking at, using checks anyone can do from the yard, and when a dead or dying tree needs to come down before it comes down on its own.

Five quick checks

• Scratch test: scrape a small patch of bark on a twig with your thumbnail. Green, moist tissue underneath means that part is alive. Brown and dry means it isn't. Test a few twigs on different sides.
• Snap test: living twigs bend. Dead ones snap clean and feel light.
• Bark: large sections of bark falling away, especially with bare wood showing underneath, point to a dead or dying trunk.
• Fungus: mushrooms, shelf-like conks, or soft spots at the base or on the trunk usually mean decay inside, even on a tree that still has leaves.
• Canopy: dead branches concentrated at the top of the tree, or a canopy that has thinned a lot in a season or two, is a sign of decline.

Tree by tree: what dead looks like here

• Oaks: laurel and water oaks can look full and green while rotting from the inside. Watch for fungus at the base, cavities, and dead limbs high in the crown.
• Pines: a pine that turns brown all at once, especially with small holes or sap spots on the bark, is often dead or dying from bark beetles and won't recover.
• Palms: palms grow from a single bud at the top. If the newest center frond (the spear) is brown, pulls out easily, or the whole crown has collapsed, the palm is usually dead, even if older fronds are still green.
• Deciduous trees: trees like crape myrtles drop their leaves in winter. Do the scratch test before assuming the worst.

When a dead tree is urgent

Dead wood is brittle and drops without warning. Treat it as urgent if the tree or its limbs could reach your house, a driveway, a play area, a fence, a pool cage, or a power line, or if it's leaning more than it used to. Dead trees are also harder and riskier to take down the longer they stand, so waiting usually makes the job more expensive, not less. Hurricane season raises the stakes.