Sudden lychee death ?

[Central Floridave]

I had a 20 year old lychee just dry up and die within a week.

It produced emperor fruits every other year. Seemed ok other than getting shaded out by other trees.
Other lychee nearby look ok. Never watered, never fertilized. We were in a hot and dry spell this summer then two weekends ago got 7 inches of rain. I’m not too disappointed as got a lot of fruit trees. Any ideas? 

[fliptop]

Any chance it was struck by lightning?

[Central Floridave]

Yes, very good chance it was.  Interesting.  I have found some large oak limbs fallen and I was out of town for the big storm we had two weekends ago. 

[Central Floridave]

You made me look at surrounding trees and I see no signs of a lightning strike.
It would have to be a pinpoint strike. Looking up. 

[cbss_daviefl]

 It looks like the damage at the base of the trunk was infected and eventually circled the entire trunk. There was no living wood connecting the roots to the canopy.

[achetadomestica]

My glenn mango's trunk looks similar but a little less damage.
My damage came from the 2 cold nights in January.
That damage doesn't look fresh on your tree?
Currently my Glenn mango is putting out new growth but the
split area in the trunk doesn't look different

[Central Floridave]

I noticed the leaf turned brown about two weeks ago but never looked at the trunk. Not until yesterday I noticed the entire canopy was brown and dead then looked closer at trunk.

Did look like it got girdled just above the root ball.  I don't use a weed eater nor cut grass near the tree.  Not sure why it would be injured.

Could it be ganoderma? I've had a couple older palms die from it 100 feet away.  This tree was healthy all the way up to month ago. I was keeping eye on ripening fruit all the way up to July.

All the trees surrounding it looks perfectly healthy.  I'm going to pull the dead tree up tomorrow and inspect the roots.   Tree is 20 years old and was healthy until recently.  I guess sometimes trees just get up and die on you. 

[fruitnut1944]

The trunk was damaged down low some time ago. Maybe a year or two. You can see where it was trying to heal over the wound. After a year or two of being girdled the roots die because they aren't getting carbohydrates from the leaves.

[Central Floridave]

That could be true. don't know how the trunk would have gotten hurt and I would have noticed it as I inspect all my plants frequently. 

Found this on a google search: 

Mushroom Root Rot– This disease is usually only a problem in locations where lychee trees are grown amongst live oak trees. This disease almost always goes unnoticed until it has killed the tree by rotting its roots away. Symptoms of mushroom root rot mostly take place under the soil, until the overall wilting and sudden death of the tree occurs.

[Central Floridave]

could be this:

https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/4653/file/mushroomrootrot.pdf

[Galatians522]

could be this:

https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/4653/file/mushroomrootrot.pdf

I think you got it. That was my first thought when I read your post, but the picture of the dead lower trunk threw me off. I've never noticed that before. However, the link you posted says that armillaria can infect the lower trunk.

[shot]

Freeze girdle? that tree is a bit small for 20 years.

[Central Floridave]

Freeze girdle? I doubt that is possible.  I haven't seen freezing weather since 2010. 

it is 20 years old believe or not!   It has grown in shade with a few hours of full sun in the middle of the day and thru the years has been overtaken by other trees.  It has been producing fruit for that long.  Of course not every year as emperor seems to be a shy bearer, especially when grown in the shade.  I also have never fertilized it to speed up it's growth. 

But, it's dead now.  I think it was mushroom root rot. I see the same mushrooms around the yard.  Oh well. 

There is a brewster ten feet away in similar conditions.  Keeping an eye on that one next! 

thanks for the suggestions, you guys made be go deep google mode to figure it out.   Not a scientific way, but it appears the tree just didn't like the environment anymore. Coupled with super warm and drought-y temps then a sudden onslaught of 7 inches of rain in one day...it decided to kick the bucket.

[Brebarian]

I'm in CA in already marginal growing zone for lychees, but FWIW, I had a grafted SweetHeart lychee die on me after 2 years of doing reasonably well.

It coincided after a period of heavy rain in the winter and despite there being plenty of moisture in the soil, it went from green and healthy looking to completely dried up, dead as a doornail, in about 48 hours. Never seen anything like it, but it sounds exactly like what happened to your tree. I figured it was phomopsis or something similar.

I do think there's something to the sudden change in conditions, whether it's just the change in temperature/moisture itself or whether the change sparks a crazy fungal attack, I don't know.

[Central Floridave]

I have since cut the dead tree out.  When doing so I noticed some nearby croton and palms have the same root rot crap.  Oh well.  'Tis is nature.