That is the question we asked a horticulturally savvy friend (we’ll call him K) about eight years ago when our three-year old pecan suddenly died. K asked a few questions: Had we had sprayed an herbicide (No), Are other trees in the area dying (No), and Have you seen any animal activity (No).
Then, K asked us to go over to the tree and see if we could pull it from the ground. Really, we thought? This is a bare-root pecan tree planted three years ago and by the way, pecans have a long tap root, which was 30 inches long at planting! He insisted we go pull on the tree. All the while we’re thinking about the Scripture in Luke 4:5-11, where the Apostle Peter objects at Jesus’ bidding for him to throw the net out of the boat again for a catch. Peter says they have fished all night (using lanterns to draw the fish) and caught nothing, but at Your request (in broad daylight) we will throw them out again. Their catch was so other boats had to help them haul it all in.
So, we reluctantly went out and pulled on the tree, It popped out of the ground with a simple tug! The roots had been chewed off cleanly, so it was a wonder the tree was still standing. We hunted around a bit and found tunnels leading directly to the pecan tree. We had our culprit, or rather we knew what he was. This was our first introduction to moles in Texas.