Pay particular attention to the links for planting fruit trees and soil testing. The compilation is at bit.ly/GAplantfruit Q: What could cause a strip of removed bark on my pecan tree limb?

Sooty bark disease can cause trees to become brittle and put them at risk of falling down, it said. Symptoms included branch dieback, flaking layers or bark and sooty black powdery spores on trunks.

The native Pennsylvania trees are being attacked by two separate diseases — beech bark disease, which moves very slowly, and beech leaf disease, which is rapidly deteriorating the trees' population.