Question
My weeping willow tree was putting out green leaves about 3 weeks ago.  I noticed last week the green leaves were no longer there.  I checked and they had all died off. Some of the tree branches will "snap" off looking dead, but I found some that "bend" and are still green inside.  I was afraid it was dead.  What can I do to help the tree?  Is it dying or is there a way it can be saved even though some brances are brown through and though and some aren't.  By the way, I also found a huge ant bed imbedded in the ground at the base of the tree.  Would they have an effect on the tree?  Thank you for your time.

Answer
The ants will damage the roots of a young trees and could possibly kill it. I would control the ants with one of the bait type products for ants in the yard. Check with your local nursery/ garden type store for ant baits--these are put on the ant mound and the ants will feed them to the colony killing the nest.

After you kill the ants I would fertilize the tree with 10-10-10 fertilizer at the rate of 1 lb of fertilizer scattered around the tree and water in good.

Also make sure the willow gets water If it does not rain, I would water the tree with 1 inch of water per week (place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop).