Spigot 1.13.2 latest
EssentialsX 2.15.0.55-b656

/bigtree ...

(of any type) spawns the tree there the player is standing. This causes damage. According to documentation, not to mention player safety, the tree should spawn where the player is looking.

I am using the dev builds. Are there other experimental builds?

This is likely due to material changes in 1.13.x. You can try the experimental builds, but I think LocationUtil needs updating for the new materials.

You're running a 2.x branch build - the 1.13 branch builds can be found here.

Thanks. Issue remains with Essentials experimental build dev-32.162

Unable to replicate. Feel free to create a new issue if you have steps to do this on the latest version of Essentials.

Confirmed, no longer an issue with EssentialsX 2.17.2.68, and probably a goodly portion of 18 months of dev builds. Thanks.