Weeping Fig is losing its leaves worse than ever - root rot?
laazure
16 years ago
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lucy
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Deer are worse than ever this winter
Comments (2)we also planted hellebore, and it's been nibbled on. i thought they were resistant because of their toxicity??? as we were planting it, i created this fantasy in my mind. i imagined a deer munching on the plant. after about 2 seconds it's eyes would roll to the back of it's head, and immediately it would just keel over. i am going to try something different this fall. when digitalis is done and looking shabby, i usually cut it and just leave the stalks on the ground. this year, i am going to scatter the stalks among plants with less resistance. let the deer try to munch around that if they can. if it doesn't kill 'em, it'll sure give 'em a bellyache....See MoreLemon Tree Losing It's Leaves... What do I do?
Comments (52)Hi all. I take care of a university biology department's collection of plants here in Connecticut and have grown citrus at home for over forty years. My take on the above issues follows. First, my Meyer lemons that get a good dose of cold before I move them inside (this year around Halloween) often drop many of their leaves and then soon break out into the same kind of flowering cycle seen on the second plant. They are more prone to dropping most of their leaves in November than any of the other citrus I care for. Next, when the tip of a branch begins to die back as in the photo, you should use a sharp pair of secateurs (sterilized in bleach solution) and prune it back to green wood just above a leaf node ASAP. Leaving the dying tip is only causing more tissue to die. Next, I think both the plant that shed all its leaves in a week and the one that consists of just a single stem are in pots that are much too large for them, especially given that they are in regular potting soil and seem to be in cool home environments without a great deal of sunlight. The single-stemmed plant would probably be quite happy in a five inch diameter pot. Over-potting makes the cooler conditions the plants encounter in the fall and indoors more likely to cause root rot which can kill a citrus tree quite quickly (I've done it to a couple of my own trees: they drowned). The test I'd do is to get them out of their pots and see if there are a decent number of roots spreading through most of the soil. If a plant that has been in a container for several months is lifted from the pot and when this is done large gobs of soil simply fall away, that's a good reason to put the plant into a smaller container. There's no good rule for this, but I'll note that most of my older citrus (15 to 30 years old) are in containers that are about 1/3 as high and 1/3 as wide as the plants. A typical example: I have a Key lime in an 11 inch wide and 10 inch tall pot (with soil to within three inches of the top and an inch of bark chips on top of that). The Key Lime has a 1 inch diameter trunk at the base and is roughly 2.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. Soil considerations. At home, I long used regular brands of potting soil picked up at Home Depot (non-moisture control) with success for decades but then had a bad experience when I used a more expensive brand from a garden center that had too much ability to hold water--the bottom of two pots turned to mud. In the aftermath of that experience, I researched my options. For what it is worth, I've adopted the following mix at the greenhouse: 1/2 Al's Gritty Mix plus 1/2 ProMix BX. Al's Gritty Mix consists of three ingredients 1/3 Turface (the stuff used on baseball infields), 1/3 Grani-grit (rough granite chips for chickens to grind their food in their gizzards), and 1/3 fine bark mulch. I do not sift or sieve any of these things but simply pull out any overly large bits of wood from the bark mulch or mix if I see them. I found that Al's mix alone drained and dried out far too quickly in the greenhouse. You can obviously vary the amounts or omit one of the Al's ingredients and still have a much better mix than what you'll buy at Home Depot. A cactus might get 1/3 ProMix BX and 2/3s Al's, etc. I use the 1/2 and 1/2 mix for most succulents and cacti, including Desert Roses. Oh, and I've found that covering the soil surface with larger bark chips is a great way to reduce the fungus gnat population, but that problem is also helped by shifting to a mix that has less peat in it or by NOT repotting your plants just prior to bringing them in for the winter (the fungus gnats are particularly attracted to new potting soil with its fresh peat)....See MoreFiddle Leaf Fig- Root rot? How to Fix?
Comments (14)Your plant seems to be doing well, Madeleine. Strong work! Thanks for the kindness in your words, Leslie. There are ways to put some simple science to work that can help you cope with soils that are too water retentive. Try reading this, http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0914024623640.html?37, then ask any questions you might have. When you say to 'stop the pruning cuts just beyond where a smaller root branches towards the outside of the root you are pruning'.. are there images of this somewhere that may help me understand? I hope that helps. You want to concentrate on removing large roots that aren't really necessary for anchorage so there is room for a much larger volume of fine roots. Of course, it's unlikely your tree's roots will be as well ordered as those of the guy who dreamed up the image, but you should get the gist. Recovery is much faster if you prune just distal (beyond) a fine root pointed away from an imaginary line straight down from the trunk's center. When the pruning of the roots is completed (keeping them moist during the process) and we are ready to place the tree back into the pot, does the soil need to be damp or moist? I bare-root, then root prune and let the roots soak in a tub while I prepare the pot and partially fill with dry soil (if it's gritty mix). I lift the plant with wet roots from the tub and set it on the soil and fill in around the roots with dry soil and work it into all the pockets between roots with a wooden dowel that's sharp on the end but not extremely so - like a very dull pencil. If I'm repotting with the 5:1:1 mix, I make sure it's damp enough so as not to be hydrophobic. I dampen the soil by starting with dry. Before I start the root work, I take about 1/4 of the volume pof soil I'll need and put it in a pot or bucket and add enough water to completely saturate it - so it's mucky - and let it soak for a few minutes. Then I mix it well into the dry soil and allow it to rest while I'm doing the root work. By the time it's ready to use, it's no longer hydrophobic. Do we need to water the tree as soon as we are done repotting it? Yes - whether using the 5:1:1 or gritty, water well. Water the gritty until the drainage water is perfectly clear. The only exception might be various succulents and/or cacti. Edited to say: I'm not sure why the formatting came out weird when I copy/pasted your questions. Sorry Al...See MoreFiddle Leaf Fig Drooping After Repot/Root Pruning- Help!
Comments (64)Hey guys, first of all, thanks to everyone that's helping. I've learned so much in the past two days. Specially Dave and Al...thank you teachers! :) So sorry about in the instrusion, I'm another one with fiddle leaf problems. I think I was sold a sick FLF...the guys just told me that it was in direct light all day long, so I thought the brown spots were justified. Until I got home and realized the soil was really compact...really....compact and soggy...and loads of rocks on top, which probably wouldn't help. So what I've did pretty fast, I went into despair...I've tried to repot it...and..of course I the roots just broke in half, and they were almost black and quite smelly... I didn't have anything around other than regular soil with perlite, so I just moved the lyrata and the now shorter roots too a new dry vase with some brick pieces at the bottom and that soil...the soil it's very loose and didn't compressed whatsoever. Didn't watered since, two days now. So after reading all of your kind info, Tomorrow I'm going too: 1. Clean the remaining roots as well as I can without damaging it more.. 2 .Repot, with 5:1:1 mix...Pine bark, Turf (should I?), Perlite; and some brick pieces in the bottom. 3. Water the lyrata once like flushing, right? And then again.. 4. The bottom leaves are very very rigid almost like they are about to break, I've read one Al's comment about "the end of life" process of these leaves...Should I cut the last leave and put the trunk deeper so it forms new healthy roots? (if this makes any sense at all) 5. Pruning, I was thinking about cutting the top (last picture), but as the bottom leaves are so stiff, maybe they aren't able to produce that much "food" and I should keep the top one for now? (I'm I thinking stupid??) 6. The only I had to cover the pot was sawdust, with which I have been lucky in protecting my plants from pests and mould. Again...in a despair act..should I maintain this? Can you help me please?? I'm based in Sintra,Portugal; very warm and humid location, actually humidity is a problem around here. Any advice is most welcome! thanks!...See Morepepperomia
16 years agolaazure
16 years agomariateresa
16 years agobirdsnblooms
16 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years agobabs_bird
8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDave
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agoDave
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years agoMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years agobabs_bird
8 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
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