Serviceberry trees - disease or soil deficiency?
aliciaandbilly
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Our Autumn Brilliance trees, planted about a year and a half ago are not looking very good this Spring. I'm thinking part of the problem may be rust, but maybe the discoloration of the leaf is something else?
Both trees are next to the street - we chose them due to their supposed salt tolerance. We're located just north of NYC and had a decent amount of snow this winter, so lots of plowing and salting of the roads.
Last Spring they had a good number of berries on them for their size/age. This year I could probably count the total number of berries on both hands. Our neighbor had two of the same tree planted this past Fall and her trees (also next to the street) are covered in berries.
We're trying to garden organically, so we didn't do any preventative/maintenance spraying treatments on the trees or the lawn.
Any help in identifying the issue would be greatly appreciated.
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Peach Tree Nitrogen Deficiency in October?
Comments (7)Contrary to the literature, I have not found post-Aug Nitrogen applications capable of stimulating new growth and even Aug applications only cause rank growth on branch tips- the rest of the tree seems to harden off in a manner unaffected by the late growth. I wish someone would do some research on this issue because I feel it is one of those things that gets repeated by academics without any specific research to back it up. Now, on your question, I agree with FN that there is no point in fertilizing now and also that it wouldn't hurt, might even help a tiny bit by getting some into the buds for a slightly quicker spring flush although I don't notice this affect on fall fertilizing of peaches. Probably just as well to wait until first growth in spring and then supply another application in early summer. With trees in potting soil it is easy for them to dry out when first transplanted and that could cause a quick change in leaf color- so it could just as well be too little water as too much. If finer soil around the coarse texture of potting soil is dry it will suck out any water from the potting soil by capillary pull drying it very quickly. At the same time, the coarser mix can't pull water from finer soil. This is a complication with planting potted trees. With peaches I find bare root trees tend to establish faster....See MorePole bean Problem: disease or deficiency??
Comments (4)Would application of magnesium via epsom salts show improvement in the problem leaves or cessation of additional leaves exhibiting the problem? If this is an ongoing problem, maybe you should have a soil test done. Not enough info in your posts for anyone to be able to tell you exactly what is wrong. You could be deficient in some mineral or have wrong ph or a disease or virus, you could be getting herbicide overspray, or salt from a road or driveway, maybe it's too hot and dry, maybe you have contaminated mulch applied, maybe you plant in the same place every year and a virus or disease has established itself there, maybe your vines are competing with tree roots, maybe you are planting varieties not suited to your climate, maybe you need innoculant. It could be a number of things. I try different things and see what works. If you think magnesium might help, try it. How could it hurt? Let us know what happens. Do you still get good beans every year? If you just want good beans to eat every year, I would not worry about leaf appearance. Lower leaves do die off as the plant grows, this is normal....See MoreDisease/Deficiency?
Comments (6)As is the case with a number of fungal problems, there are many different types of anthracnose and they tend to be extremely plant-specific. So anthracnose that affects liriope (Colletotrichum sp.) is not the same strain of anthracnose that affects certain species of dogwoods (Discula sp.). Therefore, your decision in choosing a dogwood should not be determined by having a problem with your liriope :-) There are a number of wonderful dogwoods that are very resistant to anthracnose - any of the kousas, all the Rutgers hybrids, 'Eddie's White Wonder' and a recently developed cultivar of the very popular Eastern dogwood, Cornus florida 'Appalachian Spring'. You should have no problems with any of these. I'd also agree with Rhizo and wonder at the reasons behind the development of a lot of fungal problems. Generally that would indicate a situation that had poorly draining soil combined with excess or improper irrigation practices. Or it could be something as simple as the wrong plant for that particular spot. It's worth examining a bit more closely to see if some simple adjustments can be made that would relieve the problem....See MoreSeeking Advice - Disease, Nutrient Deficiency, or Something Else?
Comments (5)These cuttings are growing next to a south-facing window at roughly room temperature. Early on, however -- maybe for the first week -- I did not place them in direct sunlight, since I did not want them to wilt for lack of roots. The soil is light with sufficient drainage. To note, the plants are now well rooted; I can see the roots through the sides of their transparent containers. At the same time, the yellowing seems to have ceased to spread for the most part, so perhaps this means it initially resulted from a nutrient deficiency. However, I still wonder whether the lack of nutrients directly caused chlorosis, or whether the deficiency made the plants more susceptible to a disease which in turn brought about the yellowing. Diane, thank you for enlightening me on the nomenclature....See More
aliciaandbilly
8 years agoaliciaandbilly
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoHere are more pictures. The soil in our tree lawn is pretty crappy - compacted, rocky (from snow plowing) and weedy. The trees were professionally planted by our landscaper though who did plenty of prep, so I don't think that's the problem. And even though one tree gets more shade than the other, they both appear to be exhibiting about the same amount of damage.
I did see a couple of ants on the one tree yesterday, but didn't see any aphids or other significant pest presence that would clearly indicate an insect causing the damage.
RugbyHukr
8 years agoaliciaandbilly
8 years ago
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