Is my Sequoia sapling dying
William Ploplis
8 years ago
I planted this sapling less than a year ago. i plated on the side of our yard midway on a small berm we have. We water our grass 6 days a week about 9 hours total as we live in the high desert of Southern Idaho. I fetlize with plant food 2 to 3 times a month. The soild drains well and is loamy. It is now late fall we get snow wind and rain and cold weather we had a bit of a cold snap high in the 9s and cold down to -12F i went out to check it today and seen that it is light brown but had hint of green. Needles feel soft amd can bend. soil is moist beacuse we have been geting rain and snow. I stoped watering it when our canel ditch got turned off. Back in September. Is this normal for them to do. should i cover it up till the weather warms up
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What's killing my apple saplings?
Comments (7)Animalfarms: It may be helpful if you could describe the dead branches in a little more detail. If the problem begins with leaves at the ends of small branches blackening and drooping over, then working its way down the branch, it is possible that you have a bacterial disease called fireblight. See if you can find an illustration of apple fireblight on the net by using those keywords, and compare it with what you have seen on your trees. Fireblight would be a long shot on such young trees, but by no means impossible. Whatever it is, you should prune out dead or dying branches as soon as they are identified. Good control of fireblight can be obtained by early sprays with streptomycin or agrimycin, but pruning is the first line of defense once the disease is established. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA...See MoreSequoia sempervirens in central NJ - Any chance?
Comments (95)Tom Tasselmyer (such a Baltimorean name) is reporting that January was the 8th coldest January in Baltimore history. The official records for Baltimore go back to 1871 though the records prior to 1893 are not catalogued at SERCC. The average IIRC was 27F. Coldest ever was 1977 at 22F. The Barnes Foundation Sequoia was planted in 1971 so it would have survived that. None of mine have 'tons of dieback' so far. I'd say it varies from minimal dieback on the largest one, which is about 7' - mostly snow burn near the snow line - to 30% needle damage on my smallest plant. 'Atlanta' might be a hair tougher than 'Chapel Hill'/'Swarthmore'. 'Soquel' has the least damage but it is the big one. Lows were 3F, several times during the month, and a couple 48 h+ stretches that stayed below about 15F. FWIW Pseudotsuga sinensis has similar burning just above the snow line. We had the longest stretch of powdery snow "lying on ground" as the Brits say, that I can remember. 95% of the time here, powdery snow will be mush within 3 days. It stayed cold for so long that a lot of things show a ring of damage where light was reflected by the snow. Even something as hardy as Cryptomeria has completely dead branchlets in that zone. I think I might have posted earlier that I was surprised by how little damage there was in the first freeze. Sadly, the 2nd and 3rd were just too much for various plants. Particularly the 2nd round of snow, which was accompanied by even stronger winds than the first. Maybe they were more brittle because of the earlier freeze, but all of my arborescent Ericas (hey, they kinda look like conifers) were totally destroyed, stems split clear to the ground. I've never seen that in almost 20 years of growing Erica arborea alpina, for example. Not 'alpine' enough, apparently. The foliage was fine though. It's sad to see the green foliage attached to broken stems and dying from the point of the break upward. Camellias are ok so far, including 'Aida' which is the hardiest C. X williamsii, I was lucky I didn't go below 0F as most points about 15 miles north of me in York and Lancaster Cos. did....See MoreSeqouia sapling top turning brown
Comments (9)"Like moist enough that the 50/50 mix of potting soil + local texas clay-dirt is clumping." This could be part of the problem. You NEVER want to use garden soil in a container. It is too dense and with too small a particle size so that both aeration and fast drainage - absolutely essential to container culture - have been compromised. And while it may seem contradictory given your location and the type of container, it is quite possible that overwatering (due a perched water table resulting from the soil mix) has occurred. Regardless, the plant looks too far gone for any reasonable recovery. Next time, use a heavily textured, durable potting medium, like Al's gritty mix. No garden soil!!...See MoreMy Japanese maple saplings keep dying!
Comments (5)Hello, Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was looking for a gardener to help me in person, but so far haven't found anyone. Anyway, the saplings that died just shriveled up and died. One that I had (that I bought as a larger sapling) was doing fine for 2 years until the spring when it didn't bud, and I realized it was dead. BTW I'm in Massachusetts (zone 6). I can't remember how deeply I planted them, but yes, I did water them, and I fertilized ( with guano, most recently). The saplings I have now are alive, but barely hanging on, and much worse than last year when I planted them. Thanks:)...See MoreWilliam Ploplis
8 years agoWilliam Ploplis
8 years ago
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
8 years ago
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
8 years agoWilliam Ploplis
8 years agoMike McGarvey
8 years ago
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