Hey all, I live in zone 9 in south Louisiana. My bottle brush has started dying this year. I noticed a branch turning brown back in February. Since then, a branch has been turning brown every couple of weeks. On the other side of the yard, we have a satsuma tree that always needs magnesium. I can see the V shape forming in the leaves. I figured the bottle brush was needing some too, so i poured about 2 or 3 pounds of epsom salt around the tree and waited. April's here, and there are more dead branches. There was a semi large tallow tree growing next to it. I cut it down about three weeks ago thinking it was competing too much with the other plants. Of the few branches that are still alive i do see new growth and flowers. Today i received the results for a soil test. Yeah, I should have done that much sooner, oh well.

mehlich3

pH (1:1 Water) 6.62 High Very High

Phosphorus, ppm 101.80 Very High Very High

Potassium, ppm 76.01 Medium High

Calcium, ppm 1,991.64 Very High Very High

Magnesium, ppm 159.17 High High

Sodium, ppm 59.92 Optimum Optimum

Sulfur, ppm 43.30 High High

Copper, ppm 4.40 High High

Zinc, ppm 20.13 High High

I selected plum trees for the testing, since i have a three in the same area. The plums are another mystery. My parents planted them fifteen or so years ago, and they have never made any plums. Usually get only a handful of blooms in the spring and fall. I have been busy with work and haven't gotten around to putting out any fertilizer this year, besides a bit of epsom salt. Mom used to spend a lot of money on miracle grow garden soil and some kind of rose fertilizer. She would just give that to thing growing in the yard. Now that I've taken over, I've just been putting on a thick oak leaf mulch in the winter and old horse bedding compost in the spring. Then give them blood/bone meal. Pictures