Crepe Myrtle Transplant Shock (4 months delayed)

6 years ago

I'm trying to get advice on dealing with what appears to be CM transplant shock. The tree is roughly 15 foot in height and was transplanted in mid February before leafs had budded. The CM was tucked very tightly into a corner of a privacy fence so I managed to get roughly a 30-36 inch diameter root ball, but no more due to the fence being in the way. I was surprised to find that I did not have to cut many large roots when digging the root ball.

So.. After transplanting, I moved to a location that has more room (albeit not as much as I would like) facing SE. Plant budded and put on leaves with no hint of transplant shock whatsoever. In the last 3 weeks, the leaves have been curling up looking wilted, and have started to yellow. The lawn is irrigated, so surrounding areas get good water, but not directly on the CM.

Immediately preceding the wilting, we had very heavy rains (10 inches in a matter of a couple of weeks) that saturated the soil so much that the root ball actually started shifting. I adjusted the tree back to plumb and added stakes to keep it help upright until the roots have a chance to establish themselves.

Leaves don't seem to recover in early morning hours, and I am starting to get leaves dropping from the tree. I have been hand watering every 2-3 days, but it hasn't seemed to make any difference in condition of the tree. Soil from the root ball is quite sandy which makes me think I may need to amend with compost / peat etc, and also has me concerned about water retention. I do not have the area mulched in as I have seen suggested in some other posts. The tree is essentially in my front lawn, so it is going to be a project to build a bed border and mulch it all in.

Any suggestions on how to treat the tree to get long term stable growth would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I am guessing it will probably not put on flowers this year, and I will be lucky if it survives. Best guesses at this point is to amend the soil, prune heavily in off season to reduce the amount of growth above ground that the roots have to support, and keep watering.

Thanks!

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Nathaniel McVay
Original Author

6 years ago

In NE Oklahoma. I was not planning on either until winter. I will do just that then! It sounds like it is pretty typical for the plant to lose all its leaves, and then bounce back the following season. Does this sound accurate?

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Comments (10)

Sara Malone (Zone 9b)
6 years ago
Where are you? Don't amend soil, and don't prune, whatever else you do. Give it time to adjust. If you determined that the soil is too lean, you can top dress with compost or fertilize lightly next year. Right now it needs to be watered and left alone. These generally recover from transplant well.
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Sara Malone (Zone 9b)
6 years ago
Well, depends on a lot of things, like what the plant is. But with tough, deciduous plants it is amazing what you can put them through and they still survive. Just make sure that it doesn't dry out too much and don't overwater it either. As noted above, use your own hands to determine how moist the soil is. You basically want to get it from wet (right after watering) to friable (crumbly) before watering it again. If you can't make a ball with the soil because it's too dry, you are waiting too long to water again. I have a hard time with drip on newly planted shrubs and trees because drip is seldom a good way to get the entire root ball moistened sufficiently, which may be part of your problem. I like to water overhead (which here means planting in November and letting the winter rains do it) for the first 6-12 months and then go to drip.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
15 foot plant.. 3 foot root ball ... you cut off 99% of its roots ...

2 to 3 years to recover the root mass lost ...

how about some pix ... loss of anything less than 75% of the leaves.. i would call minimal ...

how do you determine.. when it needs water... all you tell us is that you water.. water.. water.. plus monsoonal rains ...

its is.. and will continue to be STRESSED ... see link ...

its in NOT hungry.. no fert ..

ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4I1TmTL5A
Nathaniel McVay
Original Author
6 years ago
I'm out of town this weekend but will post pics when I can. I was looking last night and let me revise the height down to 10-12 feet.

I determine when to water based on soil dryness. The heavy rain was 1-2 months ago, and obviously during that time, I was not hand watering. I usually scratch 1-2 inches down and if the soil is dry, then I will add water. Honestly between that check and being too busy to remember, I doubt I am overwatering. Due to the sandyness of the soil, it dries out very quickly.

As far as cutting off the roots, I made the root ball as big as I possibly could given the circumstances and was surprised when I didn't have many large roots to cut through at all. I only had to chop through one root larger than a half inch that was running under one of the fences.

So.. it sounds like the general consensus is don't screw up watering, and stop freaking out =p

Thanks for the feedback. I'll post pictures when I get back in town.
Sara Malone Zone 9b
6 years ago
Yes!
Nathaniel McVay
Original Author
6 years ago
I have failed at pictures thus far.. I work a full time job, and also run my own business so this post hasn't gotten much attention lately!

We did have a cool spell for about a week and I noticed that the leaves started looking healthy again, despite my having forgotten to hand water.

It looks like this is basically transplant shock that is only appearing when the higher temps come around which makes sense seeing it is a more stressful environment. I think all in all, I should just leave the thing alone and let the roots re-establish themselves. I was surprised since it really isn't that hot, but it looks like 80's and the plant is happy, 90's and the plant gets cranky. All that being said, the wood isn't dying back, and the leaves have stopped dropping so I think it will manage to survive.

I will top dress next year to try and give the soil a bit more nutrient density and otherwise just see how things go!

Didn't want to leave this post hanging. Thanks again for all the comments.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
you need to think in tree time.. and with a 15 foot transplant... we are talking 2 to 3 years.. for it to regrow the root mass ...

but you have to water it but otherwise ignore it ....

if it wilts in heat.. it doesnt have enough water ...

ken
HU-676692155
4 months ago
Now that we are 6 years later.. Did the tree survive? Or did it end up dying?
Nathaniel McVay
Original Author
4 months ago
Lost my comment due to account verification. Crepe is alive and mostly well. It's got some problems with powdery mildew due to where it's located, but is generally a happy plant as long as I get antifungals on it during summertime at some point. Where it's at currently blocks afternoon sun and the thing is big enough to keep a lot of sunlight from making it to the ground, so the area remains moisture more than it should. Other than that, it grows like a weed and puts on good color every year!

Crepe Myrtle Transplant Shock (4 months delayed)

Nathaniel McVay
Original Author

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