Tupelo dropping leaves already

last year

I had a Northern Splendor Black Gum planted last Spring. It seemed to be doing fine last year and put out some new growth this year. I noticed that its starting to turn and is dropping leaves. Just added some mushroom compost and mulch. it was a very wet spring here and had to deal with standing water at times. is there something else I should be doing?

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Comments (5)

nesting67
Original Author
last year
Thank you ThePlantGuy007. I have some Holly-Tone in the garage that I fertilize my Beeches with. I may try some of that on the Tupelo. Our soil is definitely alkaline.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
last year
I might just ask my cooperative extension agent about this- they're an often neglected resource and have invaluable knowledge about local conditions.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
where are you.. big city name.. whats the weather been other than rain ..

how did you plant it.. was it ball and burlap.. did you bare root...

that is a rather large transplant... it will take 3 to 5 years to grow a root mass for that big a tree .... and intermittent leaf damage is nbd until then.. and frankly even after ... why is it still staked???

what if anything is applied to the lawn ...

it appears to a a vast majority of its leaves.. why do you think anything need be done ..there may have been some momentary issue.. that the tree is already over ... so i would be leery of fixing what might not be there ..

i have planted over 250 trees on my 5 acres . and never fertilized a single one of them ... and i grow in sand ... unless you have a valid soil test indicating something is missing form the soil.. i would suggest its not a worthy remedy to whatever is going on.. if anything..

this also is something your local extension office might know mostly off hand.. as in ... sir.. or maam.. are you aware of any soil based reason tulepo might have issues in our county due to soil conditions ... besides that.. do you know of any Ts around??? if they grown in native woodlands in your county.. then odds are.. its not going to be a soil issue ..\

ken
nesting67
Original Author
last year
Thank you Ken for your candid feedback. I've read some of your previous posts...your tricolor is infamous!

This tree was in a container and was planted by the Nursery from which it was purchased. Said Nursery came highly recommended, however, the Tricolor in the same order had wooly aphids found after it was planted, of course. It's my 2nd time growing the TCB and this one looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Sadly, the first one is now being enjoyed by the new owner of my old house. I purchased a Gingko in this order as well which appears to be doing fine but seems like it may need to be staked forever lest it snap in half - really top heavy. We live in an open rural area on a large corner lot. It gets pretty windy.

On to the Tupelo. Is is not widely sold in this neck of the woods (SW burbs of Chicago), probably because of the growth rate. They love the maples around here. According to the map I found online the Tupelo is native to Cook county so I'm just outside that range. The tree, AKA "Swamp Tupelo" is supposed to grow well in damp sites so I'm hoping the temporary spring lawn pond was not tooo much for it. We have a river birch just behind and to the right that seems to love the location. The spring ponding comes and goes, longest time wet would probably be a week.

I'm thinking I can remove the stakes on the Tupelo since it's behind our house in a more sheltered location. Thanks for pointing that out!

Something I forgot to mention is that it's planted about 50 feet from a mature Black Walnut. The research showed it as juglone tolerant so hoping that's not the issue. Oh well, time will tell..
nesting67
Original Author
last year
Now in July, my Nyssa Sylvatica is completely dead. I sent pictures to the Plant Clinic at Morton Arboretum back in June and was told the tree has a canker and replacement is recommended. The Nursery is offering a replacement of the exact same tree which looks pretty healthy in the pictures that were sent to me. Should I ask for a credit instead and come back in the Spring when the transplant will have a better chance of establishing? Or perhaps try a different variety of Tupelo? This Nursery also carries Red Rage which is supposed to have some fungal resistance. Although the Red Rage they have is in a 15 gallon container and would probably not be an even replacement not to mention would likely be more difficult to acclimate. Thoughts?