Chinese elm

[5th element]

I posted about my elm some time ago. It was yellowing and dropping leaves fairly bad. At the time it were thought to be the change in location and or the extremely wet summer NC was having. Since then the weather has dried a bit but tree is still not doing well. Every time I get a nice new flush of leaves coming out of a branch in 2-3 days they turn black and die. I see no insects, Any ideas

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Sounds like it could be a root/soil problem. Got any photos? What's it growing in? Where are you keeping it?

 

[coh]

Your original thread is pretty interesting. Everything from "root issue, repot immediately" to "it's perfectly normal."

I think it's pretty obvious now that this is not normal...new leaves should not turn yellow and drop after a few days. I would definitely check the roots. I had something similar happening with a mame sized cotoneaster a couple of years ago. New leaves would come out and then turn red and drop very prematurely. Also, the plant seemed to be losing vigor. I debated about unpotting it but delayed...finally the lower branches started turning black and crispy and it was too late...all the roots had rotted. I believe the pot had low spots and held too much water.

Lesson learned...

Chris

 

[october]

I posted about my elm some time ago. It was yellowing and dropping leaves fairly bad. At the time it were thought to be the change in location and or the extremely wet summer NC was having. Since then the weather has dried a bit but tree is still not doing well. Every time I get a nice new flush of leaves coming out of a branch in 2-3 days they turn black and die. I see no insects, Any ideas

Hello 5th element. At first, the tree looked like it was having normal shedding. However, your later pics and updates began to indicate differently. I gave you the advice to remove it from the pot, check the roots and put it in well draining soil with a few hours of morning sun. I realize that when advice is given, it is up to the person whether or not they chose to listen. I gave you this advice back in July. Most of the time, in situations like that, you cannot wait for it to get better, you need to do something.

Rob

 

[5th element]

Sorry for not clearing this up, I did take the advice. I did an emergency repot into better draining soil. The soil is a 50/50 blend. The roots looked good and had no foul smell.

 

[GrimLore]

If all the conditions are correct and otherwise normal you might consider spraying the tree with Copper Fungicide. If after application the new growth is healthy you are dealing with one of many fungus varieties. The unusual weather this year has seemed to yield a lot of cases of fungal type problems. I use Ortho Disease B Gon and it works quite well on trees, flowers, and shrubs. Inexpensive and available at most farm supply and big box stores.

 

[coh]

Sorry for not clearing this up, I did take the advice. I did an emergency repot into better draining soil. The soil is a 50/50 blend. The roots looked good and had no foul smell.

OK...this is somewhat important information that should have been in your first post! Now that we know this...a couple of additional questions.

1) How long ago did you repot?
2) Have the leaf symptoms changed? You mentioned that the leaves were yellowing, now you're saying they turn black. Do they get black spots, does the whole leaf turn black, is it crispy/dry? Any chance you can post a photo?

It could be a fungal problem, perhaps over-watering (even if the roots looked OK). I have been using daconil on my elm this season and have had less of the leaf yellowing/dropping than in previous seasons.

Chris