Chinese Fringe Flower dying? Help!

[amnelson13]

Help please! I bought a Chinese Fringe Flower from Bonsai Outlet about a month ago - I believe it came from Brussel's Bonsai originally. Well, they shipped it without heat packs and the day I got it, it was 19 deg outside (I live in Zone 6b). It seemed to go through a bit of a growth spurt after that, I am guessing from being out in the cold for over a week, and it looked OK. However, I have read conflicting things about whether to keep it outside during the winter or bring it in, and I decided to keep it inside. About a week ago I noticed little black/brown bugs on it, looked like aphids only a bit bigger, and I sprayed it down a few days ago with Maggie's Farm 3 in 1 Garden Spray for Organic Gardening, thinking that would be safe to use. My plant looks terrible though! It seemed to have killed the bugs, but now most of the leaves are shriveling up and falling off, with only a few looking healthy. The other problems are that I don't have a great bright spot in my small apartment to put the plant so I have had it under grow lights, with a humidity tray and spraying/watering every few days, but just found out the grow lights I have are more for seedlings apparently, and not full spectrum. Could being in a warm apartment plus not getting great light also be issues? This is a dry climate, too.

Any advice? Should I just put it out on my deck for fresh air and sunshine? We still have temps in the 20s or 30s at night, and lately 30s or 40s in the day. I am worried putting it out all of a sudden will be too much of a shock.

 

[cbroad]

First off, did this loropetalum come with an additional name like a cultivar (ex. 'Ruby', 'Purple Pixe', etc.)? Some cultivars can be very finicky to cold, especially in zones 6 and below. Loropetalum is a finicky plant in general.

Also, generally we consider any plant kept in a container outdoors, to lose a zone because the roots will be above ground taking the brunt of the cold and not insulated by the ground. As far as your situation, consider your plant was in a zone 5 situation, possibly lower depending on exactly where you live and where this plant had to transit from. That isn't good considering the plants temperament. It really helps to put a more general location where you are in your user profile. We could give you better advice then.

Loropetalum is not going to like an indoor environment for very long, but considering your situation, it's probably better to not of left it outside. It helps to know what condition this plant was living in before coming to you also, so you can maybe replicate that environment.

The bugs may have been there because of dormant eggs in the plant or soil. Once they warmed up inside your house, they probably hatched. This may mean the plant was originally kept outdoors at the nursery. The bugs would be my least concern right now.

Your growth spurt may have been the plant coming out of dormancy, but again knowing how the plant was cared for before coming to you is helpful. If it did break dormancy, keeping it outside now is probably a death sentence, unless you live in a much more southern area than Virginia.

Putting it inside and outside is really going to stress the plant out. If you still have a month and a half of winter left like me, keeping it inside, in as much light as possible is probably your best option.

Luckily for you, if your plant was healthy before you got it, it will probably rebound. Try to stabilize its condition, meaning don't move it around a lot, and get a grasp of watering it. You don't want the soil to be soaking wet, or bone dry.

A correct watering schedule is hard to say because it depends on the plant size, pot size, type of soil, size of the plant and how much foliage is on it.

A picture could really help with any further advice. Good luck with it!

 

[amnelson13]

I am in Spokane, WA, which is the drier, colder part of the state. I've tried to find the cultivar but the tag just says Loropetalum Chinensis. I attached the tag.

Today it's sunny and in the upper 50s so I have it outside, but maybe you're right, the flip-flopping isn't good?

And on further inspection, there are still bugs!!! Do you think the spray was part of it, or had nothing to do with it?

 

[cbroad]

Do you think the spray was part of it

I thought this Maggie's stuff might be horticultural oil, but it's not. Some plants are sensitive to hort. oil, it's basically mineral oil. Your stuff seems to be just aromatic plant oils, which I would think would be pretty safe.

Your plant has big leaves, so hopefully this is straight chinenses, more tolerant than any cultivars and more vigorous too.

The damage looks like wind burn, or just tender foliage getting too cold and shriveling up. Could also be foliage drying out inside from the warm dry air, or both.

Honestly, this doesn't look too bad. The bigger foliage looks ok to me. Your tree should be able over come this setback, but you might have some dieback. Just try to water appropriately, and don't love it to death

Once spring comes, plan on keeping it exclusively outside.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Loropetalum - Chinese Fringe tree is winter hardy to roughly zone 7. When you took your tree out of the box, if the leaves looked normal at that time, it did not freeze in transit. Freeze damage will show up almost immediately, or within a few hours of the freeze event.

I don't like the wilted look of your leaves.

Question? When you water, you should flood the pot with water, take it to a sink, or dunk it in a bucket of water. You want to flood the pot with water. Then let the tree drain a few minutes on the drain board, or in the sink. Then return the tree to your windowsill. Check to see if the tree needs water daily. Only water it when exploration with your finger shows it is getting dry. Dig your finger into the mix at least base of fingernail deep. If barely damp, it is perfect time to water. If it feels bone dry, you should have watered yesterday, if it feels wet, don't water, check again the next day. Your tree might not need daily watering, but you should check daily. Dribbling in a little water from a watering can will leave dry pockets in the pot. It might only wet part of the mix in the pot. THat is why you take the tree to the sink, and then flood the tree with water. This way there are no dry pockets of soil in the pot.

Products like Maggie's Farm 3 in 1 Spray, you need to read the label. The label probably tells you to reapply the spray every 5 days or so. If the label says repeat spray applications are necessary, then you must keep re-applying in order to be effective. The spray only kills adults, the eggs are not affected, so you need to re--spray again every 5 days so that you can kill the newly hatch insects before they are old enough to lay another batch of eggs.

Hope this helps.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[amnelson13]

I thought this Maggie's stuff might be horticultural oil, but it's not. Some plants are sensitive to hort. oil, it's basically mineral oil. Your stuff seems to be just aromatic plant oils, which I would think would be pretty safe.

Your plant has big leaves, so hopefully this is straight chinenses, more tolerant than any cultivars and more vigorous too.

The damage looks like wind burn, or just tender foliage getting too cold and shriveling up. Could also be foliage drying out inside from the warm dry air, or both.

Honestly, this doesn't look too bad. The bigger foliage looks ok to me. Your tree should be able over come this setback, but you might have some dieback. Just try to water appropriately, and don't love it to death

Once spring comes, plan on keeping it exclusively outside.

Well it's definitely not wind burn; today was the first day I had it outside. Could definitely be the warm dry air though. The air is pretty stale in the spare bedroom where I've been keeping it. I'm going to try to find a better spot in a different part of the apartment.

Thanks for giving me hope!! Yes I definitely will have it outside once the weather turns =]

 

[amnelson13]

Loropetalum - Chinese Fringe tree is winter hardy to roughly zone 7. When you took your tree out of the box, if the leaves looked normal at that time, it did not freeze in transit. Freeze damage will show up almost immediately, or within a few hours of the freeze event.

I don't like the wilted look of your leaves.

Question? When you water, you should flood the pot with water, take it to a sink, or dunk it in a bucket of water. You want to flood the pot with water. Then let the tree drain a few minutes on the drain board, or in the sink. Then return the tree to your windowsill. Check to see if the tree needs water daily. Only water it when exploration with your finger shows it is getting dry. Dig your finger into the mix at least base of fingernail deep. If barely damp, it is perfect time to water. If it feels bone dry, you should have watered yesterday, if it feels wet, don't water, check again the next day. Your tree might not need daily watering, but you should check daily. Dribbling in a little water from a watering can will leave dry pockets in the pot. It might only wet part of the mix in the pot. THat is why you take the tree to the sink, and then flood the tree with water. This way there are no dry pockets of soil in the pot.

Products like Maggie's Farm 3 in 1 Spray, you need to read the label. The label probably tells you to reapply the spray every 5 days or so. If the label says repeat spray applications are necessary, then you must keep re-applying in order to be effective. The spray only kills adults, the eggs are not affected, so you need to re--spray again every 5 days so that you can kill the newly hatch insects before they are old enough to lay another batch of eggs.

Hope this helps.

That's what I was thinking - that if the tree got too cold during transit, I would know within a day or two. Since it went into a growth spurt instead, I figured it was OK.

When I water, I take it to the sink and flood the pot, and water a couple of times and make sure it's draining. I let it sit for a bit then put it back on the sill. I will try your suggestion about digging in the soil though; I typically just go with how the topsoil feels

I am worried about using the spray again. The leaves started shriveling the day after I used it, and have only gotten worse since then. The label said to spray completely until the leaves were dripping, which I did, but maybe it was possible to use too much? I am new at bonsai - do you all typically use a special kind of bug spray for bonsai?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The problem could be the bug spray or over-watering. IF you just touched the surface of the potting medium, you very well could have been watering too often.

For bug sprays, stop at your local "big Box store garden department", Menards, Home Depot, Lowes, or an actual landscape nursery. Look at their selection of bug sprays. Look for a spray labeled for house plants, and lists. Aphids and Thrips as target insects. Usually one with Pyrethrum as it's active ingredient will work. Pyrethrum & Pipernol is a good combo for active ingredients. They are "not organic" but Pyrethrum is noted for rapid break down, usually being completely broken down in as little as 24 hours. Again, read label for how often to reapply, nothing safe for humans is strong enough to use just once.

Your Maggie's oil spray might have been damaging to foliage. Usually Pyrethrum sprays do not damage foliage.

 

[amnelson13]

The problem could be the bug spray or over-watering. IF you just touched the surface of the potting medium, you very well could have been watering too often.

For bug sprays, stop at your local "big Box store garden department", Menards, Home Depot, Lowes, or an actual landscape nursery. Look at their selection of bug sprays. Look for a spray labeled for house plants, and lists. Aphids and Thrips as target insects. Usually one with Pyrethrum as it's active ingredient will work. Pyrethrum & Pipernol is a good combo for active ingredients. They are "not organic" but Pyrethrum is noted for rapid break down, usually being completely broken down in as little as 24 hours. Again, read label for how often to reapply, nothing safe for humans is strong enough to use just once.

Your Maggie's oil spray might have been damaging to foliage. Usually Pyrethrum sprays do not damage foliage.

Any experience with neem oil? I went to Home Depot yesterday and surprisingly couldn't find much - even the associate said that was all they had. Most of the sprays weren't for houseplants. He recommended the neem oil so I picked that up.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Many like neem, and report good success. I have only had mediocre results with neem. Try it. But read the label, and follow directions. Especially look at the list on the label of species that you should not use neem on. If it says not to use on witch hazels or Hamamelis, then do not use it on your Loropetalum (witch hazel family, Hamamelis)

 

[amnelson13]

Well I think the tree is a goner. I think I may have overwatered it initially, because I have been digging an inch down in the soil for the past week or so and it's still not dry (it's been over a week since I watered). I had been watering every couple of days or so. The leaves that still looked OK a few days ago are now shriveled.

Thanks all for your help.