crape myrtle wilting

[JudyB]

One of my crape myrtles overnight, completely wilted, all the leaves. Is there a sudden wilting disease that crapes are prone to? My other crape is fine... And all the rest of my trees are fine.

I do not think that it got too hot (it's a crape!) and I also don't think it dried out. All of my trees have been getting the same fert solution, so I don't think it is that either. No sprays, can't think of what happened.

Other than waiting to see if it comes back, any suggestions?

 

[JudyB]

Here's a couple pics. So strange that this was looking so strong 2 days ago. I did a partial defoliation recently, but only the older large leaves. Can't imagine that would cause this... It's been perfectly healthy up to now.

Help!

 

[Zach Smith]

I'd pull the tree and look at the root mass. Do you have enough soil in the container to hold moisture? Is there some pest that took up residence? This might give you a clue. Crapes are very tough to kill, so it should be something pretty obvious I'd think.

Good luck!

Zach

 

[jk_lewis]

If you don't see anything (spots/fuzz) on the leaves or any critters it pretty much has to be a root problem. This looks to be planted pretty high in the pot. Was it recently repotted? Does it get more/less water than the others?

 

[rockm]

Are you close enough for your neighbors to have blow-back from spraying? Are there cats/dogs in the area that may have urinated on the pot?

 

[JudyB]

No critters, no neighbors within 15 acres, and no one is spraying fields right now . I've had a few cottony scale pests, but fewer than usual this year, and I haven't seen any on this tree, they usually go for my trap whip crabs. Up on a bench, same water as everyone else. No cats would last 30 seconds in the yard with my 2 dogs, and the dogs don't jump up on the benches. Repotted this spring, and actually potted lower. It's been an exposed root since I got it (5? years ago). Just lifted it up out of the pot, healthy fibrous white roots, all the way thru the soil. pics of the rootball.

I'm wondering if this is a reaction to humic acid. Even though all the other trees get the same dosage, maybe this tree is more susceptible to damage from it. The other crape I have is a slightly different type. I recently started using the humic acid more often with my fert, no increase in amount, but more often. I also used miracle gro twice recently (at the recommended dosage) and I haven't used MG in a few years, I've been using dyna-gro, but thought I'd give them a boost. Could this cause something like this? And if so what to do?

Thoughts?

 

[milehigh_7]

I doubt it is the humic, depending on the dosage of course... mine dig it and have been getting it weekly for years. Have you been doing overhead watering more than normal they can get some fungus issues...


Hang on... Just re-read your post. You just started using MG again with HA? That could be an issue. MG will be available much faster and HA will actually accelerate this.

 

[JudyB]

I believe that this is the issue. I only started doing this in the last week or two. I will flush with water, and only water for a week and see what happens. And stop again with mg. Of course we just had an 80 mph wind storm system whip thru and just got our power back, so who knows what is still out there...

At least there was a little rain. Thank goodness.

 

[Smoke]

I believe that this is the issue. I only started doing this in the last week or two. I will flush with water, and only water for a week and see what happens. And stop again with mg. Of course we just had an 80 mph wind storm system whip thru and just got our power back, so who knows what is still out there...

At least there was a little rain. Thank goodness.

You can push an elevator button a hundred times but the coach will not come any faster. HA is a product where slow and steady wins the race. Adding more in larger doses does absolutely no good. I will be posting a tree soon that is an example of HA ,MG and if a little is good then a lot has to be better. I almost paid the price but was able to save it.


This was the tree....a nice little California juniper.

 

[JudyB]

I did not add any more dosage. Just more frequently. I figured if there was a fert that had HA as a component, ( I looked at your gro-power, and it has HA as a part of the fert.) then I could add the HA that I have as a more regular part of the fertilizer. I was adding every week, but tried it more often at the same strength.

So do you think that more often is also a problem, or just more strength? I am just trying to figure out what went wrong here so as not to do it again...

 

[Smoke]

To tell you the truth, I am more of an organic guy when it comes to fertilizer. Miricle Gro scares the crap out of me. Might just as well fertlize with Sulphate of Ammonia. I fertilize with small dosage fertilizer. Just more often. Hardly ever above 5.

The best fertilizer you can use is Eleanors Plant Food in an ejector system. NPK 0.35-0.85-0.55

If you are going to fertilize with a fertilizer and a HA, remember that the dilution of HA to the fertilizer has to be proportionate. Meaning that Gro power has 15 percent HA compared to one measure of fertilizer. So you must use only 15 percent (by volume) humic acid in your equation. 100 oz. of fertlizer vs. 15 oz HA. That is not very much at all. Most of the dilutions for straight humic acid are for ground enviroments not in pots.

 

[gergwebber]

I agree with smoke, with a weekly regiment of organics, the downside of lower nutrient levels of the big three N,P,K, will be generally overpowered by getting a full compliment of micro nutrients, slower release times and often a lower chance to burn or jack up salt levels.

I have seen crapes wilt like this before and it is usually a lack of water issue. It looks like the leaves are curling, but are the newest stems drooping also? <-(that would be h2o.) If it does not bounce back, I would start by surfing for info or emailing a pro at a company that grows crapes. also, if you were to search say, pathology in Lagerstroemia, ad a .edu to the query and you may get a whole academic college, or a grad student's thesis dedicated to your problem.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I agree with smoke, with a weekly regiment of organics, the downside of lower nutrient levels of the big three N,P,K, will be generally overpowered by getting a full compliment of micro nutrients, slower release times and often a lower chance to burn or jack up salt levels.

Which organic feeds With micronutrients are you using? I've found organics are hard to find with micronutrients (boron, copper, chloride, iron, maganese, molybdenum, Cobalt(?), and zinc), and have had to buy them to add to my organic regimen. I've been very happy with EcoVie, which has all the Macro secondary and micronutrients.

 

[misfit11]

Thanks for the info, Brian. This was always my problem with organic ferts. I didn't realize that there was one that included the micronutrients, specifically iron, which is usually what plants will become deficient in.

 

[Zach Smith]

If you use blood meal, you can count on having the iron you need from your organic fertilizer.

Zach

 

[JudyB]

update

Dropped all it's leaves. Still don't understand why this happened. It wasn't water lack, I have been watering by hand most all summer, and when I do use the auto system, it's gotten a good soaking. Maybe it was fungal??

With the events of the past weekend's weather, it's put this issue into a different perspective, that's for sure.

Anyway, since the roots are healthy, I think I'll probably get new growth, they are pretty tough, so here's hoping! By comparison, here is my other crape, it gets the same water, fert and sun....

Will update with the thumbs up or down in a couple weeks.

But I will not be using HA in as strong doses as I was using, and the MG is in the trash already.

 

[Poink88]

To tell you the truth, I am more of an organic guy when it comes to fertilizer. Miricle Gro scares the crap out of me. Might just as well fertlize with Sulphate of Ammonia. I fertilize with small dosage fertilizer. Just more often. Hardly ever above 5.

The best fertilizer you can use is Eleanors Plant Food in an ejector system. NPK 0.35-0.85-0.55

If you are going to fertilize with a fertilizer and a HA, remember that the dilution of HA to the fertilizer has to be proportionate. Meaning that Gro power has 15 percent HA compared to one measure of fertilizer. So you must use only 15 percent (by volume) humic acid in your equation. 100 oz. of fertlizer vs. 15 oz HA. That is not very much at all. Most of the dilutions for straight humic acid are for ground enviroments not in pots.

This is interesting but I am lost. I mainly use MG all purpose (24-8-16) and happy with it's performance. I recently bought some Humic Acid (12%) to try (thanks to you)...not sure why but its been a week since the purchase and I haven't used it yet (good thing). I am not about to trash my MG. I am currently using 1 tbsp MG/1.2 gallon water (w/o any HA) every 10-14 days.

Both seem to be recommended 1 tbsp/gallon of water. If I decide to use MG in conjunction w/ HA, what dilution would you recommend?

 

[milehigh_7]

I use MG on everything as well but I do it the way Walter Pall discusses. Just a very ignorant opinion is that it looks fungal. Do the tips look kinda black? Could be black sooty mold.

 

[JudyB]

Well it's pushing new buds all over the tree. And fast! Hard to believe it went thru this whole cycle so quickly. Looks like most of the branches are fine, more pics after the full (I hope) recovery.

 

[tmmason10]

Thats good news Judy, quite a scare. I have no clue what could cause this to happen so I am paying attention to this thread to see if the answer pops up.