Leaves of collected crabapple or hawthorn turning black and curling up

[mrcasey]

In late winter, I collected this tree from very wet bottom land in central West Virginia.
The tree had some thorns without bud scars, but the leaves looked like crab apple leaves.
Also, the roots were pretty sparse. In mid April, I fertilized with about 1/4 cup of composted chicken manure. Every two weeks, I use balanced full strength liquid miracle gro. Could it be fire blight? Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The soil appears to be field soil or potting soil...neither works well for bonsai, and this die-back can be the result of soil staying too wet.

Alternately, or related, it could be pushing growth from reserves and the roots either aren't there or aren't working to support this growth.

I would also hold off feeding it for a few months. Fertilizer isn't necessary this quickly...trees can get much of that they need through photosynthesis.

You might plant it in the ground and hope for the best. Next year, if it lives, work the roots and plant it in soil better suited for pot culture.

 

[mrcasey]

More of the same potted in conventional bonsai soil

Brian,

As an experiment, I potted one in potting soil and another in more traditional bonsai substrate -
turface, pine bark, and granite sized between 1/8" and 1/4".

I'm having similar problems with the tree potted in traditional bonsai mix. As you suggest, I think I will put them in the ground and see what happens.

Casey

 

[electronfusion]

Well, what happened?

 

[mrcasey]

These trees bit the dust a long time ago. I don't recall what death looked like, but I've had similar problems with crabs/hawthorns I've collected in the same area. I seem to get a helluva lot of die back on my collected trees when I chop to a bare trunk. Bark will peel down to the nebari and things go south from there. I've pretty much had it with my local hawthorns. When I'm not fighting blight, I'm fighting aphids.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@mrcasey
Good to see you are still around. You have my sympathies battling with blights and such when it comes to crab apples and hawthorns. Hopefully you found other trees that do well in your back yard.