ROR Trident rehab

[ABCarve]

This was a trident seedling that we did in a root over rock class in 1993. Over the years I mostly just let it grow with occasional pruning. Most of all it was fairly unappealing in design and it had acquired a fairly nasty case of fungus which really curtailed its development for years. Last growing season I became vigilant at ridding the disease and "I think" my efforts have paid off. This first pic shows it growing for 2016. You may be able to see some nasty leaves. The growth tips would extend somewhat and then the young tender growth would shrivel up and die. The remaining leaves had bad color and brown spots.

 

[ABCarve]

This pic was taken in the spring of 2017. The tree was topped in an effort to bring the eye down and focus on the ROR part of the tree. It also removed diseased branches where lesions had formed which can harbor fungus over the dormancy period. The fungus came back. I almost took this to the compost hep a number of times. I sprayed Clearys and copper throughout the growing season and kept removing the bad leaves into the fall. In the fall I cut out any wood suspicion of a lesion and sprayed with captan for winter storage.

 

[ABCarve]

This was taken this morning. It has been sprayed every 7 days since the buds have become active and so far the leaves look pretty good. Good enough that I put some effort into styling it. Wiring down new growth and bending some old growth. The 2nd shows where I taken a saw under the branch to aid in bending. The saw cut is 90 degrees to the branch so when the 2 sides come together the cadmium lines up to promote quicker healing. Multiple saw-kerfs can be made by pulling down the branch till the 2 side come back together and then use the saw to remove another kerf. I stopped at 2 cut as I didn't want to stretch the remaining top cadmium to far. The cut paste shows where the saw cuts were made.

 

[ABCarve]

This year the fungus?? seemed to come back in spite of spraying. The question is it really a fungus? Behavior is the spring extension is just fine. The tree is cut back and new buds start to push. As the second flush emerges the leaves simply shrivel up, die and new buds try again. I sprayed it with 3 in 1 Bayers and it seemed to fix it but I don't know if that is just coincidental or it was some crazy bug I couldn't see or some fungus that none of the other fungicides I used could touch.

 

[Ben in Kzoo]

Hello there
Hopefully you are still active and can give some tips on how to deal with that “fungus”?
I am certain my trident and JM have the same thing
Thank you

 

[ABCarve]

Hello there
Hopefully you are still active and can give some tips on how to deal with that “fungus”?
I am certain my trident and JM have the same thing
Thank you

The tree is doing well now. I used Clearys liquid systemic fungicide as the buds were starting to extend in the spring. Once the the leaves started to look bad (beginning of June) I cut the growth tips off and completely defoliated the tree. It sounds bad but it worked. I gave it another shot of Clearys then as well.

 

[pandacular]

It's a good looking tree, I love the container. Any recent pictures?

 

[ABCarve]

It's a good looking tree, I love the container. Any recent pictures?

Sold it!