Let me preface this by saying I have a container garden on my roof. Last year I brought a new "self-pollinating sweet sensation august plum tree" from Lowe's into my garden and I believe I'm living to regret it. It had some leaf disease that caused the leaves to get shot holes in them and wither up. I treated it with everything natural and clipped it back repeatedly, but I think it started to spread to a pear tree nearby. After much investigation into every possible cause and a season full of nothing but removing leaves and clipping off branches, I finally came up with an ID of bacterial leaf disease. I was advised to spray it with agrimycin this spring before and during leafing out ... which I have done quite a few times. However, the leaves are coming out deformed and the pear tree is showing signs of it too although not as bad as the plum. I'm thinking I should just get the tree out of the garden before it does anymore damage...but would like to make one last effort to find a solution to the problem...I am attaching picture of the new leaves emerging from the plum tree and one from the Pear tree (the single leaf is from the pear tree) Any insight would be appreciated....can it be saved or is it just a threat to the rest of the garden.
I think it's bacterial too...and that's why I am so concerned. I've been spraying it with agrimycin for a few weeks now, yet the leaves opened deformed which leads me to believe I am not going to get rid of this. I've already moved the tree outside of the main area...it's on the way out...I'm so concerned that it's going to infect my other trees. The pear tree - has a few leaves that are like the one in the picture, but on the whole, it seems healthy. I think it's the plum that really is housing the bacteria. Any suggestions for how to treat the pear tree to prevent it from getting worse?
I suspect acid rain/low pH. Have you put any dolomite on the soil in the last few months? Buffering the soil with lime may alleviate those symptoms.
No I haven't, but I will. I have some lime. how much should I use? Please take a look at these pictures I just put together.. it seems that the issue is more widespread than I thought... it's affected a magnolia, and a rhododendron too. http://www.mihaus.com/Leaf_disease.html thanks
Just out of curiosity what are those planters lined with? I'm wondering if you have metal toxicity from copper/zinc/aluminum(brought on by acid rain). A handful of (dolomitic) lime in the container should be fine except for Azalea/Rhododendrons. As they (Azalea/Rhododendrons) hate lime, I'd maybe give them a foliar rinse with baking soda. Long term though you can't treat them with anything basic so a neutral pH tap water is all I can suggest.
The planters are not lined with anything. They're just plain cedar wood. I'm having deja vous with this... I think once before it was suggested to me that my plants might be suffering from acid rain...in fact that's why I bought the lime... but that wasn't the case. It's some sort of disease, or invisible insect, not a lack of nutrients or acid rain.
Good news on the containers. There is NO Insect or Disease that affects ALL plants. That leaves physiological conditions such as pH, Acid rain, Air Pollution, Fertilizer or Spray injuries .
It's not all my plants. I have many more. It is only the pear, plum, rhododendron which is right next to the pear trees which were next to the plum tree and the magnolia which is not exactly next to those other trees. But I have a huge fruit bearing apricot tree, pin oaks, maples, hawthorne, roses, hydrangeas of all description, fig trees, pomergranate trees, redbuds, empress tree, service berry, sycamore tree, rose of sharon, crepe myrtles and many many more that are not affected at all. I've been down the acid rain route before. It wasn't the case. There is something either bacterial, or insect driven that is affecting these specific trees. They are the only ones that I have a problem with. We did have a late frost this year...after those specific trees had blossomed or leafed out....and an extremely cold winter...could that have contributed?
Oh, I hope that's the reason. How can I now for sure. If the new growth is still coming in deformed would that be an indication one way or the other?
Only time will tell. If they out grow the condition it may have been cold weather. Plants in cold & wet soils can also have nutritional deficiencies.
do you think adding lime will help ? (except for the rhododendron) should I fertilize, or would that not be a good idea at this point? should I hold back on watering....I haven't been watering, but I just put in a drip system so they did get a good dose of water over the weekend and then again yesterday when I was checking it out. Maybe too much cause the temp really dropped today. BTW, thanks so much for the dialogue. It's really helps.
It would seem unwise to fertilize without knowing what elements are missing or in excess. A soil test would be the safest thing to do, but I don't know if that's available to you. Lime in modest quantities probably won't cause any harm.