After a few days of very hot dry weather (which we are not too used to over here) in June, my Katsura quite suddenly developed totally dry leaves and went to the happy hunting ground for Japanese maples. It was a reasonably well established tree so should not have been affected simply by a few days lack of water, but I see that it was also beginning to lose bark at the base of the tree, although this had not circled the trunk. It just might have been affected by mulch too close to the trunk, but this again is unlikely This is the second fairly well established Katsura which has died on me in this speedy fashion (NOT planted in the same spot I may add) ... both of the trees which died would have been about 6 feet tall and growing happily for a number of years before deciding to join my list of failures Anyone else had this problem with Katsura? It seems to be more than a coincidence that both trees were the same, not bought from the same supplier, and bought years apart in any event The only other trees I have had die on me like this was Senkaki which had verticillium Any ideas?
Hi Sam, Sorry to hear about Katsura. Was it particularly cold this winter for you? We're still getting over it here... with many losses, I just cut back A. pectinatum Sirene and am attempting to root A. pectinatum Alice, having pulled up a Sango kaku yesterday. -E P.S. Nice likeness! :)
My failing memory tells me that it wasn't that particularly cold this past winter Emery. Everything seemed to be fine in springtime as all of the maples came into life at varying times Nice to hear that you like my self portrait avatar :) LOL
Sam, I have two well established 'Katsuras'. One was affected with Verticillium albo-atrum 3 years ago, lost half of the branches but recovered and now one can hardly tell. Otherwise I find they are more sensible to mildew than the average palmatum. Gomero
That's too bad about the 'Katsura.' They seem to be quite winter-hardy here in New England, so maybe that translates into lesser tolerance, on the whole, for hot and dry conditions? It's interesting that they grow well for Gomero ... but then, doesn't everything grow well for Gomero?
You are too kind Kaspian, I wish it would be at least half true ;-)) If Sam lost his 'Katsura', I lost my 7 years old A. pentaphyllum planted in the ground and growing happily for all these years. This spring it did not look good, struggling to leaf out. The few leaves that did appear, slowly wilted. I really do not know what happened to it. It was a grafted plant and, amazingly, since I have had no time to remove it, the rootstock (A. platanoides) has just sprang back to life putting out a lot of shoots. I do not know if it is usual that, after so many years, the rootstock revives like that. It also proves that the demise of the pentaphyllum did not originate at the rootstock. I know of several other enthusiasts who also lost their pentaphyllum after a few years, is anybody growing it from seed? Gomero
You didn't have dry conditions along with the heat, did you? I had a Cercis Canad. 'Forest Pansy' growing in a moist spot for years that got really dry during a drought year and it died suddenly. The leaves came out small and then just dried up and died. It seems weird, though, that you've lost two. Sorry about that, it's frustrating. Kay
Hi all-- It's not too unusual for me to lose a palmatum, at least in part, to a verticillium-ish disease, but I can testify that my 'Katsura' grew pretty happily in the ground for 15 years before becoming seriously infected. So the cultivar is susceptible to vascular fungus when it's a seed-producing adult. Mine, too, seems to be recovering, but several major branches have massive longitudinal scars. I was also interested to hear that Gomero had, and lost, a pentaphyllum grafted onto platanoides. Is that the usual understock in Europe? I would have thought that buergerianum would be a better understock, because it's from the same section. But I've never tried it. I know of trees from rooted cuttings as well. Mine is seed-grown. It would be interesting to know if grafting onto another species' rootstock affects when it breaks dormancy in spring. I think Gomero said pentaphyllum breaks late anyway, grafted or not, as mine does. I read something about appropriate rootstocks for grafting pentaphyllum and the trifoliates years ago. Don't remember where, as usual--maybe in an IPPS bulletin? Anyway, the author expressed concern about "delayed graft failure" when the scion and understock were from different sections of the genus. Apparently quite a few species can be grafted onto, say, pseudoplatanus, but the grafts never really knit, and the trees collapse within a decade or two. Be interested to hear if anybody has any experience with this. Should have started a new thread for this, I guess... D.
