I have looked for help with the dieback and defoliation of the trees and plants in my back yard for the past 3 years without success. I have had my county agriculteral agent come to visit as well as a tree expert who sent specimins to the lab. I have heard it is multiple fungi, a sick microclimate, and lack of / too much water which has damaged the root zone. here is what happens each year: Every spring the trees and native plants come in just fine (Pine, sassafras, rhodos, swamp maple and pepper bush shrub, . Around mid July, in one area of my yard, the leaf margins begin to brown and then continue to dieback until the leaves curl and fall off. This process goes quite quickly. One day everything is growing fine, and then the next, boom.....the leaves start to appear to brown/ die back. By Sept., the plants push out secondary leaves. I live in a very sandy soil pine forest in southern New Jersey. I have a pool in the yard, but do not use chlorine. I was told there is no BLS, as that was tested in the lab. I think it must be a fungus, since even my pots of Coleus planted in sterile potting soil near my back door developed the same problems. My big question is should I cut down the infected trees, fearing it will spread, or wave the white flag and bear it. Raking in August is so depressing. Two pine trees appear to have the same needle dieback it was called depodia...The county agent recommended using Cleary a fungicide or Captan in the early spring. I have tried, yet see no difference, We still will see the problem each summer. Several trees are stressed and obviously have been hurt by this permanently. Please help, I am grasping at straws, here. Regards, Nancy See Photos
Hi Nancy: I am really surprised the County Ag official did not recommend you have a series of soil and water tests done. I am seeing what we would equate as being salt damage on the Rhododendron. We see those same symptoms here with saline water with a saline to alkaline pH soil. The Maple also shows salt damage. That is not leaf scorch due to heat and hot winds and from what I see from the leaves that damage is not from a fungus either. Are there any of your neighbors having this same problem with their plants? Just to be safe, when you ask for a soil test, have them test for any pesticide and hydrocarbon residues in the soil. Jim
Jim, thanks for your imput. I want to say that I have been a florist and worked in greenhouses along with my husband years ago and consider myself to be not exacly a novice when it comes to gardening. Living in the woods is a challenge, however. No, my neighbors trees are fine as are the rest in my yard (side and front). The variable I have considered, and I want to mention to you is that on this side of the yard is where my husband discharges water to clean the pool filter( DE) and remove excess water from the pool and pool cover (rain water). We use Bacquacil. a biaquanide (a hydrogen peroxide sanitizer) not chlorine. Have never used chlorine. But remember the sand below the natural leaf mulch is white sugar-like sand. No water is ever standing. any discharge will percolate thru the ground as soon as we stop it. It was suggested to me that the trees are not suffering from taking up water from the discharge. Could that be the case??? The tree expert did mention pesticide damage as a possible cause. We are tree huggers, we have rarely applied anything in the back yard, and what is applied is used throughout the yard not only in this area. All I do know is that we have lived here for 20 years and have had the pool for 16 and it is within the last 5 years that this problem has occurred at the same time each year, causing the same results. (defoliation). I will get the testing done. If it is some sort of damage from soil or water, must the trees/natural shrubs come out? They all look fine in the spring, however some are becoming obviously stressed and probably won't recover, as the spring leaves are few and far between. ~Nancy
Hi Nancy: If it is some sort of damage from soil or water, must the trees/natural shrubs come out? If the trees are okay in the Spring and do fine until you get some warmer weather before the damage shows on the leaves then no, they do not need to come out. The condition that causes the salt burning can be corrected. We need to know what is causing the problem to know what to do about it. I am not familiar with PHMB- polyhexamethyl biguanide but if the chemical component is this instead then I might have a problem with it - poly hexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride. Even still, the latter chemical should not all by itself cause the problems you are having but it could very well be a contributor. You may not need to check specifically for hydrocarbon residues now but you may still have some residual pesticides in the soil that have not percolated down far enough yet or have been effectively broken down chemically. I'd still have the soil tests done and make sure that a control is done (take some soil samples from the areas that are not affected and have that soil analyzed). Have the discharge water from the pool tested. It was suggested to me that the trees are not suffering from taking up water from the discharge. That we do not know for sure yet. The PHMB could create chlorine that you do not know about if it is the PHMBH form. I guess all that you can do now is have some tests done to know what all is in the soil and the discharge water. I've seen chlorine problems on plants near pools here and they can have what looks to be salt burn, so it is not out of the question that a chlorine could be causing much of the problems for your trees. Jim
