I planted a golden elder last summer and up until this past week had been doing really well. Now within days its leaves turned brown and dry and and all but one branch is bald. It is in a sunny location and gets watered well. Could lawn fertilizer/pesticide overspray cause this? Also would using a transplant solution help restore the foliage or will this just cause more damage? Thankyou for any advice you can offer.
Overspray could cause that damage, usually within 7-14 days of spraying. It doesn't sound like drought is a problem & unless you're watering every day or 2, overwatering is unlikely. I would hold off on the transplant solution, the Elder doesn't need more fertilizer at this point & if it does make it, you don't want vigourous growth heading into fall. Hopefully the branches will leaf out on their own but that may not happen until next spring so don't give up until then. Simon
'Plumosa Aurea' is prone to sunburn. 'Sutherland Gold' is supposed to be resistant. But maybe yours isn't even a cutleaf variety, you don't say. Possibly even a mite infestation, although I haven't noticed elders being prone to these. I have noticed them tending to shed foliage during hot and dry conditions. Fertilizer needs vary with specific circumstances, impossible to say what a given specimen on a particular site needs without even a soil test.
