What do I do with a tree whose leaves all shrivelled off?

I bought a King Edward VII Red Flowering Currant tree. It was in exchange for a serviceberry that died. SO, there's no warranty on the Currant tree. One exchange only.

I planted it happily, and was watering it frequently, to help it settle contentedly.

All the leaves started to shrivel. There was a drought going on at the time, so I thought it still wasn't getting enough water. I started leaving the hose right on the ground over it until it puddled and then taking it away, giving it a good soak.

All the leaves fell off.

I called the nursery and they said I was killing it, to only water once a week.

Gulp.

So I've stopped watering it, I'm just waiting for Tuesday to water it again. But I'm trying to figure out how it's going to come back to life with no leaves to help it along...should I have faith? Should I do anything else? How can I save the tree?

Worried,

Kris

I am no expert, but I do know that the red flowering currant is very drought tolerant. You might be overwatering it, despite it being a transplant.

I think the bigger issue is with your nursery. They should have given you all the care information for the tree. Especially considering that the previous tree you bought from them didn't make it.
And if this one doesn't make it, demand a refund in cash and take you business somewhere where they staff knowledgeable and service oriented people.


Nick

The same thing happened to my serviceberry. I bought the original one the beginning of May. We had a hard freeze and no leaves came out. A guy from the nursery came by and confirmed it dead.

On June 2nd I went and got a second tree. When I got it home and dug up the 1st tree there was alot of water in the hole. I figured it was from watering with nothing to soak the water up. I planted the 2nd tree and the leaves were kind of droopy, I trhought from distress.

Around the 14th I took a sample to another garden center, they said it was distressed and to give 5 gallons of water twice a week, three times if the temp got above 90 for a couple of days. Well, my leaves are all shriveled up and crispy and I still water it twice a week in hopes of a miricle come spring.

I've got clay for dirt, but my gosh, you wouldn't think this would happen. I made the hole twice as big and used a potting mix around the ball. I don't want to dig it up and find water in the hole again. I don't know what to do because these things are 6 feet tall and are clumps, not one tree and pretty heavy.

Pedally, your biggest problem probably was using potting mix in the backfill. With clay soil, you need to do two things:

1. Do not plant container-grown trees without first removing most of the potting mix (washing it off gently to preserve the small roots) and treating them as bare-root trees, spreading any circling roots in the process. Failing that, at least disrupt the edges of the rootball (cutting circling roots), plant very high, and mound the backfill up around the rootball, then use proper irrigation to keep the rootball reasonably mois but not soggy. Even better, plant B&B trees that have been grown in a clay-based field soil, not container trees or B&B trees grown in sandy soil.

2. Do not amend the backfill soil. Dig the hole when the clay is just moist enough to be workable, crumble it well, and use in without amendment as your backfill. And be sure to dig a very wide hole with scarified edges.

The problem with planting container plants in clay, or with using soil amendments in clay, is due to the capillary action of the clay pulling water from the potting mix during dry periods combined with the impermeability of the clay trapping water in the potting mix when you water the tree -- feast or famine.

Storybook and Pedally, with any new tree, regardless of planting method, you need to stick your finger or a moisture meter into the original root area near the trunk to check for soil moisture. When the soil feels dry an inch or more down, water heavily, then wait until it's dry before watering again.

Guy S.

I was told not to water for a week too. Every tree I've planted since doing that has done great. Plant your container trees a little high, and definitely tease out the roots.

Guy is absolutely right! The only thing I would change in what he says is -----If the soil is at all wet in our yard, it will turn cement-like and gummy if you dig. I don't think our soil ever dries completely under the top layer. I always dig a hole in fairly dry soil, crumble it, plant, -then water in.

Be very careful if you till clay soil! My DH used to till and rake up every leaf. Our soil got worse and worse. I finally convinced him to start dumping all the crunched leaves in the garden and to stop tilling. We have been amending with a ton of crunched leaves just thrown on top of our soil, around our plants, a couple inches away from the crown. I use them as mulch, and our once thick, gummy, overtilled soil is black and beautiful, just like the garden magazines show! I even bury the leaves sometimes. Plants are growing like crazy. It's cheap, easy composting, and it works in a couple years!

This message was edited Jul 5, 2005 4:35 PM

So would these solutions also be true for a 5 ft foster holly that I recently planted in a new bed? The shrub was doing great in the pot and then I planted it and all the leaves have begun to drop. My locations is NW Arkansas and the ground is definately clay even though my new bed has topsoil and compost in it also.

Can a tree survive without leaves? Should I remove the dead leaves and hope new ones grow back?

Just a thought. When I worked in a large nursery and a tree was fresh-dug from the field, they were kept under sprinklers to prevent dessication on the leaves during hot-dry weather before transport. Whenever I plant a new plant from container I focus as much on early morning or late evening mist-down as I do on watering it in. This seems to prevent leaf-drop, the limp look, etc until it is established. As mentioned above, preparing the hole by digging 1/3 larger hole and mixing better soil in is absolutely imperative for success. I always build a little moat around any plant I plant so that when I do water it, the water soaks deep and I don't have to water as frequently.

I don't know whether new leaves will grow back. I think I would try to pull the dead ones off, but really check to make sure they are dead, first. I am no expert, but that is what I would try. I have never had a new tree come back once the leaves are off. I think it is too hard for them to establish roots and leaves at the same time. If your roots are good and established, the plant should put out new growth pretty quick.

I also thought of something else. New plants or plants that are under stress sometimes act as hosts for pests. You might try checking for bugs first, and spray with an organic control if you find any evidence of infestation.

Actually, the practice of backfilling planting holes with anything other than native soil has fallen by the way. You'll find that nearly all nurseries suggest you do not amend soil surrounding new plantings, instead, they suggest you plant the plant with the basal flair slightly above finished soil line & backfill with the soil you removed to make the hole. In the case of heavy clay soils, like Guy mentioned, planting higher & mulching is better. The rest of his advise was very good too; however, I would be reluctant to remove much soil from roots of a tree that is in leaf. Substantial amounts (in many cases, and especially on smaller trees, all) of soil can be removed on dormant trees with little in the way of ill effect, but trees in leaf usually prefer their roots not be manipulated too much. The vertical slits in the rootball are good advice, too. This actually sends a chemical message to the tree, telling it the roots have been wounded and stimulating new root generation.

As long as a tree is growing, its # 1 priority will be to make leaves so it can make food. Photosynthesis is dependent on green tissues containing chlorophyll, primarily leaves, but in stem tissues too, particularly on younger trees. In spring, temperate trees will expend up to 90% of their stored energy to put on a new flush of leaves. They are at their most vulnerable state at this time. Leaves are energy sinks (net USERS of energy) until they are about 75% mature, at which time they begin to be net producers of photosynthate. So, if a tree is defoliated before the leaves are mature enough to have begun to replace expended energy, odds favor the demise of the tree. In any case, the outcome depends on the tree having enough energy reserves to bring a second flush of leaves to near maturity. Even if it survives, it will probably go into winter in a weakened condition & spend the next growing season continuing to recover.

Please, do not fertilize a tree in this weakened condition. It will force new growth the tree will not be able to support, further exhausting the trees energy reserves & possible tipping the balance to an unfavorable ending.

Al

Hi Tapla, but I think that the business of not fertilizing a weak tree has been disagreed with recently... and by (I hope I'm not wrong, but it's possible) Brent Walston, among others whose tree knowledge I really respect. If it wasn't Brent, it was still other 'experts', and I've been told by nurserymen that they fertilize when plants look sick, so I guess the argument will go on.

Hi Larke. I have no want to perpetuate any arguments. I'm kind of new to the forum & tried to look up something about you so I kind of knew who I was talking to. I guess I either don't know how to access the info, or there isn't much available. I'm usually pretty direct about things, so here's what I'm thinking.

I'm not sure how you did it, but you kind of used someone else to say I was wrong without saying it yourself. That's Ok, I don't mind being called wrong. I'm more interested in what makes me wrong and in considering the value of your advice, but I'm not sure what your advice was. I got the part that there has apparently been discussion for and against fertilizing weak trees on this site, but then you go on to say, "...and I've been told by nurserymen that they fertilize when plants look sick...". Perhaps you meant to say that "after determining why the tree is declining, sometimes fertilizer might be part of suggested remedial action", or something similar to that? Good plantsmen don't fertilize simply because a plant appears sick, they find out what's wrong before determining the best course to get the plant back on track.

Finally, there is great difference between a tree that appears sick and a tree that has been defoliated. The sickly tree has probably retained much of its ability to manufacture food, while the defoliated tree has lost its ability to feed itself & is dependent on energy reserves, which in this tree, were at or near the annual low point even before defoliation. My contention is that fertilizer (Nitrogen, specifically) applications at this time can stimulate simultaneous growth from too many meristematic locations and precipitate disorder and total system collapse. In plants, energy outlay always precedes energy return.

I am a long-time customer of Brent Walston's and have great respect for his operation and his knowledge. If he were to consider the information in the original post & offer different advice, I would surely defer to his experience & no doubt greater knowledge.

Al

Storybookmum, if your tree is showing any sort of life and you think overwatering could be the problem, try watering with water+ hydrogen peroxide. I had some plants that had been overwatered and were dying, so I tried it and it worked. The plant has since perked up and appears to be growing. I used 2 TBS of Hydrogen Peroxide per quart of water. The Hydrogen Peroxide I used is the 3% you can get in grocery stores and is actually water with an additional oxygen molecule. It adds oxygen to the soil along with the water. If it doesn't help, it won't hurt. Dotti

I have had trees completely without leaves recover. If your cause was over watering you need to be careful not to continue over watering. When the soil is saturated and kept that way oxygen is excluded from the roots and they will not function. Give the tree a chance to recover. Al

We are having a drought here in the Northeast, and I am finding that even with temps in the nineties, my trees (including 2 new ones) do best with once a week deep watering. In fact, I am amazed at how well they are doing right now. I have even waited a week and a half a couple times, when temps weren't so high. I previously killed a couple of new trees by overwatering, though I didn't know it at the time.

Sometimes the leaves will let you know what to do, they will curl at the edges or droop a little when they really need water.

For what its worth, I cut off a branch from my tree yesterday and the inside was still green. I shaved a little bit of the bark back with my thumbnail and it was green as well. There may be hope for next year after all....

Alright! I'm so glad, Pedally. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Was that the Serviceberry?

I just dug up a Japanese Maple that was doing very badly on my hillside (leaves all crunched, dead branches after the winter), and we will see how she does in a more protected site. I put her in a pot, so I can move her (uggghh, very heavy) if I have to. Now she sits in between my neighbor's house and mine, in the shade. I think she might have Anthracose, in which case, she'll be dead by next year no matter what I do. If I'm lucky and it's not, the move will actually improve her condition.