Did my morning rounds and discovered a problem on one of my figs.  The problem currently is only on the left limb.  The others look healthy.  It has been in ground (in it's gopher basket) for a couple months, and seemingly doing well.  It's on a dripper. 

Last year we had the stump of a liquid amber ground out, and after battling suckers all autumn, the round-up got the suckers.  We enriched the soil in that big hole (months after the round-up drama) with plenty of good planting mix.  We read round up does not affect the soil.  Could this be the problem?

 

Yes, I know it needs mulch, and that will happen, but it's still pretty cool here.  Foggy day today.  The chipper is coming this week.

Here is another shot.  One leaf has fallen, and a couple more are yellowing.  at the top you can see the remains of dead suckers from that horrible tree we removed.

 

Will miracle grow help it?

Suzi

Nitrogen deficiency from all the wood in the soil, add nitrogen. The the correct name of the tree is Liquidambar aka sweetgum.

Thanks Brent!

I'll get on that ASAP!  JD's checking to see what we have on hand, and if nothing, I'm running errands and that will be top on my list!

Suzi

Get some 15-5-10, also Epsom Salt may help with replacement flourish.

Good luck

Yellowing can be from a lot of things.  Low Nitrogen, low iron and many others.  Neither of them explains the blackening of that leaf.  Can we have a closeup of the blackened leaf?

Thanks to all!  I got some high nitrogen water soluble Miracle Grow per HD recommendation.  The fig just got it's first application.  I'll put some Epson Salts out there too.  Got lots of that stuff.  Palms love it!  We hit every tree growing in a removed tree's hole with the Miracle grow.  Can't hurt, for sure!

Bob, here is a better photo of the blackening leaf:

 

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

Suzi

Bump.  Tell me what the black is, Please........ :-))

Suzi

Suzi, It might be a transplant shock, I don't think it's a major threat to the entire plant. I'd make a bucked of a nice Cinnamon tea and pore the entire thing under the little tree. It stimulates green growth.

So how much cinnamon to the bucket.  It's a go.  I got the cinnamon and have the desperation.  Just could you please gift a recipe?

Suzi

I use 2 tablespoons per gallon for the cinnamon tea.

I wouldn't dismiss the roundup connection.  No one knows for sure but a fruit farmer told me they think roundup can accumulate either in the soil or on the plant by repeated contact to non green bark.  He said some farmers have blamed roundup for some unexplainable established fruit tree deaths.
If the nutrient remedies don't work you may want to try moving the fig tree to an area that hasn't been saturated with roundup.

Maybe the ph dropped?

If all else fails and it starts yellowing on another limb, you might have to do a air layer on a healthy branch before it spreads.

Hi DesertDance,

How is the tree today ?
Never use roundup or whatever weed-killer near a valuable tree or plant. Co-lateral damage, they call it .

I could blame that on watering.
 - Do you water the leaves in full sun ?
 - Do you water with cold water ? - from a well or a river ? You should keep the water in a bucket for it to warm up a bit .
I could blame that on low temps. Did you get some low temps recently ?
I could blame it on tree cycle: That leaf looks like the elder one - perhaps the tree never lost that leaf since last year, and that leaf lifetime is just over.
I see green leaves at the bottom of the tree near the dirt, and those ones would have problems if a chemical issue was the problem ...
If you roundupped above the tree, don't water from that point, as water will draw the chemical to the tree ...

Thanks for all the great advice!  I'm up early, and it's too dark outside to even see the tree yet, but I'll answer your questions other than how is the tree today.  We've had foggy mornings lately.

The roundup was used about 5-7 months ago and no valuable plant was near it.  Just weeds, and they are all nice and green again this spring, totally unaffected by round-up.  The liquidambar tree has a huge root mass and suckers like crazy.  We found new trees 20' away from the ground-out stump.  Some of the roots were 5" across!  Round up was the only answer to that aggressive tree.  It's gone.  No new suckers.  The actual hole was about 4' deep and 4' across.  It took a lot of clean potting soil to fill it back up to plant the dormant fig, but to my knowledge, the only dirt surrounding that fig is new potting soil and it has not been near round-up.

We never water the leaves.  We leave that up to rain.  All our trees and plants are on drip irrigation, and the water is as warm as the drip hoses allow it to be.  They are all in full sun, so I'd say the water is pretty warm.  We have not had many low temps this year.  It was an unusually warm winter.  Some trees never went dormant, but this one did, so that is not an old leaf.

I'm going to hit it with cinnamon tea today. 

This property was neglected and wild when we bought it.  It is loaded with critters.  I just wonder if one of those is attacking the fig.  I know not many pests do so, but we have spiders, scorpions, stink bugs, scale, the usual aphids, many kinds of bees and ants, and probably other things you or I have never heard about.  I don't think lizards (many kinds here) eat fig leaves, but snakes eat them, and we have those.

I'll make my tea now...... and a little coffee too!

Suzi

Thanks for the recipe.  It has been treated.  I ran out of cinnamon.  Getting a list together for the grocery.

Suzi

what's the news on the sickling? ;/

The black spots look like a fungus.  This can come from aphid honeydew or too moist conditions.  I'd pick that leaf and bring it to a university extension or a nursery run by a plant expert (not a big box store) and ask them about it.  How water retentive is the potting soil in the hole?  Are you watering that one as much as you are the ones in the sand?  It probably needs a lot less water.

I picked the leaf and put it in the trash.  Period.

After the cinnamon and fertilizer treatment, it's looking ok. 

Time will tell.

There are two figs that I really wish to survive, and this is one.  The other is rooting...sort of.........

Suzi

happy for you Suzi ;)

OK, I have a question for you guys,  I see Suzi and some others applied fresh wood chip layer all around the figs and other trees I am assuming? I have tons of it from out last fallen Ash tree from October, the guy shredded the entire tree and I asked him to direct the shredder on the back wall, so I have a huge pile of it at the end of my backyard retaining wall. 
Can I use it for fresh looking surface cover also in the freshly potted cuttings in one gallon pots or is there some type of danger from the gases they emit (Nitrogen, so i hear...?) that might harm the trees that are meant to fruit... what's the story on that?

Check with the soil and compost forum over at Garden Web.  They told me I could use my juniper, pine and silk oak (very toxic..that silk oak) as mulch, and it will even break down in compost.  Some trees just take longer.  We are using all of them in our new cheapo chipper.  It takes a long time to grind it all up in there.  I'm happy it's raining today and tomorrow and summer is a ways off.  Would like to get everything covered by then.

Suzi