Hi All.

It has already been a year of tough losses.  Several varieties never broke dormancy and others started leafing out then went tango uniform.  It seems as though my more highly prized ones are where I took the hit.

I had mentioned before about Bourjasotte Gris, Hunt, Acciano (Paradiso Nero), Petite Aubique, and Narragansett not breaking dormancy.  Within the past week Salce, Native Black, Encanto, and my 3 year old RdB started leafing out then crapping out.  Last year I had the same issue with Rmali and Fico Negra.  Coming out of dormancy they looked ok, then almost overnight the entire tree leaves and wood shrivel up.  It was clear when I checked the roots last year, that is where the problem started.  I do not, however, know what caused it.  Any ideas?

James,
  I doubt this is what is happening to you (since you have a few years of experience under your belt and I'm a rookie), but I know when my trees started breaking bud and leafing out, I went nuts and gave them all a big, big drink or water to wake them up...really soaking the soil.  (Hey, the winter is over, you're waking up, you must be thirsty, here's 50 gallons of water to quench your thirst!!!)  Most of them took it in stride, but a couple had some setbacks. The leaves shriveled up and then dried up; the new shoots started drooping  (e.g. like they were wilting) and then, weeks after I had stopped watering, a few firmed up in place (i.e. all drooped over) and are now growing.  Picture a candy cane, though not quite as extreme, and that's an image of what one shoot is doing.  It was truly "heading south." ;-)
  So, in my case it was over watering, and after I let them dry up and went easy, they started coming back.
Jim

I can relate. It's the ones we cherish the most that cause us the most heartbreak.
Were these plants repotted in the Fall?
Could the soil have turned hydrophobic, causing the water to run right through, and missing the rootball?
I've noticed that the plants I up potted this Winter, fully dormant, popped up nicely. The ones that stayed in the same soil struggled, with up curled leaves.
Those took a lot of doses of water, and they still didn't quite come up. What seemed to finally work was poking a couple of holes around the rootball, scraping off the top layer of soil, and adding a 3" layer of compost.
James, did you get my email about Nazarti? It's too late to send cuttings, they're all in sphagnum or potted now, but I'll set aside a potted one for later this year if you'd like.

james,

you mention the issue started from the roots, but what was wrong with the roots?

All of my trees get the same treatment and I try to keep my growing mix pretty consistent.  It is a loose mix in cloth containers, so I have little issue with over watering.  If they get too dry, I'll water them twice in a short period of time to combat any hdyrophobia.  The roots are brown and limp.  Unfortuantely, last year I let them sit in hopes they would come back.  It made it difficult to pinpoint a problem.  I do not think it was RKN, but the galls die out with the roots.  Fico Negra came from Durio's.  I had another tree from Dalton be RKN+, but this one (along with 3 others) were clean.

They have all been in the same container since the beginning of the 2013 season.

Ru, I think you have Nazarti set aside for another James.  I have one on order from UCD.

No, I set it aside for you, because you recently said you've had bad luck rooting that variety. I should have an extra for you this Summer or Fall.
You've been a member since 2007. It would be my honor.

My apologies and thanks.  I do not remember seeing an email from you. 

Tomorrow I am planning on bare rooting Encanto (it started turning last week) to see if I can find the problem and hopefully correct the other three (they took a turn on Friday)

hi
i have one plant with loose nursery mix. it lives but not like the ones with the loamy top soil which holds moisture better between watering.
now i have to give its soil some volume maybe by compost..

i don't think it's RKN. RKN doesn't take down tree that fast. if the roots are dying out, there should be another reason. i grow my trees in nursery pots, i used to use other plastic containers, but it's just easier for me to handle them. never tried those cloth pots yet. once my trees are at least 1 yr old, i routinely hose them frequently. once the day temp hits 80 and over like last couple of days, some of them get water twice a day. the roots should be hardy enough that they won't rot or die too quickly unless somehow water is not draining and they are sitting in the water. but from what you have said that doesn't seem like the issues. 

my understanding of cloth pots are that they promote air root pruning and that should prevent roots circling the pot. but won't they still compress the soil and get "root bound"? what i mean is, root mass will be great enough that water might not get to the center of the root mass? 

last yr, i saw my older trees getting dried up rather quickly early in spring. the water seems to be getting to the root, but the leaves were drying up and all the breba were dropping. so i took one out and cut into the root mass and sure enough, only the outside of the soil/roots were getting wet. the inside of the root ball was very dry. i gave them all major root pruning this yr, gave them emergency pruning last yr, and i aerate the soil once a month with 12" screw driver. they seem to be doing better now days.  

Watering issues is one of the reasons I like a homogenous mix both within the containers and in all containers.  I use weight as a trigger to provide water.  The wetness of the bottom of the fabric containers is another indicator.  I do not think compression is a factor at this point.  I went out this morning and saw some small bugs flying around the trees.  I couldn't get a good look at it, but it seemed consistent with gnats.  I have sliced up some Yukon Golds and put them on top of the growing mix of some containers.  I'll check this afternoon for larvae.

Pete, I found a pipe worked better for aeration since it removed some of the growing mix and roots.  Screwdrivers and other solid objects may open up one area but cause more compression in adjacent areas.

james, i agree. i should look for some copper pipes when i get a chance, but it's so easy to drive screwdriver into the pot once an a while, and this thing doesn't bend x) if it's not water logged, and it's not the water getting to the root.. not sure what the issue might be. fungus gnats are only after things are already rotting in there. 

possibly the mulch (or something in the bag with the mulch) decomposing.

and the culprit is... COINCIDENCE (how is that for anti-climatic?)

Encanto: This tree actually had a problem and is dead.  It was the only one not in my growing mix.  I received this tree in a one gallon container from Jon last October.  I had just enough time to get it to go dormant before putting it away for winter.  This year, I had not had a chance to repot it.  When I bare-rooted the tree the stem had been chewed.  I'm not sure if this was slugs or something else.  Several slugs had hitchhiked in the boxes.  Two trees were pretty badly chewed up above the soil line.  In any case, this one is dead.

   

RdB: I'm not sure what the problem was.  I bare-rooted the tree after pulling up a couple of roots which were black on the surface.  Once bare-rooted the rest of the roots looked healthy.  There was no indication of compaction other issues in the container except there was no new (white) root growth.  Also, there were a few new buds growing just at/below the soil line.  I did some very minor root pruning and repotted the tree.

   

There is a very small new green bud that has shown up on Native Black, and Salce is still showing a little bit of green.

Hi James,
Too much fertilizer ?
Chemicals/salt used around the pots to kill weeds .
Dirty water coming from some distance with rain and any chemical substance killing the tree ?
Pots on concrete cooking the rootballs ?
Chemicals sprayed in the wintering area ?
Soap used to wash the wintering or normal growing area ? Some Madames like to clean the houses at Easter time .
Bad wintering conditions at some point ? ( freeze, wind, humidity ... )