Q.
tree is approximately 15 years old. This house sat empty from 2004 until
January 2020 when we purchased it. The house faces North and this tree receives
full sun most days. Water during the 12 years was at best sporadic to none. I
removed 95% of the plants and trees and just completed a comprehensive
landscaping project. This tree was shaped and pruned by a licensed arborist. It suckers like crazy. It needs another round of
sucker removal. I was not familiar with this specie and of course we moved in
January and the tree had dropped all its leaves. The neighbors convinced me not
to remove this tree because it was so beautiful in the summer, lots of flowers
and beautiful leaves. I said yes because I did like the shape of it. What a
mistake. The constant leaf and flower drop is terrible and a real challenge to
pickup. In fact I made two mistakes, I planted another 24″ box size from a local nursery . It is doing the same thing. I do not use my drip system and deep water
the tree every 3 weeks during the summer months. I water from the trunk out 7
feet around the entire tree. I have a lot of large surface roots due to the
lack of water. I am applying about 75-100 gallons per application. The leaves
are full and supple, not dry and then boom they turn yellow, get this brown
scalding and dry up and drop.
been researching and have not found a conclusive reason for this. The
agricultural extension at NMSU wrote its not a matter of disease but rather a
cultural practice. Soil may be to alkaline and getting to much water. According
to Dr. Natalie Goldberg, NMSU Extension Plant Pathologists, “No plant
pathogenic microorganism’s were isolated from submitted samples. The symptoms
occur on trees well watered as well as those that receive little water.”
The leaf drop starts when temperatures increase.
bring me up to date with your latest information about this type of leaf drop.
If I can’t correct, both trees are headed for the cemetery.
he did for this tree which was a lot. I abbreviated what he told me for the newspaper. It does not sound
like a lack of water.
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| Older picture of Chitalpa in Las Vegas. |
is regarded as somewhat drought tolerant which means you should be able to
water it less often than, let’s say, a purple leaf plum and still have it look
good. It is not a desert species like mesquite or palo verde, but it can handle
some lack of irrigation without dropping its leaves.
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| Limb dieback of Chitalpa from 2013. |
all Chitalpa trees carry a vascular plugging disease unless propagated from
seed. All the named varieties like ‘Pink Dawn’ were propagated from cuttings so
they will be carrying this disease as well. You can’t see this disease
outwardly but one of its symptoms can be leaf drop, starting particularly when
temperatures get hotter.
Chitalpa infected with this disease is not a good thing to have around grapes
or oleander either. The disease can be carried to either of these plants where
it can kill several types of grapes like Thompson Seedless or it can stay
hidden and spread from a bacterial reservoir that can be housed in oleander.
your tree has leaf drop in summer is suspicious. I would remove it. Replace it
with a tree you like of a size in scale with your home. Single story home use a
tree with mature height of around 20 ft. Two story home, look for a tree from
20 to 35 feet tall when mature. Smaller trees always use less water. Go to SNWA
plant selector website to help you find one.