Bad news, good news

Chem303

First the bad news: with my mame "Tsukomo" false cypress, most of the foliage has turned brown.

Now the good news: I have been taking digital pics over the last few weeks and, comparing them, it appears that the browning has ceased. I can't attach pics becuase they are 114KB each.

My question is do I snip off the dead foliage and branches or leave them on the tree?

The tree is outside on the south side and gets plenty of sun in CT. I have been letting the soil go dry to the touch, but misting the foliage daily on sunny days.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.


Enjoy the day.........Mike

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Flaxe

It's not enough to mist the leaves. Water the roots. South side is plenty of sun. Remove all dead foliage.

I should also add a precaution in misting or wetting foliage. I presume it gets full sun on the west side for some period of time during the day. This can cause burns on the foliage remaining. Water droplets magnify uv rays. Did the tree recently recover from root rot or overwatering? Why are you refraining from watering it thoroughly?

Dav4

It's a myth that water droplets in the sun will burn foliage. I don't keep mame as they are too fragile for my schedule. They dry out quickly so you need to soak the rootball thoroughly...I've heard some people watering their mame upwards of 4 and 5 times daily in hot weather.

Dave

Flaxe

I don't recall our horticulturalists referring to it as a myth, have seen the sun damage and had it explained as such. Out of curiosity, I'll ask some others.

Dav4

This particular topic has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum and other garden related forums. When I first started gardening, I was under the same impression, that daytime watering could potentially cause burning to the leaves. Since then, I've heard many folks say otherwise, and in the many years I've been gardening, I've seen no evidence to support it. Think about it...there is moisture on leaves almost every morning in the form of dew, daytime rainstorms/thunderstorms, automatic sprinkler systems to water lawns, etc. Then, the sun comes out, and yet the foliage doesn't become damaged. We should be surrounded by damaged, burnt leaves, but we aren't, or, at least, I'm not.

We are having a heat wave on the east coast with highs in the mid/upper 90's. I'll be watering this afternoon and I'll sprinkle the foliage like I always do, and I won't have a problem.

Dave

Joanie

The focus point of a drop of moisture is too diffuse, too close to the leaf surface to cause damage. I regularly water in the middle of the day, and have never seen circular burns or holes in leaves. Leaf tip burn, yes, but that occurs whether you water foliage or not.

What horticulturalists? Are you in the profession?

Joanie

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Flaxe

The profession? Not at all. Only the business. Definitely not claiming to be an expert. I did speak to a couple of people today however and they seemed reluctant to completely discard possibility of burning but also made observations like "not seeing actual burns due to sunlight". Either way, I thank you for bringing this to attention. I stand corrected and will bear this in mind.

I wonder instead now about saline damage, ie. salt water burns, and the effect of very hard water/acid rain rainfall - the effect on different plants. (not for this thread - just this side topic's train of thought).

Joanie

Well, as to surface burns from salt water, I live a block and a half from the beach in So. Calif. We get a lot of salty mist coming in during certain seasons. No damage from it that I can detect.

The sodium content of the municipal water is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. We have problems with trees that cannot tolerate it.

Hard water leaves white scum on leaves but it doesn't seem to damage them. But ours isn't as hard as other folks. Maybe they have more info.

Joanie

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Flaxe

Thanks for sharing that, Joanie. Our water here is slightly soft / neutral in pH. I believe there are salt water tolerant trees and one that are not salt water tolerant and those near the shore or at salt lake fronts will most likely be the salt water tolerants. I recall reading somewhere that some trees do become damaged. Worth a night's reading anyway!