Browning leaves on buxus. Please help!

acadia

I bought a buxus (specific variety unknown, shop owner claimed it was indoor, and it seemed to be doing well) from a florist shop back in February. It had a nice nebari and basic branching, but recent growth growing slanted towards the light. At forty dollars though, I couldn't resist. It would be a good project for a semi-beginner like me. I took it home and pruned it, getting rid of the ridiculously slanted growth. It pushed new growth immediately, and began to fill out nicely.

The past couple months though, that new growth has been dying off. The leaves turn brown at the tips, then the whole branchlet dries up. I've lost a number of branches (or at least the outside half of them ) this way. Also, individual leaves have been dropping (this part I think might just be old leaves running their course).

I've had it in a number of locations, but mostly in a window with indirect light, with supplemental incandescent grow light (but not close enough to burn, I don't believe). Because of how high in the pot it is, I've mostly been watering it from below, which has caused a mineral deposit to appear on the soil. I've decided to flush it out and water from the top from now on, however tedious this may be.

It does have new growth now, that seems to be doing all right, but I really want to know what caused the browning and dieback. Any ideas?

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acadia

Here are a couple pics. Hope you can see them all right, this small file size limit is tough to work with.

Laura

Attached Images

	buxus2.jpg (53.4 KB, 56 views)
	buxus1.jpg (51.6 KB, 57 views)

TreeBay

It's hard to say. I have seen leaves brown like this differentially because of overfertilizaton or frost damage. You also might want to check your watering practices - there is some info in the wiki on that: follow the links in Watering

BTW, Regarding your small photos: it doesn't look like you are using any JPEG compression. If your photo editing program allows, it, save the file at a much lower quality setting and it will be much smaller in filesize, and therefore can be much larger in resolution, for a bigger picture.

Regards,

Matt

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BillStruhar

You need to supply more parameters to get specific advice:
1. In order to survive indoors, most- but not all- trees need some time outside in a reasonably high-growth (relatively high growth) position. Has this critter been indoors since you bought it?

2. To all things- a season... autumn is not a time for growth. You would expect to see a change in the growth/life of any plant at this time of year. For instance, bring a Christmas cactus in now and watch it blossom, or bring a critter in from full sun and watch it drop its leaves (this can be ameliorated). You say your Box has been in a few locations. Where, and when, and how long, and of course why the changes?

3. In houseplants, browning at the edges of leaves are typically a sign of over-watering. Often, the brown edges of the leaves will have a droplet of water almost contantly present. In concert with your answers to the above 1 & 2, are your watering habits different from your “summer” habits? All other things being equal, with lower transpiration rates should come lower watering rates. Is your plant receiving less sunlight than in summer? Are you watering on a schedule rather than responding to watering when the soil is dry to the touch?

I can’t speak for others, but I view incandescent lights as better for dehydrating jerky than illuminating plants. Put your hand, or better- the back of your forearm the same distance from the light as the plant is. If your skin is uncomfortable, stop, forthwith. Buy a cheap shop light and do the same thing.

I don’t understand how you can water from the bottom and see deposits on the top of the soil. That tells me you have a high salt content in your water. Is this possible? Something doesn’t ring true here. Are you using untreated well water? Are you in the Great Plains (US or Canada)?

acadia

You need to supply more parameters to get specific advice:
1. In order to survive indoors, most- but not all- trees need some time outside in a reasonably high-growth (relatively high growth) position. Has this critter been indoors since you bought it?

Yes, it's been indoors, in front of several open windows for most of the summer. I don't have any space outdoors with adeuqate light.

2. To all things- a season... autumn is not a time for growth. You would expect to see a change in the growth/life of any plant at this time of year. For instance, bring a Christmas cactus in now and watch it blossom, or bring a critter in from full sun and watch it drop its leaves (this can be ameliorated). You say your Box has been in a few locations. Where, and when, and how long, and of course why the changes?

Honestly, I didn't keep a record of how long it was in any one place. It has been mostly in front of a window, about four feet away from the supplemental 150 watt, self ballasted Wonder Lite. I have also had it in my darker bedroom, under a regular 65 watt, GE grow light (maybe a foot and a half away from that). I moved it from this last situation when it started to ail because I thought it might have been too close to the light, even though it didn't seem too hot to me.

3. In houseplants, browning at the edges of leaves are typically a sign of over-watering. Often, the brown edges of the leaves will have a droplet of water almost contantly present. In concert with your answers to the above 1 & 2, are your watering habits different from your “summer” habits? All other things being equal, with lower transpiration rates should come lower watering rates. Is your plant receiving less sunlight than in summer? Are you watering on a schedule rather than responding to watering when the soil is dry to the touch?

I always water only when the soil is dry to the touch. I was, however, away for two separate one week periods this summer, and my roommate took care of my plants. I did give her a watering schedule for each plant, based on its location and the size of the pot, and how often I usually have to water it. I did tell her to ignore the schedile if the plant was obviously still moist.

I can’t speak for others, but I view incandescent lights as better for dehydrating jerky than illuminating plants. Put your hand, or better- the back of your forearm the same distance from the light as the plant is. If your skin is uncomfortable, stop, forthwith. Buy a cheap shop light and do the same thing.

Unfortunately, aforementioned roommate has enough issues with the Wonderlite. I have to compromise. She would hate having a big florescent light in the apartment. And all my other plants have been doing great with the Wonderlite and the 65 watt bulbs (with the exception of a corkbark chinese elm, which is a whole other story and had problems even when I was able to grow it outside in good light).

I don’t understand how you can water from the bottom and see deposits on the top of the soil. That tells me you have a high salt content in your water. Is this possible? Something doesn’t ring true here. Are you using untreated well water? Are you in the Great Plains (US or Canada)?

No, I live in Boston, MA. I water with filtered water, or dechlorinated tap water. Do you have a better recommendation for a water treatment, something that would get rid of more of the salts? There does seem to be an excessive amount of them.

Thanks for the help!

Laura

sm0kateer4204

a light that works great for plants is a compact flourecent bulb its not like flourecent tubes taking up space the bulbs screw in to a regular lamp socket and plants love them if you get one try to keep it about 2 to 4 inches away from the plants good luck

BillStruhar

Looks like you've been operating with some pretty big disadvantages and are lucky to have anything live. Boxwood is probably a pretty good choice for you as non-tropicals go, but even the easiest tropicals need either an annual growth period (Eg., a "summer"), or continual good light, neither of which you have so changing horses may not be real productive.

Most Boxwoods are evergreen in the southern/best part of their range, but loose all their leaves before setting a new top in the northern/lousiest part of their range, which means anyplace with poor conditions. I say this because your "growing" season may be less than "replacement value conditions". If you have a 20 leaf tree which can only grow 18 leaves this year, then you're on a bad trip, eventually leading to zero. If the tree was growing 24 new leaves, you might not notice a twig or two dying. The photo of your leaves look normal and healthy. On the off-chance that the dropping leaves have reached their expiration date and the twigs are healthy, I wouldn't remove any more "dead wood" until new growth starts next Spring.

Normally I would ask you to look for live buds in the axils of the dead and live leaves, but box buds are so tiny and hairy that I don't think you could tell the difference between live and dead buds. Look anyway, and if the buds in both places look the same, for sure don't exorcize any more twigs.

If the city water in Boston is OK for you to drink, then it's OK for your plants. If you think your soil contains too many salts or whatever unhealthy build-up of something water-soluble, you can rinse it very effectively with plain, warmish, tap water. Pour 10 quarts or so thru as nearly continuously as you can without overflowing the top, and you'll wash-out the soil. This can be time-consuming, but it works. If the tree is in "bonsai soil" you'll need to begin a program of feeding weekly, weakly a 1/4 or 1/5 strength liquid fertilizer with a low first number, like 5, 10, 10, or so. If it is in dirt, I would feed less, and less often. Many will disagree with me, but I don't feed anything not outside in sun or part sun or whatever, to avoid straggly growth. But, you don't have an outside, so you need a different regimen.

Autumn is a rotten time of the year to disturb the roots, but it may be instructive to know that the plant is not rootbound. Your's doesn't have the typical symptoms of hard to wet/drys out quickly or suddenly, but since we don't know exactly what your problem is, I'd look. If it's wired-in, cut the wire underneath the pot, straighten the wire so it doesn't interfere with the hole, hold the tree upside-down and lift the pot off (with paper on the table- this gets messy). The soil mass should be damp, but not soggy so it will hold together as you do this. If the roots are OK, put it back together. If you see a mass of roots running in circles around the outside of the pot- repot into a larger pot disturbing the roots as little as possible. You will have to unwind/loosen them, somewhat. Often, rootbound plants seem to be "stuck" in the pot. If you can see more soil than roots, all is normal. Good Luck.

Will_Heath

Bill,

Excellent informative post! I don't know enough about buxus to offer anything to acadia but I enjoyed reading your response.

Will