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| Hello,
We are having an issue with our magnolia. A portion of the tree seems to have gone dead. The leaves have dried up and dropped. This started about 2 months ago. The rest of the tree looks healthy. Info - No issues with the tree for the past 2 years. We bought the house 2 years ago. The dryer vent is on side tree where the leaves are dropping. We have a guest dog that likes to relieve itself, every once in awhile, near the tree. The guest dog showed up and the leaves started dropping - coincidence? A weird warm spring and the tree bloom early. Now we have a drought. Any help is appreciated. |
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| Uh, in the last picture you can see a huge split in the main trunk all the way to the ground. That's what's causing the magnolia decline. I would start over. The groundcover may be competing with the tree for water resources as well. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Jul 3, 12 at 8:16
| i am not sure i see the split.. but if jq can see it.. so be it.. too lazy to click the pic... if there is a severe split.. cut below it.. mags will generally bounce back ... my z5 saucer mag ... took a beating this spring with an early warm spell.. followed by multiple hard freezes ... that would not cause a split.. nor branch death.. but it did have to releaf ... and is taking a killing in this heat wave ... and looking a bit sparse ... while you are in there .. cutting out the bad part.. at about 6 inches ... remove all the vinca [??? pachasandra??] in a 2 to 3 foot circle.. and increase water for the rest of the season ... drought surely isnt going to help it ... and once a groundcover gets that full.. it could be starving the mag for water ... [and if that black curb indicates a driveway.. that is not helping a water stressed plant ...] and NO.. imho.. feeding it wont help ... perhaps in mid fall.. if you wish to add a LITTLE appropriate fert.. so be it.. ken |
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| Two possible sources of dieback I would look into are lilac blight (Pseudomonas) and honey fungus (Armillaria). Yulan magnolias in a local collection were dying back for many years, not getting above shrub size until I suggested it might be lilac blight - after which the curator began using a lime-sulphur dormant spray on them and there was no looking back, with them then growing much larger. I understand lime-sulphur dormant spray was also being used at one time on the deciduous magnolias in the major regional arboretum here, perhaps as a routine maintenance procedure. |
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| Ken...check out the last pic. You don't even have to click it. You can see a huge wound at the bottom of the trunk. It's lighter colored than the rest of the tree. I don't think the tree is worth saving. Anyone else see it or are my eyes deceiving me? |
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- Posted by Dzitmoidonc 6 (My Page) on Wed, Jul 4, 12 at 9:52
| The wound in the last pic looks exactly like what I have on M. liliflora. I don't know where it comes from, only that the tree seems to ignore it, or at least that was the case here. I'll go see if it is still evident and post a close-up photo. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Wed, Jul 4, 12 at 13:53
| in my z5 MI.. one BAD WINTER.. my mag died to snow cover.. which was 8 inches.. i cut it below such.. and by the end of the summer it was back to 4 feet ... this winter.. there was no snow cover.. and reflected sun/heat off that rock wall.. MIGHT have caused a problem.. who knows.. if you got a hate on for it.. get rid of it.. if you are willing to give it a year.. cut it to below the crack.. and SEE WHAT HAPPENS ... for me.. it would depend on how much that spot is in my daily focus.. if i could cut it.. and ignore it for the next year.. it would stay if it would irritate the bee-gee-bees out of me every time i walked in the house from the garage.. it would die tomorrow.. life is too short to be irritated by a plant. .. ken |
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| Thanks for your comments. Here's a pitcure of the base. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 5, 12 at 11:52
| that damage is 3 to 5 years old.. you need to get that stub out of there.. so it can finish healing itself ... [in fact.. it looks like there was a course of prior healed over damage inside this damage .. this thing has had a hard life] i cant see further down thru the groundcover.. to tell if there is a further problem lower ... ken |
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| Thanks for the advice. We're going to wait until the heat breaks and then pull some of the ground coveer and dig down. I'll post another pic afterwards. Are you saying to remove the dead trunk out of the live issue trunk? |
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