Cotoneaster leaves getting brown

maroun.c

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My 3 cotoneasters are doing the same. I know they shed their leaves in winter but were still in autumn and it's not that cold still.what do u think.

Screenshot_20191124-060933_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20191124-061001_Gallery.jpg
 

AlainK

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I'm afraid that doesn't look good at all. It looks as if it suffered from drought.
 

maroun.c

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It's in pumice and clay ball mix which is rather fast draining but gets watered daily. I have been fertilizing a bit more aggressive since weather cooled down a bit could it be a fertiliser burn ?
I'll start watering.twice daily and stop fertilizer? Anything else I can do ?
 

W3rk

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My 3 cotoneasters are doing the same. I know they shed their leaves in winter but were still in autumn and it's not that cold still.what do u think.

View attachment 272080View attachment 272081
I lost like 3 Cotoneaster earlier this year. I posted a photo here looking for help/feedback, yours looks similar. Unfortunately the most likely response that I got back was that it was likely Fireblight. I think that was accurate, and it was devastating.
 

TyroTinker

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The name just sounds devastating. Is it one of those problems where you shouldn’t even toss the tree in your compost if it ends up dying?
 

sorce

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It may have been a "fungal" but....

That mix is likely to need more than one water a day.

A Corntoneaster... Yeah..Corn...

Can take a lot more water than that.

Whatever is killing it, if not Drought, was brought on by it.

Sorce
 

maroun.c

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Thanks for the replies. Any info on fireblight? Why wouldn't it affect trees just next to affected ones? What should I do for it ?
 

penumbra

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If you get fire blight it is likely to be in the spring when plant is in bloom. It is normally spread from tree to tree by pollinators. It is very contageous and is spread by contact. Your plant looks dead. Just leave it alone other than watering and see what spring brings.
Your mix looks very coarse for the plant. The plant shows a lot of damage as though it was ripped out of the ground. Was it collected? Also, fertilizing heavily this late in the season is exactly what you should not do.
 

0soyoung

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I don't find the "FIREBLIGHT!!" scare to be credible either. You, @maroun.c, can read about it on Wikipedia, which is a good beginning reference for just about everything. It is caused by a bacterium. My favorite 0.1% hydrogen peroxide solution is antiseptic, it will kill bacteria, so you may want to get some 3% peroxide from the grocery/pharmacy, dilute it appropriately, and spray them and everything around them, just in case.

It makes sense to me that your mix marginally does not retain enough water and that tossing on fertilizer was the coupe de gras. Water is adsorbed by osmosis in the roots. When the substrate is saltier than inside the roots, it draws water out of the plant instead. Fertilizer is just a mix of mineral salts.

There is some chance that these cotoneasters will come back in spring. Meanwhile, flushing or watering the pots to the point that water puddles on the surface and letting it drain, a process Repeatedly flushing the soil/substrate will dissolve and wash away the bulk of the fertilizer (you can also do this by immersing the pot in water and after a short delay lifting it out and letting it drain). I think this is pretty much what @penumbra just said, except that 'fertilizer burn' is not seasonal - it happens any time there is too much fertilizer (salt) in the substrate/soil.
 

AlainK

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There is some chance that these cotoneasters will come back in spring. Meanwhile, flushing or watering the pots to the point that water puddles on the surface and letting it drain, a process Repeatedly flushing the soil/substrate will dissolve and wash away the bulk of the fertilizer (you can also do this by immersing the pot in water and after a short delay lifting it out and letting it drain). I think this is pretty much what @penumbra just said, except that 'fertilizer burn' is not seasonal - it happens any time there is too much fertilizer (salt) in the substrate/soil.

The best advice you can get 👍
 

maroun.c

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If you get fire blight it is likely to be in the spring when plant is in bloom. It is normally spread from tree to tree by pollinators. It is very contageous and is spread by contact. Your plant looks dead. Just leave it alone other than watering and see what spring brings.
Your mix looks very coarse for the plant. The plant shows a lot of damage as though it was ripped out of the ground. Was it collected? Also, fertilizing heavily this late in the season is exactly what you should not do.
This was nursery material that I got and moved to a pot around Aug.
Since then plant has responded well and grew new leaves and was looking great till now.
I'll stop fertilizing for this year and flush the pots as suggested. Hopefully I'll see growth in spring.
Had struggled with bonsai soil here and resorted to a mix of pumice and clay balls which worked fine for olives and elms. Guess if plant makes it I'll add some bark or maybe some Seamus that I sourced recently to hopefully get a smoother mix that retains a bit more water.
Thanks
 

maroun.c

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I don't find the "FIREBLIGHT!!" scare to be credible either. You, @maroun.c, can read about it on Wikipedia, which is a good beginning reference for just about everything. It is caused by a bacterium. My favorite 0.1% hydrogen peroxide solution is antiseptic, it will kill bacteria, so you may want to get some 3% peroxide from the grocery/pharmacy, dilute it appropriately, and spray them and everything around them, just in case.

It makes sense to me that your mix marginally does not retain enough water and that tossing on fertilizer was the coupe de gras. Water is adsorbed by osmosis in the roots. When the substrate is saltier than inside the roots, it draws water out of the plant instead. Fertilizer is just a mix of mineral salts.

There is some chance that these cotoneasters will come back in spring. Meanwhile, flushing or watering the pots to the point that water puddles on the surface and letting it drain, a process Repeatedly flushing the soil/substrate will dissolve and wash away the bulk of the fertilizer (you can also do this by immersing the pot in water and after a short delay lifting it out and letting it drain). I think this is pretty much what @penumbra just said, except that 'fertilizer burn' is not seasonal - it happens any time there is too much fertilizer (salt) in the substrate/soil.
Will spray them and all my tress as suggested and immerse the pots hopefully this will help. We had strong rain few days after fertilizing so I suppose soil is already flushed but will just immerse as suggested.
Thanks
 

Colorado

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This was nursery material that I got and moved to a pot around Aug.
Since then plant has responded well and grew new leaves and was looking great till now.
I'll stop fertilizing for this year and flush the pots as suggested. Hopefully I'll see growth in spring.
Had struggled with bonsai soil here and resorted to a mix of pumice and clay balls which worked fine for olives and elms. Guess if plant makes it I'll add some bark or maybe some Seamus that I sourced recently to hopefully get a smoother mix that retains a bit more water.
Thanks

The issue isn’t necessarily the components, so much as the particle size.
 

AJL

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Yes the clay balls such as Hydroleka are so free draining and dont hold the moisture and your plant probably just got dehydrated and scorched roots due to excessive fertiliser.
Fireblight( Erwinia) is a bacterial disease which only affects members of Rosacaea family including cotoneasters.
Spraying peroxide i.e.bleach on everything is probably pointless unless you actually have a severe disease problem in your plants.
However it is good practice to clean or disinfect tools routinely after pruning using an alcohol based disinfectant as a bio-security precaution
 
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