My two prunus mume bonsai already turning fall colors in Winter garden, Florida

[will77]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me. Both my ume bonsais have already started to turn yellow and drop their leaves. The leaves look like fall colors, not sickly, and not all yellow, they are splotchy, like autumn colors. My smaller ume is now almost bare! I have had no branch die back at all. The trees are both showing swelling of both flower buds and next years' leaf buds.

Both trees were repotted this year in february in Boon's mix , then topped with cut spagnum pieces, then topped with live moss. They grew well, and seem to love the mix and moss. All 5 bonsais, 2 umes , 2 maples, 1 Tabebuia, have thickened their trunks greatly this year after being repotted with this mix/mosses.

I have had the little ume for 3 years, and the larger for 1 and a half. The large one has thickened amazingly well this year, and has even speeded up it's recovery from previous cuts from previous owner.

I did move them ( all 5) to a slightly brighter, yet more sheltered spot ( closer to the ground) 2 weeks ago.
The small ume has a 3 foot long sacrifice branch that is still green and growing. They started turning last week. The maples were both moved to same spot, too, and have not changed colors.

Both trees have green, healthy branches. I also did have to spray the umes with Garden Safe last week for spider mites. I live in zone 9b in central florida. My umes both bloomed last winter.


So, is it just an early fall thing, or are my umes in trouble?


Thanks,


Will77

 

[whfarro]

Pics?

 

[fredtruck]

From where I am, in the upper Midwest, this is normal. Umes spend all their energy at this time making buds, both flowering and vegetative. The leaves have done all the photosynthesizing they need to do. Feed your trees 0-10-10 at this time about once a week.

 

[whfarro]

Fred, on another thread I inquired about a similar thing on my Cherry Blossoms-Kojo No Mai, and leaf yellowing, brown leaf tips and leaf drop this time of year. All do have considerable budding. Do you know if this is also common with flowering cherries?

 

[Cotyledon]

I have experienced this on my burning bush. I think it's from letting the pot dry out too much. my plants have always been fine the next spring, but it doesn't seem right

 

[rockm]

A heat wave can do this to fruit trees. My in-ground and bonsai cherry trees have been dropping yellow and even reddish leaves for weeks as the temps have stayed in the 90s. Heat induces a kind of dormancy in some trees in more southerly locations. Native trees mostly just stop growing and maintain their leaves, but some (like sumac and Virginia creeper in particular) can begin showing signs of autumn color in summer and continue into the actual autumn.

 

[0soyoung]

I have several flowering cherries, some in pots, some in the ground and they are all dormant (not actively growing) right now. There is only an occasional yellow leaf. As with most years, it has never been hotter than 85F here (and that is only for an hour or so).

This basic behavior is common to many plants and isn't unique to cherries. It seems to occur about 6-8 weeks after the summer solstice, pretty much without regard to climate, so I believe it is triggered by decreasing daily light time and not temperature.

 

[quietobserver]

I used to live in Orlando and had similar issues off and on. A local bonsai nursery (J Schley) said the same as stated above, heat induced dormancy/leaf drop. Taking a break from transpiration.

 

[fredtruck]

>>Fred, on another thread I inquired about a similar thing on my Cherry Blossoms-Kojo No Mai, and leaf yellowing, brown leaf tips and leaf drop this time of year. All do have considerable budding. Do you know if this is also common with flowering cherries?

No, I don't. Sorry. I have no experience with flowering cherries. It seems to me, though, that this might be the case because they're all prunus.

 

[rockm]

I have several flowering cherries, some in pots, some in the ground and they are all dormant (not actively growing) right now. There is only an occasional yellow leaf. As with most years, it has never been hotter than 85F here (and that is only for an hour or so).

This basic behavior is common to many plants and isn't unique to cherries. It seems to occur about 6-8 weeks after the summer solstice, pretty much without regard to climate, so I believe it is triggered by decreasing daily light time and not temperature.

Nah, It's the heat here. Nineteen days of over 85, 11 over 90, three over 97...Nighttime temps never went below 77 or so...My big landscape cherry has dropped 3/4 of its leaves. My bonsai black cherry more than half. I've noticed this every year in late July and August here and locations as far south as Texas for a very long time. Droughty conditions can accelerate it too.

 

[0soyoung]

Nah, It's the heat here. Nineteen days of over 85, 11 over 90, three over 97...Nighttime temps never went below 77 or so...My big landscape cherry has dropped 3/4 of its leaves. My bonsai black cherry more than half. I've noticed this every year in late July and August here and locations as far south as Texas for a very long time. Droughty conditions can accelerate it too.

Trees certainly shut down when they lack water and they don't grow at temperatures above 90-95F. But, add water and move to a location with lower temperatures and many plants stop elongating, stop popping new leafs, about this time of year anyway.

 

[rockm]

Plenty of rain here. Leaves are still dropping...

 

[AppleBonsai]

Yep, my experience too with Mt. Fuji cherry...I thought they may have been stressed with too much sun & heat- as it gets well above 100 degrees here, so I pulled one back to more shade and still had the drop. But the leaves come back here in NoCal before they again turn fall colors and drop....They flower each year though just fine and there appears to be no other health effects.

 

[whfarro]

Yep, my experience too with Mt. Fuji cherry...I thought they may have been stressed with too much sun & heat- as it gets well above 100 degrees here, so I pulled one back to more shade and still had the drop. But the leaves come back here in NoCal before they again turn fall colors and drop....They flower each year though just fine and there appears to be no other health effects.

That is my experience here in the Hudson Valley of NY as well. Spring blossoms & full leaf out and good growth until end of July...then brown tips, yellowing and leaf drop. Lots of budding and a second leaf push (although limited) in late August / early Sept. before autumn color and dormancy. Each Spring that I have had them they seem fine. I was/am concerned that this is something I am doing wrong and need to control.

 

[rockm]

Something worth a look from those on the left coast
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015...tree-leaves-dropping-like-its-fall-in-august/

 

[AppleBonsai]

Something worth a look from those on the left coast
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015...tree-leaves-dropping-like-its-fall-in-august/

This is mostly hype, as I haven't seen yet a tree here in an urban or natural setting that has done that. The percentage is very very low and usually affecting non-native species (Tupelo & White Birch) those in a setting outside of a soaker hose or drip line- I mean planting white birch here in Sac is just dumb in the first place! They require so much more water to survive and they get really cranky if we get above 100 for a few days or more. Of course this doesn't affect container trees that we water daily (and most kept under shade cloth). And actually compared to most years this summer has been pretty mild for us!

 

[whfarro]

With regards to the specifics of this thread, this has been a milder then usual summer here in NY state, yet my Cherry Blossoms-Kojo are again experiencing brown leaf tips, yellowing and leaf drop similar to the plum blossoms of the OP.

Is this just common / normal for Prunus?

 

[AppleBonsai]

With regards to the specifics of this thread, this has been a milder then usual summer here in NY state, yet my Cherry Blossoms-Kojo are again experiencing brown leaf tips, yellowing and leaf drop similar to the plum blossoms of the OP.

Is this just common / normal for Prunus?

All I can say is that this happens to our containerized cherries here every single year. Some exceptions are the "real" fruiting cherry- those used for fresh eating- they are unaffected.

 

[Eric Group]

The same thing happens to established, older Quince as well. It is normal.

 

[0soyoung]

... and paper birch, and japanese hornbeam, and ....