Presumed recurrent fungal infection on Trident Maple

Lars Grimm

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Hi All,

I have really been struggling with what I assume is a fungal infection on my large trident maple. This is a recurring problem that has been going on for the last three years. The tree puts out great growth in spring and the leaves harden off without any problem. I typically do an initial pruning of the long runners in May and then in June the new leaves that emerge take on a sickly appearance. You can see from the photos that they have brown/black tips and are curled up. The tree gets plenty of water, sun, and air movement. I have tried preventative spraying with daconil, mancozeb, and copper as well as some systemics without any success at preventing this from happening. I typically try to prune off and remove the infected areas and apply more treatments oftentimes as frequently as every 1-2 weeks. Last year I did a full defoliation and copper sulfate treatment, but it just doesn't seem to completely eradicate the problem. I just cannot seem to get a hold of this. I have read @markyscott thread on fungal treatment and applied better overwintering treatments but since this is happening in summer and not spring I'm not sure if that is the answer. I have this to a much lesser extent on various other Japanese or Trident maples. The Trident ends up just sulking for the growing season and so I am not able to get multiples healthy flushes of growth.

I was going to start trying Pro-Tekt as a preventative measure and have been reading about hydrogen peroxide as well. I was also thinking about trying to other systems like Infuse I am really just at wit's end here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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markyscott

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but since this is happening in summer and not spring I'm not sure if that is the answer

Sorry you’re struggling with this. I also believe that it’s Anthracnose and I know how frustrating it can be. A couple of thoughts.
  1. Don’t neglect you dormant spraying treatments. That your spring growth is healthy is a testament to their effectiveness. When you prune, the new, soft, summer growth that you force by pruning is unprotected. I’ve generally found that the spring growth that’s is already hardened off is generally less affected. Consider waiting a bit longer before you prune if this pushes summer growth back to a drier part of summer.
  2. Stop overhead water if you’re doing so. In high humidity climates like ours, the leaves can stay wet for long periods of time and that can promote fungal problems.
  3. Don’t defoliate weak, unhealthy trees. Defoliating trees weakens them. Defoliating trees that are already weak can exacerbate health problems if you’re having them.
  4. Grow your trees in a coarse-grained, well-draining mix and minimize the amount of organic material that can stay wet for long periods of time.
  5. Consider applying Cleary’s 3336 granules at or before your dormant spray treatment. Consider adding liquid Cleary’s 3336 to your fungicide rotation.
  6. Use Bordeaux mix at “in season” concentrations. I’ve found this to be pretty effective when I’ve had problems in the growing season. It can leave a blue residue on the leaves, but that’s better than this problem. The residue on the leaves is part of the treatment- it’s water insoluble so it offers protection for a long time after application.
  7. Zerotol (essentially a high concentration dose of hydrogen peroxide) is labeled as effective on anthracnose and some people I trust tend to swear by it. I can’t testify to it’s effectiveness, but ’m going to start working it in to my regimen.
  8. Keep good records of what you do
Good luck

S
 
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Lars Grimm

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Sorry you’re struggling with this. I also believe that it’s Anthracnose and I know how frustrating it can be. A couple of thoughts.
  1. Don’t neglect you dormant spraying treatments. That your spring growth is healthy is a testament to their effectiveness. When you prune, the new, soft, summer growth that you force by pruning is unprotected. I’ve generally found that the spring growth that’s is already hardened off is generally less affected. Consider waiting a bit longer before you prune if this pushes summer growth back to a drier part of summer.
  2. Stop overhead water if you’re doing so. In high humidity climates like ours, the leaves can stay wet for long periods of time and that can promote fungal problems.
  3. Don’t defoliate weak, unhealthy trees. Defoliating trees weakens them. Defoliating trees that are already weak can exacerbate health problems if you’re having them.
  4. Grow your trees in a coarse-grained, well-draining mix and minimize the amount of organic material that can stay wet for long periods of time.
  5. Consider applying Cleary’s 3336 granules at or before your dormant spray treatment. Consider adding liquid Cleary’s 3336 to your fungicide rotation.
  6. Use Bordeaux mix at “in season” concentrations. I’ve found this to be pretty effective when I’ve had problems in the growing season. It can leave a blue residue on the leaves, but that’s better than this problem. The residue on the leaves is part of the treatment- it’s water insoluble so it offers protection for a long time after application.
  7. Zerotol (essentially a high concentration dose of hydrogen peroxide) is labeled as effective on anthracnose and some people I trust tend to swear by it. I can’t testify to it’s effectiveness, but ’m going to start working it in to my regimen.
  8. Keep good records of what you do
Good luck

S

Thanks Scott. Practical, useful advice as always! To clarify, would you remove affected leaves or not? I've read mixed things.
 

JudyB

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I have seen lots of people having trident issues recently, there is a thread about this on FB in the BonsaiTalk group I believe. I think Clark Long was the initiator. It was suggested that PH was a contributing factor, and Clearys was suggested among other things (not for the PH, but as a control method for fungal issues) Ground growing for a time was also a suggestion.
 

Dav4

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Fwiw, this has affected both my potted and ground growing tridents equally the last 2 years. I've been spraying periodically with mancozeb but that didn't keep it at bay. I'll apply some clearys when I get home next week and see how that affects growth later this summer.
 

TomB

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I’m seeing the same on a trident. In my case wet foliage is a likely contributing factor. I’m now trying mancozeb (and changing the watering). It’s been getting regular sprays of a different fungicide too, without effect.
 

JudyB

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Fwiw, this has affected both my potted and ground growing tridents equally the last 2 years. I've been spraying periodically with mancozeb but that didn't keep it at bay. I'll apply some clearys when I get home next week and see how that affects growth later this summer.
Did you read that post on FB? This seems to be widespread. I went looking for it and found it was just a post that Clark Long made, and got some good information back on. Original post from Clark on July 3. Guy Guidry gave a solution for it in the post thread.
 

Doug J

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Hi All,

I have really been struggling with what I assume is a fungal infection on my large trident maple. This is a recurring problem that has been going on for the last three years. The tree puts out great growth in spring and the leaves harden off without any problem. I typically do an initial pruning of the long runners in May and then in June the new leaves that emerge take on a sickly appearance. You can see from the photos that they have brown/black tips and are curled up. The tree gets plenty of water, sun, and air movement. I have tried preventative spraying with daconil, mancozeb, and copper as well as some systemics without any success at preventing this from happening. I typically try to prune off and remove the infected areas and apply more treatments oftentimes as frequently as every 1-2 weeks. Last year I did a full defoliation and copper sulfate treatment, but it just doesn't seem to completely eradicate the problem. I just cannot seem to get a hold of this. I have read @markyscott thread on fungal treatment and applied better overwintering treatments but since this is happening in summer and not spring I'm not sure if that is the answer. I have this to a much lesser extent on various other Japanese or Trident maples. The Trident ends up just sulking for the growing season and so I am not able to get multiples healthy flushes of growth.

I was going to start trying Pro-Tekt as a preventative measure and have been reading about hydrogen peroxide as well. I was also thinking about trying to other systems like Infuse I am really just at wit's end here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 250516View attachment 250517View attachment 250518
I have it on mine as well. @Smoke has a thread on treatment...dig it up it's worth it. As I recall his treatment was to remove the infected leaves and apply daconil once weekly for 4 weeks, but don't quote me on that. Look up smokes thread. Good luck, I think I got the thread "watched"..Still need to treat mine.
 

Dav4

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Did you read that post on FB? This seems to be widespread. I went looking for it and found it was just a post that Clark Long made, and got some good information back on. Original post from Clark on July 3. Guy Guidry gave a solution for it in the post thread.
Thanks for the heads up... I’ll see if I can find it.
 

JudyB

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Thanks for the heads up... I’ll see if I can find it.
I tried to put a link here, but it doesn't seem to work, maybe you can figure out how...I'm sure others would like to read it.
 

Lars Grimm

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Finally found the thread. There is quite a lot of info in there. Here is a copy and paste from Guy Guidry.

"A remedy that will absolutely correct the problem! Completely organic, easy and sweet.
Mix 1 gallon of distilled white vinegar with 2 cups of Epsom salts, and a quarter cup Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. It takes about 10 minutes for the Epson salt’s to dissolve, and then you’re ready to go. After about an hour after you have watered your bonsai collection, Use a sprayer of choice and lightly mist the soil surface, don’t neglect to spray the weeds! Do this once a week too of all your trees to correct water pH, feed essential magnesium, and the soap will break surface tension and Wala!No more Ph problem which I can assure you is the case and your trees will benefit tremendously as you will never have blemished unproductive solar panels on your Bonsai again. Or weeds! I do it once a week and my trees have never ever looked better. You can’t repair the blemished foliage however the new leaves will enjoy vigor and vitality extending your growing season. "
 

Smoke

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I have it on mine as well. @Smoke has a thread on treatment...dig it up it's worth it. As I recall his treatment was to remove the infected leaves and apply daconil once weekly for 4 weeks, but don't quote me on that. Look up smokes thread. Good luck, I think I got the thread "watched"..Still need to treat mine.
I alternate with copper in there. I treat in the off season as well so it really never gets a foot hold. My tridents used to look like that as well but not any more. Make sure you have good air circulation so they can dry out. Water only when you have to and try not to get the ground too wet. Make sure they get some early morning sun as well. Good sun cures a lot of things. Too much sun can create new problems. Collection orientation and location in a yard can be the difference between healthy plants and problem plants.
 

JudyB

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Finally found the thread. There is quite a lot of info in there. Here is a copy and paste from Guy Guidry.

"A remedy that will absolutely correct the problem! Completely organic, easy and sweet.
Mix 1 gallon of distilled white vinegar with 2 cups of Epsom salts, and a quarter cup Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. It takes about 10 minutes for the Epson salt’s to dissolve, and then you’re ready to go. After about an hour after you have watered your bonsai collection, Use a sprayer of choice and lightly mist the soil surface, don’t neglect to spray the weeds! Do this once a week too of all your trees to correct water pH, feed essential magnesium, and the soap will break surface tension and Wala!No more Ph problem which I can assure you is the case and your trees will benefit tremendously as you will never have blemished unproductive solar panels on your Bonsai again. Or weeds! I do it once a week and my trees have never ever looked better. You can’t repair the blemished foliage however the new leaves will enjoy vigor and vitality extending your growing season. "
Thanks Lars, I tried to copy and paste the whole conversation, but it wouldn't let me.
 

bwaynef

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There's a product called BioSafe Disease Control available on amazon that has the same active ingredients as Zerotol in different percentages. I haven't tried it since I found it after I bought a many-lifetimes supply of Zerotol so I can't speak to its effectiveness. I think its even made by the same company.
 

Lars Grimm

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There's a product called BioSafe Disease Control available on amazon that has the same active ingredients as Zerotol in different percentages. I haven't tried it since I found it after I bought a many-lifetimes supply of Zerotol so I can't speak to its effectiveness. I think its even made by the same company.

Yeah, I saw that and was considering it, especially since I have seen a lot of horror stories about leaking cases of Zerotol.
 

John P.

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I’ve had this on tridents before, too. Glad there are some good ideas in this thread should it reoccur. Thanks.
 

Estonio

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After reading this thread, I checked in 2 of my newly acquired palmatums

Not sure if fungal or not... Might be just climate or not proper watering for the last weeks... I'm not able still to distinguish even after reading @Smoke post... 😕

First one
20190708_082054.jpg
20190708_082102.jpg

Second one
20190708_082131.jpg
20190708_082148.jpg
 

Sekibonsai

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I have seen lots of people having trident issues recently, there is a thread about this on FB in the BonsaiTalk group I believe. I think Clark Long was the initiator. It was suggested that PH was a contributing factor, and Clearys was suggested among other things (not for the PH, but as a control method for fungal issues) Ground growing for a time was also a suggestion.
Yes pH was mentioned but Clark's was spot-on.
 
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