Shimpaku's- Is this scale or what's happening here?

[Woody Carverton]

Purchased a few Shimpaku cutting "liners" from a company in Florida. When i got them today i noticed they are covered in a whitish/grayish color all over the place. My first instinct tells me it's scale, but since we treat annually with insecticides and fungicides we have never had so much as a mite in our gardens so i have nothing to base that assumption off from other than what i remember from college and referencing my old text books.


Would appreciate any input as they're going to end up in the trash unless i can figure out what it is and if it can be cured immediately without spreading into the rest of the garden. I would rather throw away $150 worth of starters than risk infesting the thousands of healthy trees we have in the garden now.

 

[Vin]

I believe that could be resin build-up that the foliage secrets. It certainly doesn't look like scale. They look healthy to me but a little neem oil won't hurt it.

 

[fourteener]

Powdery mildew? Hard water stains? Ask the company in Florida!!

 

[Woody Carverton]

Thanks for the super quick reply Vin, I'll give a good spray of neem tonight to be on the safe side. Maybe take them a few miles up the road to a friends house and put them in his garage for quarantine for now. Let them rough out the winter over there far away from our garden, unless i can find out for sure what this is. I got a few other shimpaku cuttings from some forum members here that arrived last week and none of them had the silvery white color to them like these did. Coming from a commercial nursery that cranks out tens of thousands of these a year, i am a little hesitant to dismiss this issue and put them near our other trees.

 

[Woody Carverton]

Powdery mildew? Hard water stains? Ask the company in Florida!!

I did, even sent them pictures. the reply i got was brief.

"thanks for your e-mail, we are unable to see what you are describing in the photos you sent us. We can assure you that your trees are shipped in perfect health."

Which to me translated like " we're not going to worry about your tiny $150 order when we get dozens of thousand dollar orders a day from repeat clients so just deal with our 1 line reply"

Needless to say, i get the feeling this will be the last time i do business with that nursery.

Never thought of hard water stains, glad i posted. Maybe i'll just take a tiny clipping off a whitish area and put it under the microscope.

 

[fourteener]

I did, even sent them pictures. the reply i got was brief.

"thanks for your e-mail, we are unable to see what you are describing in the photos you sent us. We can assure you that your trees are shipped in perfect health."

Which to me translated like " we're not going to worry about your tiny $150 order when we get dozens of thousand dollar orders a day from repeat clients so just deal with our 1 line reply"

Needless to say, i get the feeling this will be the last time i do business with that nursery.

Never thought of hard water stains, glad i posted. Maybe i'll just take a tiny clipping off a whitish area and put it under the microscope.

Yeah, the kind of customer service that makes you lose customers!! Ask another nursery in FL to look at it. Anyone on Bnut know a good southerner who might recognize the problem?

Maybe all of their trees suffer from the same hard water problem and they all look like this? This the reason they can't see the problem.

Spray for the worst, hope for the best.

 

[markyscott]

Shimpaku coming from Florida could have spider mites - their temps have been high all winter so they might still be active and that washed out color is symptomatic. Have you checked for them ?

Scott

 

[Woody Carverton]

Shimpaku coming from Florida could have spider mites - their temps have been high all winter so they might still be active and that washed out color is symptomatic. Have you checked for them ?

Scott

First thing i checked for, shook about 20 of them over a white paper and got nothing. Just sniped a shoot off and looked at it under the microscope, dosn't appear to be scale after a closer look, wish i had a camera that would take a picture from the microscope. Not sure what to make of it.

 

[Rusty Davis]

I know my water is hard but I thought most of Florida had soft water?

 

[Vin]

I know my water is hard but I thought most of Florida had soft water?

We have extremely hard water. Especially if you're on a well like me. Most nurseries are on well water.

 

[milehigh_7]

I know who you are talking about... I'll be interested to hear the result. I hope you get to the bottom of it and yeah customer service is not the strong point.

 

[Stickroot]

I did, even sent them pictures. the reply i got was brief.

"thanks for your e-mail, we are unable to see what you are describing in the photos you sent us. We can assure you that your trees are shipped in perfect health."

Which to me translated like " we're not going to worry about your tiny $150 order when we get dozens of thousand dollar orders a day from repeat clients so just deal with our 1 line reply"

Needless to say, i get the feeling this will be the last time i do business with that nursery.

Never thought of hard water stains, glad i posted. Maybe i'll just take a tiny clipping off a whitish area and put it under the microscope.

Take one to your local extension center, they will examine it until they find out exactly what it is.

 

[Stickroot]

First thing i checked for, shook about 20 of them over a white paper and got nothing. Just sniped a shoot off and looked at it under the microscope, dosn't appear to be scale after a closer look, wish i had a camera that would take a picture from the microscope. Not sure what to make of it.

You can line your phone camera up with the microscope and get a decent pic.

 

[Vin]

Take one to your local extension center, they will examine it until they find out exactly what it is.

Please do so I can say "told you so"

 

[Stickroot]

Please do so I can say "told you so"

Agreed! I'm with you totally.

 

[ColinFraser]

My initial reaction was the same as the seller's - "unable to see what you are describing." I don't think they were necessarily being dismissive.
Definitely don't see scale, but perhaps some hard water deposits . . .

 

[justBonsai]

Your tree looks fine IMO. My kishu gets like that too and it's healthy.

 

[Dav4]

My initial reaction was the same as the seller's - "unable to see what you are describing." I don't think they were necessarily being dismissive.
Definitely don't see scale, but perhaps some hard water deposits . . .

My thoughts, too. The fact that they actually responded to your email.... and on the same day?!?! To me that's pretty impressive.

 

[GrimLore]

Would appreciate any input as they're going to end up in the trash unless i can figure out what it is and if it can be cured immediately without spreading into the rest of the garden.

There is nothing I can see wrong, honest... And I would be interested in the source as I am usually looking for Shimpaku cuttings.

I believe that could be resin build-up that the foliage secrets. It certainly doesn't look like scale. They look healthy to me but a little neem oil won't hurt it.

I agree, and I always hit plants up upon receipt with oil and a mild pesticide. I keep them separate from any other plants for at least to weeks and rarely have problems with new plants shipped to me. That resin could be a result of the cold weather stress and I personally don't move plants from the south to north in the winter months.

Grimmy

 

[sorce]

I read that email as a quick, sincere reply, by someone who knows they are healthy.

Sorce