Tropicals & Tender Perennials: What's wrong with my CG?, 1 by ErickMN

ErickMN wrote:
Hello All.

Starting about a week ago, one of my beloved large Charles Grimaldis started dropping lots of healthy green leaves. Every day there is a noticeable pile of leaves, mostly older ones but some younger as well, at the base of the plant. The leaves are perfect - bright green, flawless.

Tonight I noticed a problem with the main, woody branches. Please see the attached pic (I apologize for it being slightly out of focus). Note the "furrows" or "rips", as if the bark didn't grow fast enough to accommodate the plant and thus split. These cover at least half the woody part of the plant now.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the problem is here? The plant is about three years old and has always grown and bloomed vigorously. It's also still putting out new growth and buds. The only change to its care lately is that we have had nearly a week of constant, heavy rain. The whole world seems soggy and humid.

Any comments will be appreciated. Thank you.

Erick