Confused "Louisa" Weeping Crabapple Blooming?!

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Breezymeadow Culpeper, VA(Zone 7a) Aug 27, 2005

Here's something I've never seen before.

This past Mothers' Day I bought a lovely "Louisa" Weeping Crabapple on sale. They're normally early spring bloomers following with small yellow crabapples in the fall, & when I purchased it it had already finished it's bloom cycle.

So, this summer has not only been brutally hot (although I've kept the tree well watered), but this poor tree has been victimized by some unseen insect pest to the point where it's almost completely naked of all foliage. I've examined that tree constantly from stem to stern & cannot discover what's causing it, just that I can tell from the damage that it's some insect. I've just been hoping that when cooler weather finally arrived it would have some time to recover before winter.

Today is the first relatively cool day we've had in months - rainy & mid-70's - & I just went outside to find a number of the branches breaking out in flower buds, along with a few blooms already!!

The only thing I can think of is that this was brought on by stress perhaps?

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StarhillForest Illinois, IL(Zone 5b) Sep 07, 2005

Crabs, like some magnolias, occasionally rebloom. Since your tree was new, stressed, and breaking bud with new growth, a combination of factors probably triggered this. Regarding the insects, might they have been Japanese beetles? Thjey were horrible in our area this year (but not as horrible as the ongoing drought).

Guy S.

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Breezymeadow Culpeper, VA(Zone 7a) Sep 07, 2005

Thanks for the info. I supposed it could have been Japanese Beetles, as we do have some around - although not very badly. I'm just surprised that I never actually saw a beetle anywhere on the tree, which is relatively small enough to easily inspect in its entirety.

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StarhillForest Illinois, IL(Zone 5b) Sep 08, 2005

If it was the beetles, they would have turned the leaves into brown lace, leaving the veins. If the leaves are chewed up it was something else.

Guy S.

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Breezymeadow Culpeper, VA(Zone 7a) Sep 08, 2005

Leaves definitely chewed up.

I'm usually pretty good at identifying pests, but this one has me stymied. Luckily the weather is cooling off & the days are getting shorter. I've been watering the tree well during our dry periods & once the ground freezes will increase the mulch somewhat & hope it survives.

It will really me off if I lose this tree, as the last "Louisa" I had - which was much nicer form-wise - was killed via girdling from a Groundhog, & it took me a long, long time to find a replacement, as I really wanted another "Louisa".

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