I have 3 Peppermint Lace crape myrtles growing in tree form. Have had them 3 years. Monday morning during my garden inspection one of them was dead.
POW. no warning. It looks as if somebody threw a bucket of Roundup on it, except nobody did. We have no vandalism in our subdivision. THis is only so you can visualize the instant damage on my tree.
has this happened to you? will it come back? I have other CM and nome have ever done this. I am bummed.
Has this happened to you?
I had exactly the same thing happen with Peppermint Lace crape myrtle. I had one 2 years and it died literally overnight, I bought two more and tried again only to have the same thing happen. It seems to me they make it 2 or 3 years and curl up and die. Normally all crapes do fine here, but I'm wondering if it's just not as tough as other cultivars or maybe needs less heat and humidity. I'm stumped, but I won't buy any more of them.
I had 7 if these here - each one died in turn.. all my other crepes are fine and doing great just these.. I am with you maybe they are not the best?
wow! this is a major bummer y'all. I loved this one because I thought the pink flower w/ white edge was quite unique. dang it!
thanks for your input. Hope others will read this and not get their hearts broken by this stupid plant. grrrrrrrr.
I know.... sad thing it died in OKC this year too (gave my MIL one and it did not make the winter...)
We should all maybe make note of this in the plant files so everyone doesn't keep flusing money down the drain for these.....
done! It also explains why I never got takers when I offered a rooted cutting for trade. Maybe others already knew what I have recently discovered. ugh.
I decided I was truly aggravated about this event so I decided to do some research. You know, INFORMATION IS POWER.
I am no botanist, but with enough reading I have learned that certain CMs are subject to a fungus, a kind a leaf blight, which can result from poor drainage, nearby sick plants, excessive rains/humidity, transfer from sick plants by insects, overfertilization. For the most part, removal is recommended. However, recommendations for commercial growers is the removal of all the sick branches and an application of fungicide for the remainder of the plant. One organic fungicide mentioned was neem.
This blight typically occurs in summer, with high rains and humidity (like we've had in houston in the last two weeks). Mild winters like we've had, with no decrease in insect population, aggravates the problem. Doesn't necessarily occur every year, but it is certainly a problem on some varieties. Interestingly, Peppermint Lace was not listed as one of the problem ones, but maybe this research wasn't complete and this dang variety needs to be added to this list.
Anyway, I think before I throw my arms up in the air, I'm gonna do a little experimenting. It is too late now, but tomorrow I'm going to cut my tree and apply neem. The tree is definitely not dead, it just looks dead. I scraped with my nails and there was plenty of nice green cambdium (sp?). Let's see if it starts growing again. I will post my progress here.
Here are some pictures. This one shows the 3 trees. the one on the right is the problem one.
here is a pic of the sick one
and here are my two babies that I love so much. Puddy loves to sink himself into the groundcover. Kramer, in the background, just sits around like a lawn ornament.
they make me forget my plant woes.
I know my local garden guy would not sell me any more siad he only sold those of us who came often the good ones.
I can see why just not having them would be the best thing to do. I'm gonna try just just for fun. If I lose all three, then that mean I get to buy 3 Dynomites. yipee!
Thats the way to see it! Just means we get to go get a little more!
I'm glad you've mentioned the problem with this tree! I had the same issue with 4 Bradford Pears bought from HD...didn't know at the time they already had leaf blight...the sales person said they just needed some TLC and fertilizer! HA!
Always sad to lose a tree....
Nery, Mitch, crowelli, I would contact Neil Sperry at crapemyrtles@sperrygardens.com. He has been keeping notes on varieties that did not make it through our early freeze this year. http://www.neilsperry.com/article.cfm?show=193 He also keeps a buyers guide of Crepe Myrtles for our area. The information about your experiences with Peppermint Lace would be welcomed, I am sure.
thanks staci. I did and will post their reply here. In the meantime, hubby cut off all the branches and applied neem, while I was gallivanting today. Ain't he sweet?
bumping this up with an update. My third Peppermint Lace CM definitely died, succumbing to some fungus I think. Luckily, I rooted one of the suckers from the other trees and have been able to replace.
Good to know. I won't grow it and certainly won't recommend it. Thanks, Vossner!
If it weren't 'cause I already have a little veignette going, I would have yanked them all out and planted CM Dynomite instead. Who knows, if they cause me any trouble this year, might just pull them out anyway.
Well,
I have three crepe myrtles on my property and, hopefully, they'll make it through this next summer. I don't believe they're the variety you're mentioning here. But, I do SWEAR by the NEEM! I use it on the leaf scale the Sago Palms had this summer and it worked wonders. Problem is you have to stay behind that stuff to totally irradicate it, and I slacked off toward the mean heat season. When the rains started, the scale took another toe-hold, but not nearly as prolific as in the beginning. I'm gonna start a regimine soon on all the Sagos, to get an early start on the summer humidity. Also, NEEM puts a shine on those leaves that make them look like brand new pennies! I highly recommend the NEEM products.
I'm sorry ya'll are having so much trouble with your crepe myrtles. I have no idea what kind I have but they're tough as nails. Two are white and one is sort of purple/pink. Somebody planted these right in front of a double window about 6 feet away from it. We finally moved the purple/pink ones. The white ones we can't move because it would kill a redbud tree. So I just cut them down a couple of times a year. If you want cuttings, just say so.
Mary Lee
mary lee, most varieties are tough as nails as you indicate. But Peppermint Lace, which has a pink flower with a white picotee edge seems to be sucsceptible to fungus. Having said that, one of my neighbors down the street has 4 in shurb form and they are as healthy as can be. Also, only 1 of my three succumbed. My other two in standard form as doing fabulous. I took the precaution of rooting another cutting and have planted it to replace the one that died, so all will be well in the end.
as you might have noticed in other plants, the fancier characteristics seem to come at the expense of hardiness and maybe that is the case w/ CM Peppermint Lace. If my third one dies, I will give up on this variety and plant another but for now, I'm willing to give this variety one last chance because I think it's beautiful and different.
Vossner, I guess maybe your neighbor has the magic touch. You're right about the fancier varieties being more finicky. I have decided I'll just have to enjoy the fancy stuff in other people's yards and get the older proven varieties to plant in my yard.
Mary Lee