I bought 4 crape myrtle trees last year. They did good all last summer until late summer 2 of them got black spots on the leafs. I guessed it was a funguss and sprayed them with a fungiside. The leaves feel off in atumnn like normal. As of today they look dead 4/30/07, no leaves yet, and the bark has a lot of black on it. but the other two crape myrtles have leaves on them now, they are doing good. Anybody know what the problem might be?
Andy
I'm not sure what's going on with them now--I'll tell you about the typical fungal problems that happen on crape myrtles, but they are generally just unsightly and don't kill the tree. But black color most likely means a fungus of some sort and for some reason yours turned fatal, maybe it was a different fungus than the usual non-lethal sorts, or maybe you just had a really bad case and if you combined that with another stress like too much/little water it could have been enough to kill it.
Many crape myrtles are susceptible to powdery mildew, so if you have a susceptible variety it will tend to get it every year almost no matter what you do if you live in a warm humid climate which is the ideal conditions for the fungus to grow. It only makes the leaves ugly though, generally won't kill the tree. Crape myrtles are also magnets for aphids and they secrete honeydew which can then lead to sooty mold forming on the leaves, this may be the black stuff you saw. It's possible that's what the black stuff is on the branches too if you had a really bad aphid infestation last year but I'm not sure. It's generally best to try and wash the sooty mold off since if you get too much of it on the leaves it can interfere with photosynthesis but it won't generally kill the tree either.
The other possibility is that the two trees that are looking dead now actually were starting to form leaf buds a little earlier than the other two (or were leafing out at the same time but were in a more exposed location), and the leaf buds got zapped by the cold weather a few weeks ago. If that's the case, then they should leaf out again so just give them time.
I'm not too far north of you, and I also planted a crepe myrtle last year. I was very concerned about it just a week ago. There was absolutely no evidence of growth. I began breaking off some of the smaller branches to see if it was dead. Each twig seemed to be dead. I finally decided that I was making myself crazy, and I would wait at least until mid May.
It was probably two or three days after that, that I noticed the new growth. Even then, I was panicking, because there were areas with no growth at all. Another few days, and I saw that most of the tree had signs of growth.
The upshot of this is, that I would give it some more time. You have already invested a year in these trees. If there is no new growth in the next two to three weeks, then you may have a real problem, but it could be that these two particular trees are late bloomers.
I hope that everything works out.
I thank both of you for the info. I think I will wait a few more weeks before I panic. It is still early yet. Thanks..........
Hi; I now have some growth coming out of the ground at the base of these crape myrtles. All the branches from last year are still bare. Should I cut all of these bare branches off plus the main trunk? Or, should I leave all the bare branches alone until next year to see if they will leaf out.
Andy
heatcool,
Don't prune now! The new growth shows that the sap is flowing, and if any part of those apparently dead branches is alive you may get sap bleed, which does the shrub no good.
Prune off the dead branches in early fall, when both growing and blooming have stopped but before the leaves fall and obscure which branches were dead and which aren't.
That sounds like good advice. Thank you................
Hi Heatcool, If I were you I would cut out the damaged shoots now, before the tree really start to put on new growth, do it gently, like do one brabch at a time, or, scrape a wee bit of the bark off, and IF you dont see healthy stem under the bark, you will have to get rid of the branch/branches, this will prevent the same fungus spreading to this years new growth, burn all damaged cuttings as the spores can be spread by wind, insects, even water spray from one bit of plant to the next.
It would also be a good idea if you still have the problems of leaf drop this year, to gather them up and burn them, as the spores can lay dormant over winter and attack your plant again, I dont think you have the normal black spot you can see on roses etc. I think you have a fungus desease and identifying it could take you ages, meentime it could spread to your other trees.
IF you just bought the plants last year, I would get in touch with where you got them from and enquire as to the stock they had as it could have came from the grower, some suppliers like to know these things so they can correct the problem, they may be able to help with a paint/spray on fungiside that you can use to stop the spread, had you just had one plant that was suffering, I would say, you may have damaged it as you planted, but 2 plants is a real problem.
also check to see if they know of some other trees in your area with this prob as things like that can be air born and you are unlucky, normaly fungus enter where damage, like a cut, insects have nibbled or a branch was brocken, so check out your other tree's.
I hope this throws some help and thoughts your way, good luck.
WeeNel.
WeeNel again, as we dont grow myrtles except in the greenhouse where I live, UK, I looked up an Encyclopaedia for Myrtle, and one of the things it said was that some of them are grown for the bark which peels, so check yours out, I did notice on you pic that some of the bark looked like it was peeling, so speak to the place you got them from and get as much info as you can.
I'm glad to hear that your trees are alive and kicking. Generally if you are going to prune a crepe myrtle, this is done in the spring. In the past, I have been a fairly modest pruner. This year, I decided that I wouldn't prune it, and see what happens. I can see that the new shoots are growing fairly close to the ends.
If you do believe that there is a possibility of a fungal infection, you might consider if it is prudent to spray your plants now. I know that some crepes are suceptible to fungal diseases. Everything that I have read in the past always said that the cultivars that did not have an indian name were more likely to suffer from fungus. I haven't had that problem in the past.
If fungus is the problem, then there is a strong possiblity that it did winter over in the soil - this is why I think you might want to be proactive. Unfortunately, I don't know a product to recommend to you. I would certainly check with the nursery that you bought them from.
