Any ideas on problem with my Chitalpa?

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cactuspatch Alamogordo, NM(Zone 7b) Jul 10, 2007

I have 2 trees. One is beautiful and the other is looking sad. They were planted at the same time about 40 feet apart, 5 years ago. I thought it was maybe that this one was not getting as much water as the second one is near to my fence and possibly can get water from the grass inside the fence. Today I went to look closer and found several small light grey insects scurrying around the leaves--what are left of the leaves. There are many new leaves coming on.
I don't know how to search for insects as the bug files seem to be organized where one would need to know a name? I tried to get a photo and the bugs are too fast and hide from the camera when I get it close enough to snap a shot.

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jul 10, 2007

Here's an article about leaf drop from Chitalpas:

http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2001/070701.html

They're not known for any particular insect pests. You could look around at www.bugguide.net

Post #3720419
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cactuspatch Alamogordo, NM(Zone 7b) Jul 10, 2007

Thanks for that response. I live near NMSU and have taken classes from Dr. Goldberg. Yet when I was looking at their site, I didn't find the article you gave the link for! It is interesting that only one of my trees is involved. We had some rain and the insects I mentioned were just apparently waiting out the rain as there are few of them still on the tree now.

Post #3720486
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cactuspatch Alamogordo, NM(Zone 7b) Jul 30, 2007

Just to update that I did basically what that article said. I had the tree planted outside my stucco walls and the native desert willows were doing great with no extra water. I dug back a bit into the gravel at the drip line and watered the tree weekly with some Ironite added to water. It is improving greatly and starting to bloom.

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