Shedding old leaves?

[Pearcy001]

Just wondering if anyone can confirm for me if the change in leaf colour is just my Trident starting to shed its old leaves?



Alot of what appear to be the older leaved are changing to these colours then dropping. My only concern was I thought it may be too early in the year to be dropping its leaves.

I'm 99% sure I have nothing to worry about but thought I better throw a photo up on here to be on the safe side.

Seems to be around 15% of the foliage and none of the new stuff. Also don't worry about the poor shape of them, majority of the foliage was coming out deformed when it first leafed out at the start of spring, this issue seems to have corrected itself.

FYI - I live in inner west Melbourne (Williamstown) if weather is a determining factor.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

[Truth]

Perhaps it's your tridents responding to the weather with a summer senescence, a type of mid-summer dormancy?

[KIRKY]

A few of my trees are doing the same thing. I think it is weather related. New growth is healthy. I'm in Hawthorn
Cheers

[treeman]

You're right that there is nothing too much to worry about but ideally tridents should not be losing old leaves yet. The usual cause of this during summer is neglecting to thin out the leaves on the outer tips of the branches. (partial defoliation)Shading of the earlier leaves (older) leads to the yellowing and falling. In the long run this can be detrimental to the small inner branches and if you continue neglecting to let sun and air into the inner part of the tree you will start to get die back of these small branches. When that happens you end up losing ramification you worked so hard to achieve and you will need to start again.
It is vitally important with all reasonably advanced trees that you thin out growth at least twice durong the season. If you can see the inner branches then so can the sun and air. If you cannot see them, the growth is too dense.
Of course another reason for leaves dropping early is a lack of nitrogen so you need to do both...Feed well and thin well.

[Pearcy001]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Treeman. I've only had this Trident for 10 months or so and been playing with Bonsai a little over a year, so apologies if this seems like a silly question.

The deeper leaves seem to be ok on my tree. It has only had 1 thinning out since spring so I'll follow your advice and do another in the coming days as I am sure it is probably due.

My queries is it seems to be doing it also on branches that I would have thought were fine? The only thing I can guess is I have changed it to a shadier spot recently.

Attached are photos of a branch I would have thought would be fine as I am growing it to thicken not ramify? I have already remover all the looser leaves before taking the photo but it wasn't too many more.




Cheers,
Pearcy.

[Pearcy001]

Also as far as feeding goes I cycle 3 different ferts, using one every 2 weeks at the moment;

Charlie Carp Organic:
NPK - 1.6 / 0.47 / 0.45

Charlie Carp All Purpose:
NPK - 10 / 2 / 6

Powerfeed:
NPK - 12 / 1.4 / 7

[cre8ivbonsai]

Also as far as feeding goes I cycle 3 different ferts, using one every 2 weeks at the moment;

Charlie Carp Organic:
NPK - 1.6 / 0.47 / 0.45

Charlie Carp All Purpose:
NPK - 10 / 2 / 6

Powerfeed:
NPK - 12 / 1.4 / 7

Hi Percy, I'm certainly no expert with ferts, but these 3 are all basically the same thing: fish emulsion. The idea with cycling fert use is to give your trees a varied and balanced nutrient uptake e.g. Maxfeed (soluble chemical fert), then Seasol (organic liquid fert), then maybe Maxfeed (soluble chemical fert) again, then Charlie Carp (organic liquid fert). And done on a regular basis, say once a week? strengths depending on tree maturity and species ... Me, I'm lazy so mine get a bit of everything all at the same time

Treeman's thread for heavy feeding is informative viewtopic.php?f=12&t=20729&p=212593&hil ... ng#p212593

[treeman]

Also as far as feeding goes I cycle 3 different ferts, using one every 2 weeks at the moment;

Charlie Carp Organic:
NPK - 1.6 / 0.47 / 0.45

Charlie Carp All Purpose:
NPK - 10 / 2 / 6

Powerfeed:
NPK - 12 / 1.4 / 7

Pearcy, your tridents are not getting enough nitrogen IMO. (assuming you are watering everyday) And going by the scorched leaf tips etc; probably potassium as well.

If you are using charlie carp organic every 2 weeks (which has basically nothing in it) that means you are only giving a decent boost of N once per month! (once with the powerfeed and once with the all purpose charlie carp) This is nowhere near enough for a plant in a small pot which is watered every day..

Also the Phosphorus and Potassium in it is so low as to be useless.

If you want to use liquid fertilizer exclusively I recommend every third watering at the least.
All purpose Charlie Carp has Urea added to it for N (ok) but it's not widely known that potassium chloride is used for the K. (the cheapest nastiest form of potassium you can get.) Chloride will damage plants rather quickly so use it on your lawn or your annuals like cabbage....NOT bonsai or any other long term container plant!!

Powerfeed? I'm not a huge fan but you can use it once in a while. Seasol once per month would be better.


I suggest you buy some blood and bone and sprinkle a small amount on your trees. In addition to that use a liquid feed like Aquasol or similar once per week and you should soon start to see the growth you want. (need)

[Pearcy001]

Thanks greatly for the info guys it's much appreciated. I'll pick up some new ferts in the coming days - hopefully tomorrow - and try correct the issue asap. Treeman you really are a wealth of knowledge, thank you kindly.

[Pearcy001]

A good thinning out and dose of Aquasol seems to have done the trick Treeman. The leaves have stopped dropping / changing colour and everything is coming out nice and green. I'm yet to put the Blood & Bone on but will get around to it shortly. Thanks again.



I also have a friend keeping a close eye on it for me.



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[Brian]

my tridents are showing leaf colour already, but I put this down to the unusual cool weather.

[Pearcy001]

Got my hands on some "professional blood and bone" a couple weeks ago and my trees are all looking nice and healthy.

http://m.yates.com.au/products/fertilis ... -and-bone/

I've tried researching through google but can't find the answer. I was wanting to confirm if I can use the professional blood and bone with added potash at the time of repotting?

I have repotted two ficus recently and 1 it was used on, but I am concerned it may take a turn for the worse shortly. A couple of lower leaves have turned yellow but I am unsure of the cause. I am holding off on the second in case it is detrimental to the tree.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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[shibui]

Blood and bone is reasonably slow acting so I can't see any reason for this being not suitable for use at repotting. How have you used it? It should be ok to mix with the potting mix but I'm not sure of how much to put in.

[Pearcy001]

Thanks for the reply Neil.

I placed a layer on top of the soil after it was repotted. I then disrupted the top soil with my hands until the B&B fell down approximately 1cm below the surface. There was also slow release fert mixed in with the soil during the repot.

I have looked over a photo from when I first repotted it and it appears the leaves that fell were already turning yellow so possibly unrelated. I think it may have been due to the tree being a recent cutting, and the tree was simply shedding the really low leaves?

Time will tell.
Cheers.

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