No Autumn Colour?

[deepeetee]

Hi everyone,

I live an hour north of Sydney, approximately 3 blocks back from the ocean.

None of my deciduous trees have begun to turn as yet, and im getting a little concerned they may be a little tired come spring.

The last time they were fed was the second week of March and that was a dose of Charlie Carp.

I had been alternating between CC and an Organic Fertiliser every fortnight throughout the Spring and Summer, with some seasol every now and then.

All of my deciduous trees leaves are bottle green and one of my Chinese Elms is even at bud burst in particular parts.

My question is, should i force a dormancy on to them eg. leaf defoliation now? or should i let them run their course.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Dave

[Pup]

Try some Iron Chelates on them. Also give them some proper fertiliser. Look at the NPK balance on your fertilisers.

They need all of the Macro and Micro elements, some in larger doses than others. The constant watering we need to give our trees, causes leaching of these.
So they need replacing, I dose my trees every 6 months with a complete trace element treatment to replace them.

Also fertilising should be done more often than once in a blue moon, March was 6 weeks ago, my trees have had 3 lots of fertilising in that time. Plus 3 lots of Seasol powerfeed.

Cheers Pup

[Craig]

All of my deciduous trees leaves are bottle green and one of my Chinese Elms is even at bud burst in particular parts.

My question is, should i force a dormancy on to them eg. leaf defoliation now? or should i let them run their course.




Dave

Hi Dave i wouldn't worry about forcing dormacy on your trees, Don't worry if they put out new leaves now, the new growth may not harden off before winter and most likely will dieback over winter, my elm does this every autumn/winter,, Your trees are tricking you ,with still warmish days for a few weeks yet - they will go dormant when they are ready

[deepeetee]

Thanks Craig and Pup,

Ill put the scissors away and let them be

I thought feeding through Autumn and Winter was a no no... Which is the reason why i have stopped.

Dave

[kcpoole]

Hi dave
I usually feed all thru winter, but Ray Nesci had a Lovely Trident Maple at school last night that is all gold and Yellow. Beautiful.
He said that he has stopped feeding it a few months ago too .

Me at home rarely get any colour on my trees, But I put that down to being in a sheltered spot with trees and buildings around, and not verry high either.
You being on the coast in my view is the main impediment to nice colour.

Ken

[deepeetee]

Hi Ken,

I was at Ray's about three weeks ago and he had a carved trident maple sitting on the podium at the front door. It was almost good red wine colour (not clean skin red wine) and it was gorgeous.

I mentioned to him at the time that i had not seen any colour change in my decidiuous, i mentioned that i had fed probably a touch over a fortnight earlier, and he also mentioned that he had not fertilised for quite some time.

So ive been in the books the last couple of weeks, trying to conjure up an explanation

hence my confusion

I thought i had my fertiliser pretty good
1st week of the month - Searles Kickalong® Organic Complete Garden Plant Food and the Native version of this for the Natives
3rd week of the month - Charlie Carp

with osmocote + Native Slow release in the soil.

Ill take Pup up on his suggestion about taking a look at the NPK on the pack and some Iron Chelates, i might even change to the Seasol Powerfeed.

But hopefully it is just the location

[rawhide]

hey Dave ,
not real switched on how to get autum colour it just happens down here in tassie , but all my trees barr a crab apple have lost there leaves
but i have 2 chinese elms that are showing no signs of dropping there leaves