AusBonsai

Hi, My Trident Maple has been doing fine up until now. It's leaves have begun to dry and curl then turn yellow and drop off. At first I thought it was sun exposure but even after decreasing it's sun exposure to only morning sun it continued to get worse and developing leaves began to be effected and not reach maturity. I have been keeping it moist all the time but not too wet and haven't been fertilizing as my research has led me to believe it might be fungal and if so fertilizers and excessive water can worsen the problem. I have read a lot about Anthracnose but I wanted to make sure before using chemicals etc.
Any help/information would be greatly appreciated!
Here are some photos.

Hi Luke, I have lots of tridents both in the ground and pots and here in scorching Perth I get that browning of the tips no matter what I do. Can't help you with the splotty stuff, as you say that may be fungal, but dry, curling maple leaves are usually a sign of heat stress (in my experience). Even in full shade i have a couple of Japanese maples that brown up because of dry winds.

Good luck

I have had one trident that could never be rectified, have another one now that is afflicted with the same or similar. Buds need to be sprayed with a fungal spray before they open to control it.

I got a product from NZ [sent in a hair conditioner bottle] and I think the name is Bravo. It is only available in Australia in 10 litre drums [ha bloody ha for one or two maples] yet it is across the counter in NZ. It did not help the original maple but it has worked on the one I have now. I can't tell you the constituents [because it is in a hair conditioner container] but it works and it doesn't kill the tree. The maples were/are slow to unfurl the leaves and the leaves are curled under at the edges and very small with some burning around the edges. Spraying early with Bravo cures this. As long as you spray periodically.

If you are interested in getting some send me a PM. I am happy to decant some of mine but I would want postage since it costs and arm and a leg [plus the shoe] to send anything by post these days and I'm not that philanthropic.

MelaQuin wrote:I got a product from NZ [sent in a hair conditioner bottle] and I think the name is Bravo. It is only available in Australia in 10 litre drums [ha bloody ha for one or two maples] yet it is across the counter in NZ. It did not help the original maple but it has worked on the one I have now. I can't tell you the constituents [because it is in a hair conditioner container] but it works and it doesn't kill the tree. The maples were/are slow to unfurl the leaves and the leaves are curled under at the edges and very small with some burning around the edges. Spraying early with Bravo cures this. As long as you spray periodically.

Active constituent is chlorothalonil. Found Bravo. or Daconil was the stuff, but only sold overseas.
So, I just ordered a bottle of this off ebay from the US, and it arrived safe and sound in 10 days. No problems at all:

So, I just ordered a bottle of this off ebay from the US, and it arrived safe and sound in 10 days. No problems at all:

It could be your problems have not yet started.

In laboratory tests, chlorothalonil causes kidney damage, mild anemia, liver damage, embryo loss during
pregnancy, oxidative DNA damage (damage to the cell’s genetic material), and cancers of the kidney and
forestomach. Most of these effects have been observed in several test species. It is classified as a “probable
human carcinogen” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

There's a whole lot more about this fungicide as well and mostly pretty frightening http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/ ... rothalonil No wonder it is not available over the counter here

For goodness sake please use proper protective equipment if you are going to use this stuff.

shibui wrote:For goodness sake please use proper protective equipment if you are going to use this stuff.

Will do.
Thanks shibui.

with regards to the browning off of the Trident maple leaves, I agree it is a fungus related issue. I have seen some large exhibition quality Tridents slowly die from this affliction no matter what treatment they were given.
It seems to be a root fungus related problem in my opinion, and the symptoms are slow weak growth, brown leaves and the leaf size is much smaller than normal. Unfortunately many Tridents have progressively gotten weaker and died from this disease.

I have also noted a similar problem with trident leaves but up here it seems to come and go. So far I cannot attribute any deaths to it and I have not tried any fungicide treatments. Tridents exhibiting symptoms one year appear fine the next year. Maybe I have something different or maybe it is related to conditions.

luke43 wrote:Hi, My Trident Maple has been doing fine up until now. It's leaves have begun to dry and curl then turn yellow and drop off. At first I thought it was sun exposure but even after decreasing it's sun exposure to only morning sun it continued to get worse and developing leaves began to be effected and not reach maturity. I have been keeping it moist all the time but not too wet and haven't been fertilizing as my research has led me to believe it might be fungal and if so fertilizers and excessive water can worsen the problem. I have read a lot about Anthracnose but I wanted to make sure before using chemicals etc.
Any help/information would be greatly appreciated!
Here are some photos.

Your problem is caused by the too much water. This in turn is caused by the pot being too big and/or the mix being too fine and/or not waiting for the mix to dry out all of which damages the roots. It'd just a question of better cultivation practices.

shibui wrote:

No wonder it is not available over the counter here

It is. Its called ''Spotless'' here. I use it quite often for my orchids but don't touch them again until after a few waterings
All fugicides are potentially harmful. If used with caution they are ok to use. Chlorothalonil is not systemic. Even so I would not use it (or anything else) on anything in the vegie garden. You probably get more pesticides in your system from the non organic food you eat. Especially if it comes from China! And if you think these things are regularly tested...think again!

Not saying that anyone is wrong in their diagnosis, but read up a bit on Verticillium.

Cheers,

Andrew

Here's a extract from Wikipedia:

Verticillium spp. attack a very large host range including more than 200 species of vegetables, fruit trees, flowers, field crops, and shade or forest trees. Most vegetable species have some susceptibility, so it has a very wide host range.[1]

The symptoms are similar to most wilts with a few specifics to Verticillium. Wilt itself is the most common symptom, with wilting of the stem and leaves occurring due to the blockage of the xylem vascular tissues and therefore reduced water and nutrient flow. In small plants and seedlings, Verticillium can quickly kill the plant while in larger, more developed plants the severity can vary. Some times only one side of the plant will appear infected because once in the vascular tissues, the disease migrates mostly upward and not as much radially in the stem.[2] Other symptoms include stunting, chlorosis or yellowing of the leaves, necrosis or tissue death, and defoliation. Internal vascular tissue discoloration might be visible when the stem is cut.[1]

In Verticillium, the symptoms and effects will often only be on the lower or outer parts of plants or will be localized to only a few branches of a tree. In older plants, the infection can cause death, but often, especially with trees, the plant will be able to recover, or at least continue living with the infection. The severity of the infection plays a large role in how severe the symptoms are and how quickly they develop.[1]

Thought I'd drag up an old thread with my experiences.

Australia is a big place and there is every chance that my issue is nothing like yours but I have been able to clear this up easily and quickly and know of at least one other grower who has had the same success.

I think this is mostly thrip damage or some other tiny insect.

I get distorted leaves, leaves with black burnt looking edges and leaves with dark spots on them.

Rogor (systemic insecticide) seems to fix the problem almost over night. New growth returns to normal. Pretty sure insects are the cause and not a super fungus. I had tried confidor though with no real result. Rogor is the go.

If left un treated you can lose branches and trees.

Pic below is growth a week or so after spray.


You can see the older deformed leaves and the fresh shoots coming out un-effected.