Tulip Popular with random yellow leaves?

[Taipans]

My Tulip Popular has all of a sudden developed random yellow leaves! Its scattered throughout the tree effecting every limb! I have done everything I can to try and get this tree through its first summer and now all of a sudden it seems to be going downhill.

Anyone know what causes this and what I can to do help it out?

Thanks!

 

[S Mc]

Pictures would be extremely helpful in order to give advice.

Are they interior leaves or exterior leaves that are turning? You say this is the tree's first summer? so it might be nothing more than an early fall color due to the adjustment to transplanting or it might be something more. Without pictures it is very hard to tell.

When taking pictures be sure to take a close up of the leaf and the whole tree (including the base).

Sylvia

 

[treeseer]

interior leaf drop for liriodendron is typical in late summer.

coping with drought.

can you find the flare? see Planting in the link below

 

[Taipans]

It seems the yellowing is through out the tree, with some of the leafs already brown and crunchy! I will take various pictures and get them up here on monday when I can get to work and use my reader. I really appreciate the help as I do not want to lose this tree!

 

[Pete M]

I've got one of these too. This time of year (late summer) it does the same - some leave start to yellow, go crispy around the edges and then drop. But it also seems to be growing new leaves throughout the summer as well that make up for the droppers. It's done it every year during the past three years that it's been planted. I just wish the tree would go quicker - it's being left standing by a couple of other maples.

 

[Taipans]

Oh so yours does this every year at this exact same time? Well that makes me feel much better!

You wish yours could "go" quicker, did you mean "grow"?

Thanks

 

[Pete M]

Oops, yep, meant "grow" not "go"!

And yep, exact same time each year I end up with some (quite a lot really) leaves turning yellow, going crispy and falling. I don't know if it's typical of this sort of tree, or whether it's stressed in some way, but it always seems to deal with it. I'm glad yours is doing this too!

 

[Taipans]

Here is a picture of the tree, this was from last week and it has since gotten just a few more yellowing but it seems to have halted.

 

[Pete M]

Looks fine to me - I wouldn't worry.

 

[S Mc]

Taipans, I must confess that the tree looks like it is not thriving to me. Can you take a picture of the entire tree and one of the base?

Pete M, for a comparison can you take a picture of yours also?

Thanks,

Sylvia

 

[Taipans]

I have had the same assumptions, but I don't know what to do about it.

This is the other picture I have, its not 100% of the tree but thought it might help somewhat better then the other. I will take one of the base tonight!

 

[S Mc]

Taipan, I am reminding myself that this is the tree's first season. So you bought a fairly large tree to plant. A couple of things:

1. Trees take a year per diameter inch to reestablish themselves after transplanting.

2. Get the grass away from the base and provide the tree with a mulch ring. This will benefit the tree immensely in nutrient recycling as well as protecting the tree from mechanical damage as the lawn is maintained.

3. The guy wires may or may not still be necessary. Try to take them off as soon as the tree is stable as they will inhibit the tree's ability to put on apapropriate trunk taper.

This tree may just be responding to its being planted this year but what we want to be sure is that it hasn't been planted too deep.

These trees can be sensitive to conditions caused by hardscapes and seem to be particularly prone to leaf scorch and sunscald (so be sure to protect the trunk come winter).

Look forward to seeing your picture of the base tonight.

Sylvia

 

[Pete M]

Sylvia, here's mine. But I'd guess it's a couple of years older than Taipan's one. It certainly isn't the most thriving of trees, but it keeps bouncing back each year. The problem I have with this one is that it's over-shadowed by a very close (2m away) conifer hedge that I can't remove as it belongs to a neighbour . I don't want to remove it either as I don't want them to have a view straight into our garden from their windows.

 

[Pete M]

In the last of the pictures you can see the branch that grows to the right then sweeps off to the left as it tries to find light. I meant to post a picture of this weeks ago for Climbinarbor.

 

[Taipans]

Taipan, I am reminding myself that this is the tree's first season. So you bought a fairly large tree to plant. A couple of things:

1. Trees take a year per diameter inch to reestablish themselves after transplanting.

2. Get the grass away from the base and provide the tree with a mulch ring. This will benefit the tree immensely in nutrient recycling as well as protecting the tree from mechanical damage as the lawn is maintained.

3. The guy wires may or may not still be necessary. Try to take them off as soon as the tree is stable as they will inhibit the tree's ability to put on appropriate trunk taper.

This tree may just be responding to its being planted this year but what we want to be sure is that it hasn't been planted too deep.

These trees can be sensitive to conditions caused by hardscapes and seem to be particularly prone to leaf scorch and sunscald (so be sure to protect the trunk come winter).

Look forward to seeing your picture of the base tonight.

Sylvia

Quick Response to yours!

1. I think this one is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
2. I have a fairly large mulched area around the tree, its about double the drip line currently.
3. Here is where things get a little funny. I planted the tree early may, we get some nasty severe weather in Missouri. Anyways a bad storm came through about a week after it was planted, we have 80+ MPH gusts. Which proceeded to rip the entire tree out of the ground, separating the roots from their caged ball and tossing the tree into the street seen in the picture. I had to go out, dig out the metal cage left in place then replant the tree with have its roots exposed back into the hole. I packed it well and made sure the flare was still in the right place. Mulched and got the guide wires "BACK" in place! Yes it had them before, but the stakes were not very large and the ground was wet so the storm ripped the entire tree and stakes out! I made up my own stakes about 3' long and hammered them very deep and so far after a few more bad storms it has been steady. I noticed allot of movement in the wind with the lower trunk area and now it doesn't sway so I am hoping the roots took hold.

What do you mean protect the trunk in the winter? I have never heard of such a thing!

I guess with the horrible first year events I should just be happy its half alive at this point. But it actually looked fine until about a week ago. *shrug*

 

[D Mc]

I guess with the horrible first year events I should just be happy its half alive at this point.

Ya think?

Dave

 

[S Mc]

I guess with the horrible first year events I should just be happy its half alive at this point. But it actually looked fine until about a week ago. *shrug*

WOW! This little guy is lucky to be alive!!! :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

So with all that said (sorry I couldn't see the mulch ring in your picture), I would probably just give this guy time to resettle in. It is very probably responding to its traumatic life experiences.

I would then leave the guy wires on but try to loosen them in calmer seasons to let the tree establish a strong root base and trunk taper.

Trunks with thin bark are particularly susceptible to what is called sunscald. This is when the sun warms the bark more than the air around it (can cause a rising of sap flow or deaclimation) the sun goes behind a cloud or the sudden drop in temperature at night can produce a lethal freezing inside the tree and damage tissue. Therefore it is recommended that you either paint the trunk (particularly on the south/southwest sides) with white latex or you can purchase a white plastic tube (specifically designed for this) and put around the tree for the winter. I don't know your area so do not know how cold you get. Your climate will dictate whether that is necessary (contact a local garden center to see if they sell the tubes). This climatic phenomenom can produce nasty wounds which can compromise the tree in later life and is well worth protecting against.

I would still like to see a picture of the base of your tree if possible.

Good luck.

Sylvia

 

[mga]

don't poplars drop some of their leafs in the late summer anyways?

 

[S Mc]

Pete M, Thanks for posting your pictures. Your tree has excellent trunk taper for its size but it looks to me like you have a different set of problems going on there.

I am off to work but want to look up a couple of things re your tree....be back tonight.

Sylvia

 

[Taipans]

The tree moves about 3 inches in each direction before the wires limit it. Is this enough movement to encourage strong root growth?

Thanks for the suggestion and explination of protecting the trunk! I live just outside of St Louis, Missouri in Wentzville. In the summer it can hit 100+ but this year we only had one day that high and it was mostly in the lower 90s. In the winter we can go below zero at night, but I think the lows are usually in the teens during January with highs in the 30s.

We have a huge swings in seasons here.

I will take a picture of the mulched area and lower trunk tonight!