Bo
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Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:46 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Distressed (Container) Apple Tree in Los Angeles, CA

Hi,
I'm a novice at gardening but am hoping to learn and grow with my plants! Currently, I have a 10 month old apple tree grown from seed planted in a large plastic pot. It stands about 3 feet high and has not grown any more since about December. Some of the leaves at the base at starting to go brown and just recently (in the last 5 days) some of the new leaves close to the stem are turning yellow.

I need help figuring out what is wrong and if I need to plant the tree in the ground, give it special fertilizer, and any other possible things that it might need.

Thanks,
Bo :(

cynthia_h
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Location: El Cerrito, CA

Welcome to The Helpful Gardener!

How large is the plastic pot? Does it have drainage holes? What kind of soil is in it? What kind of solar exposure? Wind? To sum up: What are the growing conditions for the young apple tree?

This thread may be moved to Fruit Growing so that more people with an interest will see it, so don't be surprised if that happens.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Bo
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Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:46 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Thank you for your reply. Here are the answers to your questions:

The plastic pot is 16" diameter

It has drainage holes

The soil is organic potting soil.

It gets approx 6 hours of direct sunlight.

Some wind but mostly protected.

Since January we have had a lot of wet weather then, about 5 days ago, the temperature went up significantly and things got very dry. I gave the tree water last Thursday with some Miracle Gro in it. I had not watered for about two weeks because we had sufficient rain; however, the soil seemed quite dry at 2 or 3" from the top so that's why I gave water. The yellowing of the leaves I previously referred to happened quickly during the recent hot spell.

I read somewhere online that leaves may turn yellow as a reaction to drought conditions and I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.

However, the tree is clearly not very happy as it has browning of the large leaves, starting from the bottom. There is a new small, unfurled leaf sitting dormant at the top of the tree since January.

Should I transplant the tree into the garden? I have been holding off on doing so because I was not sure if this location will be good for the long term.

Thanks again for your help.

Bo

cynthia_h
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Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

Plants that have gone dry need water and lots of it. The best way to ensure that the roots of this plant got the water they needed would have been (yes, I know: shoulda woulda coulda...) to submerge the container in a tub of water until bubbles stopped rising to the top, then removing it from that tub and letting it drain.

If the container is too big (and I have some that are), fill the container to the rim with water and make sure the water is going into the soil (growing medium) and not just escaping down the sides. If necessary, poke holes into the top surface to make entry points for the water.

Fill the container two or three times, until you're sure the roots have received water and you can feel with your fingers that the soil (growing medium) is wet below the surface as far as your fingers can reach without undue disturbance to the roots.

Notice that fertilizer has not made an appearance...

After the initial "recovery" watering, monitor the soil. When the top inch is dry (the finger test), water the container again. Remember: the object of the watering is the roots of the plant, not the surface of the soil (it's a different way of thinking about what you're doing).

In my little story line here, once the plant has begun to display "happy" signs again (new leaves, perkier leaves, something), it may be OK to feed it with dilute--and I mean DILUTE--nutrients. I use things like liquid kelp, scratched-in compost, etc., but even on my orchids (which :oops: I use commercial orchid food on) I use half-strength solution at most. This is an excellent guideline to use on well-watered plants. On plants that are suffering from dehydration, the best guideline is no fertilizer. Nothing extra until the roots have been re-hydrated. It would be OK to add compost and water it in, but anything stronger than that would be trouble, because...

...the plant could be burned from the nitrogen in the fertilizer. :(

If you think it's possible that the apple tree has been burned from the Miracle Gro--and it's definitely within the bounds of possibility--start flushing the soil (growing medium) with water. Six days after the application of the Miracle Gro (pretty strong stuff for a dehydrated plant) is quite a while to try the "flushing" treatment, but it's still worth a shot. Turn the hose on a slow flow and make sure the water is going into the soil. Envision washing the vestiges of the Miracle Gro out of the bottom of the container. Wash wash wash.

I hope it works!

Cynthia

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I'm wondering if the apple variety -- totally unpredictable since it's grown from seed -- but still, being deciduous, needed a dormancy period. I believe there *are* some apple varieties that can manage without, intended to be grown in the southern states. "Chill hours" is a term associated with fruit trees. I know this is a concern for area that doesn't get frost and I'm supposing LA is such an area. But Chill Hours may only affect fruiting and not growth....

I haven't paid much attention to these requirements since it's of no real concern in my area.

Growing in a 16" diam. pot, you seem committed to growing this tree as large as you can, but I wonder if you may need to look into Bonsai techniques for wintering deciduous trees where temperature does not reach sufficiently low temperatures for sufficient period of time.

Bo
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Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:46 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Thank you for your responses, it is greatly appreciated.

I have soaked the apple tree and hope that will do the trick. I was afraid to do that before because I read online, when researching how to grow apple trees, that they do not like "soggy soil" so I didn't want to overdo the watering in case the soil around the roots became too soggy (being in a plastic pot). I may have taken this idea to the extreme and not given enough water, generally.

The apple seed I used was an organic golden delicious which was probably not designed for this So. Cal. climate, (although I am actually close to the beach where temps. don't get as high as further inland because of the marine layer.)

I have an option to put the tree in a location that gets frost in the winter but also gets extremely hot in the summer (100 F. or more) in Canyon Country, 50 miles north of L.A. I would appreciate your thoughts on that.

Thanks again,
Bo :)



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