Help with crabapple, please

Hi Everyone,

I have a problem with my crabapple. I only have it since spring this year and when I got it there were a few smaller yellow leaves already. I thought it must be the heat that is dragging for months now, so I keept it in semi shade and with shaded pot. I learned they like dry head and cool feet, so I keep that in mind. I water only when the soil almost dries out. (Chopstick test).
Now, there are times when there are no yellow leaves (for weeks) and sometimes I have more than five that would soon fall down (in one day!). The thing is, I would take it as a natural process of replacing the old leaves with new ones but there is no new growth since June. The fruits are doing fine and getting bigger.
All except the falling yellow leaves looks fine but I don't like the color of them.
What do you guys think? Root problem, fungi, I do not see any pests on it and I have went through the whole tree.
Any input would be very appreciated.

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Against a healthy one,...for now

Best...

Gašper

I don't think I'd worry too much. Apple leaves in general look terrible in late summer. They've grown old; it has been hot, and they're just tired. Old leaves tend to be attacked by "stuff." But it usually is "stuff" that won't damage the tree in the long run.

JimLewis wrote:I don't think I'd worry too much. Apple leaves in general look terrible in late summer. They've grown old; it has been hot, and they're just tired. Old leaves tend to be attacked by "stuff." But it usually is "stuff" that won't damage the tree in the long run.

Thank you Jim, I was hoping for an answer like that. I have thought about that option, but I am mostly bothered by the absence of new growth. I see that all the big apple trees in my garden have quite a large percentage of these tired leaves but they are full of new shoots.
Are crabapple bonsai less vigorous in general when in a pot?
Thanks again

Best...

Gašper

Gasper,

Crabapples are pretty greedy when it comes to water and food. How much and what did you feed?

Hi Orion,

I think watreing is ok, but I might be wrong. When really hot, I water twice a day, otherwise one time is enough - at least chopstick tells me so About feeding, I was thinking about it is lacking of something. I am no fertilizer expert, so I usualy use Biogold - I have been feeding the tree while it was growing. Not at the moment.
You think it's fertilizer?
Thanks

Best...

Gašper

When I think back, there might have been less leaves falling off, while feeding.... How much fertilizer: you now how those pallets of Biogold look like? About eight medium sized ones for two weeks with a two weeks break and again,... Not fertilizing for three weeks now.

I doubt it's fertilizer. Most of us over-fertilize our trees. I feed monthly over the summer. It think it's just early senescence.

If it has been as hot where you live like the way it has been over here in America, then the slowing down of growth isn't out of the ordinary. You said that you had growth up to June? That's about when they start to slack-off growth for me. It's been cooling down here and I'm getting a late push of growth on my crabapples.

I get the yellow leafs too. As Jim said, they get old and drop, also they can do that with a little too much water.

Can you give us a pic of the whole tree???

We still get between 90 and 99 F, hope it gets cooler soon...
I think I will stop worrying and go with a flow, unless this pics are telling another story.

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Nothing special but we will see how it goes... we just started to hang out

That's a nice, healthy tree; it looks fine.

Thank you both for your help, it's much appreciated.

Best...

Gašper

That's what crabapples do. I sprayed with a fungicide a few times this summer, & the tree was at least good enough for our fall show.
Iris

Hi Gasper, yours is looking far better than mine, the weather took it's toll on mine this year. I've found that they like deeper pots than the average tree....
Nice looking tree, if you are worried about it's strength, you may want to take off the fruit, it does take energy away from the tree.
regards.

Mine lost a lot of leaves just like that too but the past 2 weeks, it started growing new leaves as the weather got milder.

Your tree look great and I agree with Judy about possibly culling some of the fruit if you are concerned about it's health. It looks okay from here though.

Hello Iris,

Thanks for your reply. I will keep that in mind for next summer and I will also search the forum for fungal and pest protection - I realy need to learn more about that for sake of all my trees.

Hi Judy,

Mine stopped dropping leaves almost as soon as I posted a problem about it so it pretty much looks the same as it did a month ago. Yes, I have also learned they prefer deeper pots. The angle of my photo probably doesn't show the true size of it.
I am very glad you like it. and I will remove some more fruit... it does need to save energy... for the winter, at least.

Hi Dario,

As I said, it has been well-behaving since and not dropping a single leaf. The weather here has cooled down nicely but there is also a smell of autumn in the air so I don't expect new growth anymore this year.
I have spent a summer working in San Antonio back in 2003 and I can imagine Texas weather to be very hard on your crabapple. Now that it cooled down, how much growing season is left for your trees?

Thank you all for the feedback and compliments