cork bark elm problem

hi all

i have recently noticed on one of my cork bark elms that alot of the leaves have small white streakes on them and some of these leaves are disformed, i was thinking this was a nutrition issue but am not sure what it could be lacking the tree is planted in akadama , i use bio gold as a slow release fertilizer and in the growing season i use a standard liquid bonsai fertilizer 1-2 times a month.

i did a trunk chop on this tree about a month ago to encourage growth on the lower branches as they were looking a bit bare wich has worked very well loads of backbudding and bushy growth all over the tree

all advice very welcome


thankyou

richard

I think it is highly unlikely to ge a nutrition issue, given your feeding schedule, so long as the liquid bonsai fertiliser contains the necessary trace elements. Just make sure that you are following the dilution instructions to the letter. By the way, don't bother buying special bonsai fertiliser. A well balanced standard houseplant or general plant food is just as good.

Use a hand lens to check the buds and leaves for signs of insects.

But, like Kev says, be certain the fertilizer has the trace elements. I do not believe that Bio Gold does, but I may be wrong. Miracle-Gro, Peters, etc. all have the needed trace elements.

I have 3 corkbark elms, all of them seem very happy to be getting MiracleGro weekly.

Hi Richard,

It would be nice to have a picture of the problem leaves. It may not be a nutrition problem at all, I could be leaf miners but hard to tell without a good photo.

ta ta,
Randy

hi thank you for the replys,

i will try and post some pics this weekend, i have looked very closely and havent found any critters as yet but will keep looking

thanks again will post pics asap

I'm throwing this out just as a FYI, since it's not very likely as a bonsai problem, but the symptoms of nontarget herbicide exposure (from drift) are very similar to the symptoms of a nutrient deficiency. In the extension world, herbicide drift is extremely common, and it's essential to ask a grower what's been sprayed in the area.

Or, a neighbor. With all these ads on TV about bug-free lawns, and herbicides that keep weeds from coming back for 6 months (or more - scary!) there's a lot of stuff being slopped everywhere. And you know that none of those jackasses have READ THE LABEL.

Just as an example: when I was at Cornell, we were encouraged to find uses for the municipal compost that was being made from people's lawn clippings and raked-up leaves. Well, it wasn't high-quality compost to begin with, but it was actually toxic to tomato plants because of all the herbicide residue. We had better luck with.... composted chicken manure.

hi there i managed to take some pics of the affected arears hope this sheds some light on the matter

as far as i am aware no pesticides have been used near the plant

I'm not horrified by the look of those leaves. Those are VERY young growth. Dos the color persist as the leaves harden off?

I does strike me, however, that it appears to be a physical and not a health problem. But a minor one, I think.

hi jim

the white streakes seam to appear as the leaves grows and yes the colour is still there when the leaves harden off i would say around 30% of the leaves are comeing out like this now and more deformed .the pictures dont show this to well i did notice tonight on a couple of the worse leaves alot of very very small white dots on the underside of the leaves wich brush off?

thankyou again for any help

Use a hand lens to see what those white dots are. I would put money on a sucking insect of some sort. Maybe tiny aphids or whitefly. Like Jim says, I wouldn't worry too much, it doesn't look serious.

Is this on one branch and one branch only? It could be a chimera- a mutation that occurred in one bud leadig to some albino cells in each leaf produced from that original bud. I seem to recall an elm cultivar that has white margins: that cultivar would have been derived from a cutting taken from such a mutated branch.

If it's on more than one branch, well, I don't know, but it doesn't look scary.

hi nina

this is happening in arears all over the tree it does seem to be only on secondry growth wich there is alot of because of the trunk chop, i have had the tree for around 4 years and have never noticed it before.

i will keep an eye on it and let you no if anything else happens

thankyou for everyones advice and i will try not to worry to much!!!!

I stumbled on this thread while searching yahoo for cork bark elms...

3 or 4 of my own cork bark elms had these white streaks earlier in the year, including one bought at the Best of British Show at Edgebaston. The one from the show already had some streaking, although I didn't notice it until I got the tree home. Once I spotted it I had a closer look at my other cork bark elms, some of them had the streaks too.

I just thought it was some kind of short-lived variagation, I did notice that the youngest leaves got it and it diminished on most leaves after a couple of weeks.

Which kind of leads me to suspect that the streaks are a natural phenomenon in the species.

Chris.

There is a varigated Chinese elm. Think its called specked or something like that, Saw one at a local nursery 2 to 3 years ago. Wish Id bought it.

May be you have a one of those. How long have you had it.?

I have owned this tree for around 6 years some years it has these streaks some years others none but now the leaves with streakes are also deformed but not all ,but the tree is in great health and growing strong.

It may be a micronutrient problem. You might find a bottle of "minor element spray" or liquid chelated iron (which usually also has the other micronutrients, too) and add 10cc of it to your fertilizer mixture next time you fertilize.

Note that early spring is the best time to add the micronutrients. But any time should help.

Treebeard wrote:I stumbled on this thread while searching yahoo for cork bark elms...

3 or 4 of my own cork bark elms had these white streaks earlier in the year, including one bought at the Best of British Show at Edgebaston. The one from the show already had some streaking, although I didn't notice it until I got the tree home. Once I spotted it I had a closer look at my other cork bark elms, some of them had the streaks too.

I just thought it was some kind of short-lived variagation, I did notice that the youngest leaves got it and it diminished on most leaves after a couple of weeks.

Which kind of leads me to suspect that the streaks are a natural phenomenon in the species.

Chris.

Just noticed this thread. My cork bark elm does this too - some variegation on young leaves that mainly fades as they harden off. I had suspected chlorosis, but it's sounding like a common feature of this tree.

Never had any leaf deformation though.

Hi, I have just picked up on this thread. I have had this variegation on several of my cork bark elms. I thought it was a natural part of the trees growth pattern or perhaps some sort of sub species. It doesn't seem to affect the health of the tree. Has anyone had any bad experiences of having this variegation on their trees? Is it actually a problem or just another variant of the species?

It looks to me as some form of aphid has been removing the surface of the new soft growth. The tree is obviously growing well, so water and feeding are not the problem. Any herbisides carried in the air should show on other trees in your garden, if not, i would rule that out. All plants are exposed to the elements and always under attack in a number of different ways. Slugs, Catterpillers even Ants can strip leaves in no time and more often than not they target soft new growth. If the problem persists go out in the dark with a torch and you may find the culprit! if not a good sistemic watered into the soil should do the trick. If you dont like the look of thhe damaged leaves ( which may carry eggs) simply cut them off.

I have 2 CBE's and have had them for 10 years or more. I think this is a genetic problem. It comes and goes, for no apparent reason.

Hi Will. You say you have had cork bark elms for around 10 years. Can you tell us how they have developed over this time ,better still could you show photographs. I think it would make good viewing as we dont seem to show too many photos for new starts like myself to study.

Richard, I just came across this thread. If I saw that on a tree, I would have it tested for virus. The RHS can probably tell you where to have it done.
Iris