I first thought that this was fungal, and it might be, but it’s everywhere.
It could be some reaction to heat/ stress, but we haven’t really had any severe days of heat. Maybe there was one day in the 80’s?
Interesting that it’s so many plants, and not only where I water bonsai, but also in the landscape where there is no fertilization, and less watering.
By the way, there is a lot of fungal issues locally. The landscape ornamental pears are full of shot hole fungus and my acer have been suffering for years due to fungus.
Does this look familiar to anyone?
Thanks,
Ian
Wow…
.
It would be nice to know ABOUT where you live.
Put a location in your name tag…?
.
Not seeing any of this HERE… Inland Pacific NW US (Eastern Wa. State.) We ARE having weather related health problems. Warm fall, snowy cold winter, very hot early spring, cool wet now…
.
Just my opinion… Looks, for all the world, like everything was sprayed with a heavy fertilizer or a growth hormone…?
The last photo shows a city street with curbing… could the local government be spraying…? (My local county used to spray weed killer along my street easement
… The local utility sprays growth hormones on my landscape maples under THEIR power lines…)
Do you live downwind from an industrial area?
Those prunus leaves are a mold problem, probably from a wet cold spring…?
.
Most of the damage looks like it will be ok longterm…
Bonsai On!
K.
Hi Kurt,
Thanks for the reply. I will update my location tag. I am in the San Francisco Bay area. We have had a very wet spring. The spraying was me. It’s one of the antifungal‘s. I think the most recent was chlorothalonil. I think it’s all fungal, and we just have a heavy amount of it in our yard/area. I keep forgetting to spray copper in the winter when the leaves are off, and I don’t clean up debris well enough that has fallen. I do however spray in the spring with a rotation of a few antifungals. I don’t spray fertilizer. The curling is on a few of the pre-bonsai that I showed (the ginkgo, atlas cedar, JBP, and redwood), but also on plants that I didn’t spray and that don’t get fertilizer (magnolia, hydrangea, etc.) I included the obvious anthracnose on the AcerP and the Prunus. I’m used to that though. I just haven’t seen anything affecting the ginkgo, pines, cedar, or redwood before. It’s odd. Even the raspberry on the other side of the front yards has the new leaves curling up… It wasn’t sprayed or fertilized either.
Ian
I know this thread is old, but I think I figured out why I was getting so much curling of leaves. I think it was phytotoxicity of antifungal spraying. So the more curling I saw, the more I sprayed, thinking it was fungal, but the more I sprayed, the more curling. I think the very newest leaves as they are emerging are very sensitive to chemicals. I always thought of phytotoxicity as leaf scorch/burn, but it can also cause misshapen or stunted growth. I suspect it might have been Captan, or one of the triazole fungicide like myclobutanil or propiconazole. Or maybe azoxystrobin. I’ve stopped spraying the last 2 years and I think the problem has resolved. I get shot hole fungus here and that, but I can deal with that. I know there are probably a few of you out there thinking What is this guy doing spraying chemicals on his trees? I’ve asked on forums before how often experienced growers use antifungals, and been told “early and often.” I just thought I’d post this as it’s worth considering both sides of things.
Ian
1 Like