Issues with prunus incisa

[Robstark]

Hello everyone,

last year i bought a small prunus incisa, which did quite well and started to get many flower buds. In spring of this year there was nice flowering and afterwards i decided to repot, into a slightly taller pot with a mix of pummus, lava rock and cocohusk (probably 2 organic 1 anorganic ratio). This was around march.There were already very tiny leaves so i did not damage the rootball too much, just losened up the roots on the sides.
Afterwards the leaves got brown tips, so i decided to put it into a shadier position. Situation did not get better until today, i guess somehow some fungus must have infected the plant. New growth is coming but it lost many leaves and every 2 weeks i have to remove old brown/limp leaves. It stays alive so far, but i really wonder what i can do to further improve the situation. It is standing on a south facing terrasse, but semi shaded.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[Robstark]

 

[Shibui]

Brown leaf tips usually indicate dehydration but that can be from a number of different causes:

Not enough water. How often do you water? Are you trying to keep it a bit dry? What is the new soil and what is the old soil (which I presume is still in the interior of the root ball) like? Check moisture content of the old, inner soil. Sometimes, when soil types are very different, water will not cross the boundary between old and new easily so the centre soil where all the roots are dries out while water runs through the new soil without transferring to the compact, older soil inside.

Too much water. Constant soggy soil for weeks or months can cause roots to rot which means not enough roots to get water so even with soggy soil the tree can dehydrate. Are you watering often? Check moisture content of the original inner soil to ascertain soil moisture levels in the centre of the root ball.

Root damage. Could be from human or pest damage. The tree should have plenty of new roots after the repot a couple of months ago. Insects feeding on roots is a faint possibility but is usually apparent fairly quickly.

The final possibility is just that it's a cherry. Cherries are prone to a whole range of pests and diseases. Sometimes they just decide to die with no apparent reason.

 

[Robstark]

Thanks for your quick reply. I already described what the new soil is (pumice, lava, zeolite with cocofiber stuff). I water once i see the surface getting dry - quite easy with the coco stuff turning significantly brighter. The interior is still in the old soil, which is probably also some organic stuff mixed with pumice. It has been a quite dry early year here so far, so im quite sure that i didnt over-water.
You have any recommendation? Should i repot and remove all the old soil to make it more homogenious? And then keep it in a more shadier position?

 

[TrimmyWhimmy]

I don't have a lot of experience with prunus incisa, but I have learned that they're definitely sun sensitive. I've heard others say the same.

 

[Robstark]

So dont you think its some kind of fungus from repotting?

 

[roberthu]

Looks like sun burn to me. But I feel it's a little too early for that right now. What is your climate like? Day time high, etc.?

 

[rockm]

Too much sun and wind. Brown ends of leaves indicates dehydration in my experience. I’d get into afternoon shade and let it get three to fours of morning sun.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Leave it alone, watch watering, give it afternoon shade from 11 - 3 if possible. Next year repot earlier before flowering into a single soil.

Does that pot have a hole in bottom or does it have a "well" or "water saving" feature which keeps the root ball wet?

 

[AshleyMammal]

My Fuji cherry is looking similar, I’m in the UK so I probably also have a similar climate to you?

I put my issue down to vigorous rootwork during repot, repotting into a smaller container (fruit trees like deeper pots - yours looks fine though!), and then placing in full sun with heavy fert regime too quickly.

As others have said, if you keep this one slightly more shaded, up the watering a bit (probably), and wait, it should be fine

 

[Robstark]

Thanks for all the advice, i guess ill put it into a more shadier position and give it some time. Lets see how it develops. Weather currently is 15-25 degree and a mix of sun and rain - but temperatures are expected to climb soon.

Edit: Pot has regular holes; its a plastic training pot.