Crape Myrtles yellowing in FL - in August?
 

I have several crape myrlte trees which were planted in late March.

They have been doing great, putting on much growth for young plants and blooming
with colors as expected all summer.

Now, in mid-August, several have some yellow leaves. One has quite a few and
almost no colored blooms left.

What is likely to cause these yellowing leaves? I did a search and found no
mention of yellow leaves on crape myrtles aside from the change of color in the
fall.

There have been a number of ants running up and down the branches. When I
checked the trees after seeing the yellow leaves, there seem to be more than
usual. I'm not sure if this is the cause. I also don't know what kind of ants
they might be; they seem somewhat small for fire ants.

I've ensured the trees have a lot of water several times a week. There still is
time-release fertilizer on the ground from my last application a couple months
ago. The soil is mostly sandy and I live in Orlando, FL. The trees get full
sun much of the day. It's been in the lower-mid 90s and high humidity for at
least 2 months.

Do I need even MORE water? Do I need some added fertlizer? If so, what kind?
Do I need to cut back on the water? Do I need to kill the ants? If so, how?

Any information on yellowing of crape myrtles in August in FL would be useful.

Apropos wrote:
I have several crape myrlte trees which were planted in late March.

They have been doing great, putting on much growth for young plants
and blooming with colors as expected all summer.

Now, in mid-August, several have some yellow leaves. One has quite
a few and almost no colored blooms left.

What is likely to cause these yellowing leaves? I did a search and
found no mention of yellow leaves on crape myrtles aside from the
change of color in the fall.

There have been a number of ants running up and down the branches.
When I checked the trees after seeing the yellow leaves, there seem
to be more than usual. I'm not sure if this is the cause. I also
don't know what kind of ants they might be; they seem somewhat
small for fire ants.

I've ensured the trees have a lot of water several times a week.
There still is time-release fertilizer on the ground from my last
application a couple months ago. The soil is mostly sandy and I
live in Orlando, FL. The trees get full sun much of the day. It's
been in the lower-mid 90s and high humidity for at least 2 months.

Do I need even MORE water? Do I need some added fertlizer? If so,
what kind? Do I need to cut back on the water? Do I need to kill
the ants? If so, how?

Any information on yellowing of crape myrtles in August in FL would
be useful.

If the leaves are dry and yellow the tree may not have enough water
given the sandy soil. If they are supple and yellow maybe too much
water. I wouldn't have fertilized them until they were well established
if ever.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:14:38 -0400, "Apropos"
wrote:

crape myrtle

As usual a simple google search of " crape myrtle yellow florida"
will garner lots of solid information.....

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG26600.pdf

Google is your friend .....:)

http://www.ncan.com/nursery%20notes%...%20AlertNN.pdf



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant
a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

Thanks. Hard to tell if they're supple or not. Not REALLY dry... but they're
yellowing, dying and then falling off (but others are green and healthy). So
it's not like they're yellow and just staying up there. They're not as dry as
the leaves I was used to in the fall in the north, though - those were DRY.

As for fertilizer... even the dirt when I transplanted had some of the osmocote
on top of it. It's time release and I didn't put much. Anyway - they survived
4 months with that same fertilizer without problem. It's not like I JUST put
something on then they started turning....



"Travis" wrote in message
news:qAfMe.4461$%K4.361@trnddc09...

If the leaves are dry and yellow the tree may not have enough water
given the sandy soil. If they are supple and yellow maybe too much
water. I wouldn't have fertilized them until they were well established
if ever.

Thanks. I tried the google search. However... google was a little TOO much a
friend when I tried :) I found many, many results but nothing which talked
about yellow leaves in the summer without a mold or mildew problem (which I
checked out but found I didn't have)


"Tom Jaszewski" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:14:38 -0400, "Apropos"
wrote:

crape myrtle

As usual a simple google search of " crape myrtle yellow florida"
will garner lots of solid information.....

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG26600.pdf

Google is your friend .....:)

http://www.ncan.com/nursery%20notes%...%20AlertNN.pdf



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant
a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine,
one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

Over watering is the problem, most likely.

However, I have a question for you. Why do people like you ask a
question then search through the answers and pick the one you like
best? Why is that? You ask a question, get an answer, then argue the
answer.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:46:41 -0400, "Apropos"
wrote:

Thanks. Hard to tell if they're supple or not. Not REALLY dry... but they're
yellowing, dying and then falling off (but others are green and healthy). So
it's not like they're yellow and just staying up there. They're not as dry as
the leaves I was used to in the fall in the north, though - those were DRY.

As for fertilizer... even the dirt when I transplanted had some of the osmocote
on top of it. It's time release and I didn't put much. Anyway - they survived
4 months with that same fertilizer without problem. It's not like I JUST put
something on then they started turning....



"Travis" wrote in message
news:qAfMe.4461$%K4.361@trnddc09...

If the leaves are dry and yellow the tree may not have enough water
given the sandy soil. If they are supple and yellow maybe too much
water. I wouldn't have fertilized them until they were well established
if ever.

Huh? What do you mean "pick the one you like best"? I actually replied to BOTH
of the answers I got. So I have no idea what you're suggesting "people like I"
are supposedly doing.

Additionally, what about my reply sounded like "arguing"? I was adding more
information, based on the comment I got, for clarification.

If you have a problem with what I wrote, you will need to clarify your objection
so that I know what you mean.



"Bourne Identity" wrote in message
...
Over watering is the problem, most likely.

However, I have a question for you. Why do people like you ask a
question then search through the answers and pick the one you like
best? Why is that? You ask a question, get an answer, then argue the
answer.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:46:41 -0400, "Apropos"
wrote:

Thanks. Hard to tell if they're supple or not. Not REALLY dry... but
they're
yellowing, dying and then falling off (but others are green and healthy). So
it's not like they're yellow and just staying up there. They're not as dry
as
the leaves I was used to in the fall in the north, though - those were DRY.

As for fertilizer... even the dirt when I transplanted had some of the
osmocote
on top of it. It's time release and I didn't put much. Anyway - they
survived
4 months with that same fertilizer without problem. It's not like I JUST put
something on then they started turning....



"Travis" wrote in message
news:qAfMe.4461$%K4.361@trnddc09...

If the leaves are dry and yellow the tree may not have enough water
given the sandy soil. If they are supple and yellow maybe too much
water. I wouldn't have fertilized them until they were well established
if ever.