Strange problem with American holly
 

I have a beautiful 30 foot american holly in my front yard. Over the
past few years I have noticed that while the tree puts out a full crop
of berries every year only about half of them ripen to red. The rest
remain green. I'm thinking that this is due to a nutritional deficiency
in the soil. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?? My garden
center guy is stumped.

American Holly is wide-ranging in vigor and fruit-set from plant to plant,
especially non-selected wild trees from seed. It's possible you're not
getting very good pollination, or that the individual tree just isn't very
vigorous in fruit setting. Perhaps you could plant a male quite nearby and
see if that helps. Ilex opaca thrive in MAWD (moist, acidic, well-draining)
soils in dappled sunshine. Laying down an acidifying fertilizer like
Hollytone, as well as supplementing water during fruit set can also help.

Dave

"Bill Mackey" wrote in message
...
I have a beautiful 30 foot american holly in my front yard. Over the
past few years I have noticed that while the tree puts out a full crop
of berries every year only about half of them ripen to red. The rest
remain green. I'm thinking that this is due to a nutritional deficiency
in the soil. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?? My garden
center guy is stumped.

Bill/ David: I am wondering if the green fruits are full sized, or aborted?
pH is often a culprit, true, but I have seen the most dramatic fruit set in
opaca in full blasting sunshine in amenity settings, even though in nature
the tree is well adapted to partial shade.

So...are the green fruits the same size as the red fruits? Is the opaca a
cultivar to the best of your knowledge? Where on the globe are you? Are
there native opaca in your area? Has the soil been tested for pH, etc??

--
Mike LaMana, MS, CTE
Consulting Forester & Arborist
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net

"David J Bockman" wrote in message
news:nWUAd.20847$rL3.4268@trnddc03...
American Holly is wide-ranging in vigor and fruit-set from plant to plant,
especially non-selected wild trees from seed. It's possible you're not
getting very good pollination, or that the individual tree just isn't very
vigorous in fruit setting. Perhaps you could plant a male quite nearby and
see if that helps. Ilex opaca thrive in MAWD (moist, acidic,
well-draining)
soils in dappled sunshine. Laying down an acidifying fertilizer like
Hollytone, as well as supplementing water during fruit set can also help.

Dave

"Bill Mackey" wrote in message
...
I have a beautiful 30 foot american holly in my front yard. Over the
past few years I have noticed that while the tree puts out a full crop
of berries every year only about half of them ripen to red. The rest
remain green. I'm thinking that this is due to a nutritional deficiency
in the soil. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?? My garden
center guy is stumped.

Mike LaMana wrote:

Bill/ David: I am wondering if the green fruits are full sized, or aborted?
pH is often a culprit, true, but I have seen the most dramatic fruit set in
opaca in full blasting sunshine in amenity settings, even though in nature
the tree is well adapted to partial shade.

So...are the green fruits the same size as the red fruits? Is the opaca a
cultivar to the best of your knowledge? Where on the globe are you? Are
there native opaca in your area? Has the soil been tested for pH, etc??



The fruit in years past was ripe over the entire tree. This year's
fruit was fully developed though not fully ripened. None of the fruit
is stunted. Incidentally, the tree is in full sun and judging by its
height and girth is in good health. I am located in SE PA. The soils in
this part of the state are a rich loam. The lawn runs under the tree
and I am wondering if the tree is taking in a lot of nitrogen in the
lawn fertilizer for leaf growth and not enough potassium for fruit
production.

The N-enrichment hypothesis seems reasonable enough, but I am wondering if
there has been another trigger (or lack thereof) that is causing the delay
of red pigmentation in the fruits of this tree. I have seen this delay in
Ilex opaca before, but have never understood the mechanism. Based on your
location and description, I doubt that pH of native soils are the issue
here. I know that there are native opaca in the forests of your area (I have
seen them often). What are these trees doing vis-a-vis fruit maturation this
year??
ML
--
Mike LaMana, MS, CTE
Consulting Forester & Arborist
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net


The fruit in years past was ripe over the entire tree. This year's fruit
was fully developed though not fully ripened. None of the fruit is
stunted. Incidentally, the tree is in full sun and judging by its height
and girth is in good health. I am located in SE PA. The soils in this
part of the state are a rich loam. The lawn runs under the tree and I am
wondering if the tree is taking in a lot of nitrogen in the lawn
fertilizer for leaf growth and not enough potassium for fruit production.