Hiya,

I wonder if you could give me some advice. I have 4 Cordyline Australis' (New Zealand Cabbage Tree) in my front garden and it looks like 3 of them are dying . They looked just fine up to last month when first the leaves of the biggest tree started to drop and fall off. Now the biggest tree has almost no leaves left and also the 2 smaller ones seem to rot where the new leaves would appear in the middle of the tree and they are also loosing a lot of the green leaves, they come of just touching them. I took some how they looked in January and how they look now with some close up of the rot.

Before January:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0263.jpg

Now:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0410.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0415.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0411.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0412.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0413.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...e/IMG_0414.jpg

What could have caused this? We had a lot of snow and frost in January could that have been it even though they only just started to have this problem about 3 weeks ago? Are the leaves going to grow back or are they going to die? Is there anything I should do like pruning?

Thanks a lot in advance for the advice.
Anne

"cherryredcutie" wrote
I wonder if you could give me some advice. I have 4 Cordyline Australis'
(New Zealand Cabbage Tree) in my front garden and it looks like 3 of
them are dying . They looked just fine up to last month when first the
leaves of the biggest tree started to drop and fall off. Now the biggest
tree has almost no leaves left and also the 2 smaller ones seem to rot
where the new leaves would appear in the middle of the tree and they are
also loosing a lot of the green leaves, they come of just touching them.
I took some how they looked in January and how they look now with some
close up of the rot.

What could have caused this? We had a lot of snow and frost in January
could that have been it even though they only just started to have this
problem about 3 weeks ago? Are the leaves going to grow back or are they
going to die? Is there anything I should do like pruning?

Thanks a lot in advance for the advice.

That looks like frost damage.
Unfortunately you cannot tell how much of the plant is damaged, sometimes
they get cut to the ground and resprout from the roots at other times they
sprout from halfway up the trunks. Wait and see and cut off the damaged bits
once it's obvious. One thing is certain, the roots will be OK and will
resprout.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

In message , Bob Hobden
writes


"cherryredcutie" wrote
I wonder if you could give me some advice. I have 4 Cordyline Australis'
(New Zealand Cabbage Tree) in my front garden and it looks like 3 of
them are dying . They looked just fine up to last month when first the
leaves of the biggest tree started to drop and fall off. Now the biggest
tree has almost no leaves left and also the 2 smaller ones seem to rot
where the new leaves would appear in the middle of the tree and they are
also loosing a lot of the green leaves, they come of just touching them.
I took some how they looked in January and how they look now with some
close up of the rot.

What could have caused this? We had a lot of snow and frost in January
could that have been it even though they only just started to have this
problem about 3 weeks ago? Are the leaves going to grow back or are they
going to die? Is there anything I should do like pruning?

Thanks a lot in advance for the advice.

That looks like frost damage.
Unfortunately you cannot tell how much of the plant is damaged,
sometimes they get cut to the ground and resprout from the roots at
other times they sprout from halfway up the trunks. Wait and see and
cut off the damaged bits once it's obvious. One thing is certain, the
roots will be OK and will resprout.


We lost two of these during the comparative cold of the winter of
2008/9. I doubt if they are equipped to cope with our last two winters
type weather. Pity - they're attractive plants.

--
Gopher .... I know my place!

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:20:46 -0400, cherryredcutie
wrote:



What could have caused this? We had a lot of snow and frost in January
could that have been it even though they only just started to have this
problem about 3 weeks ago? Are the leaves going to grow back or are they
going to die? Is there anything I should do like pruning?


The two in my garden are suffering the same way as yours. It must have
been too cold this year. There are another three in the garden next
door which look as bad as mine. The chap next door assures me that
they all will recover but may change their appearance as they sprout
from different places.

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com

Neural network applications, help and support.

On 31 Mar, 23:51, Janet Baraclough
wrote:
The message
from cherryredcutie contains
these words:

Hiya,
I wonder if you could give me some advice. I have 4 Cordyline Australis'
(New Zealand Cabbage Tree) in my front garden and it looks like 3 of
them are dying .
What could have caused this? We had a lot of snow and frost in January
could that have been it even though they only just started to have this
problem about 3 weeks ago? Are the leaves going to grow back or are they
going to die? Is there anything I should do like pruning?

* *You don't say where you are or how cold it's been.. They are not
totally hardy in the coldest conditions and it's only in the last 10 or
15 years of
milder winters, that they've become so common inland in the UK. In
earlier colder years they were more or less restricted to mild coastal
areas.
I've noticed some cordyline deaths *in colder areas round here this winter.

* *It could be the long spellls of *cold or we, I see yours are close to
the road so they've had a lot of roadsalt/gritchemicals *this winter.

* *IME once the top defoliates, new leaves won't regrow from it.
However, an apparently dead cordyline will often *sprout anew
from *ground level, usually putting up multiple shoots, It can take
months or even a year before they show signs of recovery
but once they start, they grow away fast because they have a large
established root system . When you see those multi-trunked ones they
often started that way.

* * So IF the top leaves die right off I'd cut the trunks off , and
wait. and see.

* * Janet

Nothing to add but it's nice to get so much info and good pictures
with your question.
David Hill

Thanks everyone for your advice, it's very much appreciated.

It's been in pretty cold here with the coldest at -7 I think this winter and I am in the West Midlands.

I had a good look at them today and the tops of the two smaller ones have completely rotted so I cut them down to the point where there was no more rot and also the biggest of them had lost all of the top leaves to we cut the rotten top off as well. It doesn't look too bad now as there were still some leaves left on the stem so I hope they will be some sprouting from the stem at some point. The fourth tree has taken no damage at all which I am very glad about. There was another baby growing underneath the little one that sadly died, too but I cut to the ground so hopefully it will regrow from the root. I had another Cordyline in the garden that died last year and it has started to regrow from the root which is nice.

Do I have to seal the pruning cuts with anything or will the tree seal the wounds itself? I am a bit scared it might start to rot because of the rain we are having at the moment?

Thanks again,
Anne

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from cherryredcutie contains
these words:


It could be the long spellls of cold or we, I see yours are close to
the road so they've had a lot of roadsalt/gritchemicals this winter.


You really are joking !!

We have a grit bunker sited on our road because the spreaders won't come
here. The problem was that the sand/salt grit was pinched by people who
wanted it for them selves. Can't say that my garden got a sniff of salt
grit these last few months.

Gritting minor roads was right at the bottom of the council agenda, in gfact
non existent.

Bill

My C. Australis "Torbay Red", which is more tender than the species, sailed through 08/09, despite a low of -9C. But it has lost both its heads this year, although our minimum was only -6C this year. The trunk looks fine just below the heads, so I'm hoping it will become even more multi-headed. The extended period of snow and low temperatures has done for it this winter, whereas it is evident that it can cope with lower temperatures if they are only brief. Meanwhile, non-special-variety ones have been undamaged by both winters. I have seen them in the wild in New Zealand and they do grow in places with serious winters.

As for other NZ plants, my lancewood (Pseudopanax crassifolia) has been fine, my Sophora tetraptera suffered damage on its eastern side both winters, but has survived and flowered heavily, though it is getting smaller rather than bigger - need some mild winters to let it recover properly. My manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) "Red Damask" which survived 08/09 fine is looking dead.