One of my little trees broke bud in late January, but last week I noticed that the little leaves and terminal bud has shriveled up. I suspected either over or under watering at this critical stage. I pulled the rootball from the pot and took a look -- the soil looked neither over or under watered, and there were nice, healthy-looking roots visible. This tree was purchased as a bare-rooted little yearling tree in early 2014. It had great looking roots, a bit of growth, and seem to have survived the winter OK (other than breaking dormancy early.)
I happened to look at the underside of the container and noticed a little misshapen root near one of the draining holes. It looked like it had what could be some RKN galls on it.
I haven't pulled the soil away from the roots yet to see if it really is RKN and how extensive it is.
Would even a mild case of RKN be enough to cause the leaf/bud shriveling I noted?
Now I'm worrying that the RKN came in on a batch of composted pine bark fines or something....in which case other trees can be infected.
I've read about successful treatment by bare-rooting, submerging in hot water, and re-potting --- but I can't imagine doing that to all my trees.
Has anyone had success with other treatments. I could certainly envision watering all my trees with beneficial SF predatory nematodes.
I'm reading up on other treatment approaches, but I thought I'd kick off an RKN thread on this new forum ;-)
I'll also have to look at the roots more closely. Has anyone ever seen misshapen roots that weren't caused by RKN?
Cheers,
Jim
I happened to look at the underside of the container and noticed a little misshapen root near one of the draining holes. It looked like it had what could be some RKN galls on it.
I haven't pulled the soil away from the roots yet to see if it really is RKN and how extensive it is.
Would even a mild case of RKN be enough to cause the leaf/bud shriveling I noted?
Now I'm worrying that the RKN came in on a batch of composted pine bark fines or something....in which case other trees can be infected.
I've read about successful treatment by bare-rooting, submerging in hot water, and re-potting --- but I can't imagine doing that to all my trees.
Has anyone had success with other treatments. I could certainly envision watering all my trees with beneficial SF predatory nematodes.
I'm reading up on other treatment approaches, but I thought I'd kick off an RKN thread on this new forum ;-)
I'll also have to look at the roots more closely. Has anyone ever seen misshapen roots that weren't caused by RKN?
Cheers,
Jim
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