A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems yellow leaves on trees

Hey everyone, I planted a crabapple tree a couple months ago, and the leaves have recently started turning yellow. I'm wondering if this looks like apple scab or if it's from too much/too little water. The soil has a very high clay content so it doesn't drain very well, but I put some gravel at the bottom of the hole and some garden soil around it to help the drainage. Let me know if which you think this is, and what I should do about it. Thanks!

Stress can do that, just moving and disturbing the roots and the change in soil.

And yes it can come from too much or too little water. How often have you been watering it?

I haven't really been watering it much because we've been getting a good amount of rain here. I was reading about a disease called apple scab that crabapple trees can get and it sounded like it might be that since there are brown spots on the leaves, i'm not sure though.

too much water for sure, it's not going to like that clay soil. scab would make the leaves really ugly but not nescessarily kill them. stress would do exactly what you're seeing, too, like tamara said, disturbing the roots and such, but it should be over transplant shock, and clay is like having it setting in a water jug, it fills up and there's no place for the water to go.
you'll always see some of those blemishes on the leaves, a little of that is nothing to get alarmed about, but if you continue to have leaves die in any numbers, you'll have to relocate the tree or rethink planting strategy. even in a best case, the roots are likely to grow into the soil you added and then become rootbound, filling the hole with roots but not spreading

hmmm is there anything else I can do to make the water drain better? i have the clay everywhere and this seems to be the only thing with a problem, rose bushes, burning bushes, magnolia trees, rhododendrons, they're all doing great.

well, hmmm, if roses and rhodies are okay then crabapple would be okay...is there anything different about drainage?

The tree is on a hill, but I would think that means it gets less water since it would be flowing past it.

A slope is helpful, you're right.
Well, let's go back to square one and tamara's statement about stress. There's no doubt that kind of yellowing is from stress, but what is causing stress? Check the soil moisture, go ahead and dig down in the hole with a small trowel and see if the soil seems dry or wet. If it's moist but not too wet, think about how you planted. Were the roots wrapping around the rootball inside the pot? In fact, was the tree balled or in a pot? Do you know about loosening and/or removing a few roots on a rootbound plant? That allows new roots to form and grow into surrounding soil.
If there's no obvious cause of stress, look at the branch tips, are new leaves forming? I can't tell from the pics. New growth is a sign that the tree is doing reasonably well and forming new roots. In that case, It could well be that you're just seeing "growing pains" for lack of a better word, the tree is making adjustments to it's new location. Don't fertilize a stressed tree, but a little drink of weak (1/2 strength) root stimulator or bloom booster type fertilizer, or even fish emulsion, the next time you need to water could be helpful. Keep an eye on it, keep us updated, I'm really interested to know what you observe.

I'll have to check the soil when I get home. The tree was in a pot and I did loosen the roots before I planted it. I also put one of those fertilzer packets thats suppose to help with transport shock in with it. One of these http://www.bayeradvanced.com/tree-shrub-care/products/3-in-1-tree-shrub-plant-starter This is also the second round of yellow leaves, I think the first round were eaten by japanese beetles. I got rid of them then these leaves turned yellow. I noticed yesterday that most of them have now fallen off. And I don't think there are any new leaves forming, or at least I don't remember seeing any. I'll have to double check tonight.

Did you spray your tree with something to kill the beetles?

Yeah it was some Bayer insect control stuff for trees, I forget the exact name. And i'm not sure it actually killed them, I think it just caused them to migrate to my roses lol

You might have burned your tree from the spray...

The leaves were yellow before I sprayed though. The beetles ate those leaves (or they fell off) then I sprayed, then the leaves turned yellow again. Doesn't burning them make the leaves turn brown? When the most recent ones fell off they were still yellow, they never turned brown or dried up.

I checked the soil last night, and it seems like it's slighly moist but certainly not wet. And there are a few new leaves growing, but not many. I also noticed a small apple on it that has brown spots on it, I'm not sure if it's new or if it was there when I planted it. Some of the leaves that are green have brown spots also.

Just an update, another round of leaves have turned yellow and are starting to fall ... pretty soon it will have none left, I guess it's just wait and see at this point

I'd leave it sit also...I really think the tree is just stressed.