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This season I've really been struggling to keep my three main trees green. We had some real intense heat through July and August to the point where I had to water twice a week. I was looking back at pictures from last years growth and noticed just how yellow my leaves are. Last year mid October they were vibrant and green. I had virtually no leaf drop until November when they were winterized.

I have three trees that I water, fertilize (20-20-20 water soluble), and prune regularly. The others I basically neglect all season. This year all of my mains have had very little growth and yellow leaves on and off throughout the season. Here's a comparison...the negelected tree is a Salavatski (the very bottom picture) that has been mildly watered only three times this season. It has not been fertilized at all and has had immense growth. I pulled a struggling tree out of it's pot and noticed that a lot of the roots were dead and breaking off. Am I just watering too way much?

That happens when it's too hot out, and the plants are in the sun. It also happens around this time of the year, when the night temperatures start dropping, and it starts getting dark early.

When it gets hot like that it's best to wet the entire bush leaves and all, twice a day if possible, while getting the dirt soaking wet. Also the bigger the pot the better, because the more the soil there is the longer the soil stays moist and cool. I use grow bags, they stay cooker because they breath easier and you can find them in lighter colors than a lot of pots are. Black is the worst color pot when your have you plants in the hot sun.. It certainly does not look like you are over watering. Wetting the entire tree also causes higher fruit production.

Hmm interesting. If this is only a heat issue what would explain the other trees that are also in black pots in the sun and get virtually no water but remain healthy and green? You think that the dead roots in the pictures are dry roots rather than root rot?

I don't know much about what your climate is like VS where I live, yet where I live fungal diseases can cause rotting of pomegranate bushes, and it can seem like over watering. The amount of rain seems irrelevant, it only happens when there is lots of fungal disease hitting our plants, our pear trees, and our pomegranate bushes. As pomegranate bushes get older they typically grow more resistant against the hot sun, and against fungal diseases. Also some varieties are just more resistant against all of these things, like our 'White' variety of pomegranate never had any serious problems with this, no trunk rot, no diseased flowers/fruit, no rotting roots, it has a much thicker harder bark than the rest, more of a armor so to speak, I paid no attention before I planted it yet I think that the roots probably have a thicker bark on them too.

Is one of those photos just rotting roots on the ground?

We don't get much humidity where I live. It's pretty moderate actually. I'm going to check the roots again today for any signs of fungal disease. Yes, the picture with the blue tarp are pieces of roots that broke off. There are tons like this inside the container.

What kind of soil are you using?

Some of the fungal diseases that effect pomegranates are being found in very dry climates as well, like fungal fruit rot for example. It's a mystery as to why.

I mostly use Happy Frog with compost from grass clippings and decomposed leaves. I did another inspection of the roots today. At the very bottom I saw a bunch of white roots and no signs of fungal infection anywhere. I think it's safe to say that we can rule out over watering. We were in the mid 90s for nearly all of August with almost no rain then dropped about 20 degrees instantly going into September..that dryness with a sudden drop in temperature may have taken a severe toll. Last week we had a very early frost too. Now I'm wondering if this was all just a perfect recipe for early leaf drop.

pombazaar wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 12:45 am I mostly use Happy Frog with compost from grass clippings and decomposed leaves. I did another inspection of the roots today. At the very bottom I saw a bunch of white roots and no signs of fungal infection anywhere. I think it's safe to say that we can rule out over watering. We were in the mid 90s for nearly all of August with almost no rain then dropped about 20 degrees instantly going into September..that dryness with a sudden drop in temperature may have taken a severe toll. Last week we had a very early frost too. Now I'm wondering if this was all just a perfect recipe for early leaf drop.

I was wondering that myself, we are having an earlier than normal leaf drop, as well as one of our potted pomegranate bushes lost a good portion of it's leaves during a hot drought. Huge changes in temperature does shock plants, especially if frost hits at a bad time. Maybe the roots got frost damage.