Friday puzzle solved!

Great discussion over the weekend, with some very astute observations.  If you looked at the brown needles under the tree in Friday’s picture, you may have noticed that some of them weren’t needles:

Not only was this tree planted too deeply, as several of you pointed out, but the burlap and twine were left intact.  It appears the nylon twine has already started to girdle the trunk, based on the trunk swelling just above where the twine is wrapped.

I’ve ranted about this practice already, so I’ll just sigh and move on to the first question – what directly caused the needle drop from the lower part of the tree?  It’s a young tree facing west so the lower half gets plenty of sunlight.  And though needle drop is normal with all conifers, the upper portion of the tree does not show the same drop with its interior needles.  My guess is that ethylene gas is responsible.

Plant roots under stress often release ethylene, a natural plant growth regulator more commonly associated with fruit ripening.  It also induces leaf drop, so as it percolates out of the soil it affects the lower leaves, but dissipates before it reaches leaves higher in the crown.  It’s a common phenomenon with over-watered house plants.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the diagnosis discussion – this is more fun than my 20 years of college teaching!

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Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

4 thoughts on “Friday puzzle solved!”

  4. Thanks, Marie, Jim and Deb for your enthusiasm! (Jim, you guys are getting HAMMERED today. Stay warm!) Deb, you raise an interesting question. Both abscisic acid and ethylene are produced by plants as inhibitory growth regulators, and both cause leaf drop. It would be advantageous for a plant with stressed roots to abscise its leaves to reduce water and nutrient requirements by the crown (thus reducing the need for fully functional roots). That’s also the reason that one shouldn’t crown prune when transplanting trees and shrubs – the pruning encourages production of stimulatory growth regulators. This means more crown growth for roots to have to support – at a time when they need the resources for growth and establishment.

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