Majestic Beauty Leaves Browning on the Edges May Be Drip Problem

Q. The edges of the leaves on my Majestic Beauty are getting brown and crispy. Is that salt burn? They get watered twice each week for 20 minutes and each plant has two emitters.

Leaf burn on Majestic Beauty from the reader.

A. Whenever you see burning or scorching on the edges of leaves or on the leaf tip it is a sign that the plant is not getting enough water or there are toxic or excessive salts in the soil. However, knowing the number of emitters and how long they deliver water (20 minutes) does not tell me how much water is being applied. Drip emitters are variable in their output depending on the type of emitter. All delivered amounts for drip irrigation are in gallons per hour.

Drip emitter at the end of 1/4 inch tubing releasing water at the base of a tree

The most common drip emitters cannot deliver more than 5 gallons per hour. So if there were two, five gallon per hour emitters present, the most water that plant would get in 20 minutes is about three gallons. I don't know the size of this plant but that is not much water in one application to a tree.

            Other reasons the plant may not be getting enough water is that the water is applied incorrectly, roots are damaged so the plant can’t take up enough water, the plant trunk is damaged so not enough water moves up the trunk or damaged stems.

If amendments heavy in salts were used at planting time these salts can compete for water with the plant causing leaves to scorch or the types of salts present were or are toxic.

This time of year (March) watering twice a week is not too often provided the soil is draining adequately and not staying wet between irrigations.

I would visually inspect the tree for damage to the trunk and limbs. Move the drip emitters away from the trunk about a foot to 18 inches and add an extra emitter.

Four drip emitters were installed on this newly planted and staked tree with rock mulch. The emitters should be placed on the outside of the the rootball and not next to the trunk. If these drip emitters were five gallon per hour emitters and the irrigation was run for one hour then this tree would get 20 gallons each time it is watered which is about right for a 24 inch boxed tree.

and place them in triangulation around the trunk. In the meantime flood the area around the tree once a week for three weeks with a hose so you can flush excessive salts and solve the lack of water which solves A and B and F and may help in G Most likely the roots were not damaged unless the water was not draining