Q. Do you what is causing the bark and stems of my
bottlebrush bush to split and die on the East side? Here are a few
pictures. I don’t see any pests. Overall, the bush is healthy
(except for a few of the branches which have bark that is splitting) and it has
a lot of new growth and leaves. Only the older branches are splitting in
some spots and then entire the branch dies (top to bottom). I would
estimate that only about 20% of branches/limbs have bark which is splitting. The bush was planted about 4 years ago and was purchased in a 5 gallon
container. I haven’t changed the water frequency or the fertilization
schedule.
A. From your pictures the
splitting does appear to be on the side most open and in this case the East
side. To get sunburn it doesn't take that long of intense sunlight, maybe 20 or
30 minutes.
If
this damage extends more than halfway around the upright stems then I would
consider cutting them back. You would cut them back to remove this highly
damaged area. These cuts might be quite deep inside the canopy.
That's
okay because the shrub will come back and it will come back quickly to the size
before. The roots will be large enough to push a lot of new growth back to its
original size, then it's growth will slow down again. I would make these cuts
probably around late January or February 2015.
Make
sure you have enough drip emitters to provide the water that's needed. This
plant does not like to be watered daily, so avoid that.
These
plants tend to get yellow or iron chlorosis so I would supply either a soil
application of a good iron chelate such as EDDHA or 138 iron chelate.
You
can do the same thing with multiple sprays of a less expensive iron product
what it might take several sprays to get much greening out of the sprays.
Fertilize
after you prune this rub with an all-purpose tree and shrub fertilizer. One
application a year is enough.
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