Mormon Tea Disease or Drought?

Q. At our wildlife preserve near Midland, Texas, I found ephedra plants (Mormon tea) that looks like it might be diseased. Other plants in the area look fine. We are currently in a severe drought condition, but most ephedra clumps are flowering. Have any ideas?

Disease or drought? Give it to a pathologist and they will claim its a disease. Give it to a soil and water scientist and they will claim drought. Are they both right? Which came first, the chicken or the egg.

A. Native plants like “Mormon tea” or ephedra will dieback when the soil gets dry for a long time. That;s their nature. Dying back is normal but it can be confused with a disease, or it might be a disease causing it. Sometimes native plants succumb to diseases when they are weakened and don’t receive enough water. But don’t worry. They will spring back to life during the next rain.

Drought?

Water in the soil is irregular in supply because of its distribution and the soils capability of storing water. For this reason, some plants receive more water than others just simply because of differences in soil texture (variability in soil, various amounts of sand, silt, and clay). Because of genetics some plants are more susceptible to disease than others.

Disease?

            If your curiosity is bugging you, the way to find out which disease is to contact your State Plant pathologist and send in a sample. But this may not give you an answer you can apply but it may solve your curiosity. I'm guessing the State Plant pathologist will confirm there is a disease present but it's probably one of the less vigorous diseases like Cytospora spp. that affects weakened various plants that are in the process of dying back due to a lack of water.

An Alternative

            Instead of sending it to the pathologist I would take a couple of gallons of water and pour about a quart to 2 quarts of this water at the base of several of the “diseased” plants and watch what happens. Reaction by the plant might take two weeks in warm weather. You may see some new growth at the base of the plant in a week or two. Then again, you might not. It depends on what you want to learn; is there a disease present? Or do you want to solve the potential disease problem?