Mmmm - looks like you're going to get some great flowers out of them - are the blooms like the C. mexicana? If so, they'll last for a few days anyway. How big were they when you bought them?

Okay, even though it's 10pm I just went out and checked mine with a flashlight in case something new appeared since I last looked at it a few days ago. Nope :(

Yours looks great! Mine's been in the ground at least a year (purchased from Baker) and it looks pretty much the same as when it went in. Tallest branch is 6' (only when staked, though). I fear that the caliche stunts my trees' growth. Mine's in full sun, sparser than yours and has some yellow leaves right now. I see some new tiny leaves sprouting :)

How often do you water yours? Such an awesome tree!

I bought my Cascalote at Tera's Garden a while back, when a small group of gweebers met for lunch in Downtown Phoenix. It was a 1-gallon couple of sticks with leaves back then. It got deep watered twice a month or so when it was young, and gets a deep watering every couple of months or so so now. I'm not the most regular waterer, though I have gotten better since I graduated. :)

Just a few blooms today, no big display yet. Photos later.

Very nice! I love these as well and really should be growing one too. Yours looks terrific. Nice to hear how fast it's grown. Congrats on the blooms...definitely send in some pics as they open up. I'm seeing more and more of them in bloom over the last week or so. Tera's Garden has a nice large one at the SE end of the property and it's starting its yearly bloom cycle too. want, Want, WANT.

Take care and keep the pics coming.
Grant

Does anyone know about the very small (you need a lens to see them) beetle-like insects that get on cascalote trees here in the Phoenix area in late April to early May? They have a white sticky secretion around them and seem to suck on the leaves until the entire tree is denuded of leaves. I got them on my two-year-old tree this year and after spraying them with a bark-beetle spray, was able to stop them. But all the other cascalote trees I've seen this year in this area have lost all their leaves.

The insect that affects the Cascalote trees is a psyllid, a tiny leafhopper-like critter that sips fluid from leaf cells. In the process it leaves behind small droplets of sticky 'honeydew' that harden on the leaves or fall to the ground.

If your tree is small a strong blast of water from the hose will dislodge the psyllids and rinse away any honeydew. You could also try a systemic product that is absorbed by the plants roots and provides protection for several months. Look for a product that contains imidacloprid ( Merit) such as Bayer Advanced Garden Tree & Shrub Insect Control, which provides broad-spectrum systemic
control of sucking insects including leafhoppers, aphids, thrips, whiteflies, termites, turf insects, soil insects and some beetles. Applied as a soil drench, this product can take from 4 - 8 weeks to move through the vascular system of the tree and be effective on insects.

Here is a link that might be useful: imidacloprid

Thanks so much for the info aztreelvr!

I had to go to Australia for work last month for 1 1/2 weeks, and when I returned, my Cascalote had these little beasts all over, although with very little leaf loss.

However, much to my dismay, my closely related, normally lush, Palo Colorado (Caesalpinia platyloba) - one of my most cherished finds - was not only infested with these bugs, but almost the entire top half of the tree was bare, and most of the leaves in the mid-heights were yellowing/brown and falling in droves!

I've had this tree for 3 years, and it has been a fantastic, beautiful addition to my backyard garden (and is a great pool-side tree, having [usually!] almost no litter)...it is about 15 feet tall, and has beautiful small, yellow flower spikes through the summer and early fall.

I'm glad to hear of these treatments, and will try these when I get home Friday - but, is there any hope for a tree with that much damage from these montsters?

I sprayed with an insectide the last couple of days before I had to leave town again (hard spraying with water just didn't seem to keep them away for more than an hour or so), and that seemed to help somewhat, but I am dreadfully worried that it won't make it.

Has anyone had problems this severe and had their plants survive?

Thanks for any and all help/advice!
Tristan

Healthy trees will survive and will leaf out again soon. Try to apply the soil drench asap as it takes a few weeks to circulate through the tree's vasuclar system and should protect your trees for about a year

Avoid using insecticides. These products are non-discriminatory and kill beneficial insects as well. Ladybugs and lacewing flies feed on psyllids and chemicals will destroy these good bugs. The systemic (Merit) does not harm the beneficial insects.

Here is a link that might be useful: Psyllid info and management

Thanks again for the tips! Sounds as if there IS hope!
I will try the Merit as soon as I get home this weekend.
Wish me luck!
Thanks again!
Tristan

I have one of those trees, it seems like I have had it forever. It doesn't seem to grow. It seems to struggle to survive. I thought I lost it a couple of times. My Western Garden Book says it's slow to grow, but gosh my seems like it will never grow. It's in full sun and I try to be careful not to overwater it. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can help it grow, or should I just continue to be patient?

Just an update on my Palo Colorado -
By the 20th of May, my beautiful tree was essentially leafless! However, I immediately applied the soil drench/systemic recommended.
By May 23rd, the tips of all the major branches were sprouting new leaves, and by May 27th, all branches had new leaves on them, AND flowering stalks started to appear throughout!
Right now, there are colorful yellow flowers stalks blooming all over the tree, even though the tree is still not fully leafed out yet!!
AND...no psyllids in sight! My cascalote - which was having similar, but not as severe issues with these pests and receive the same treatment - is also doing well, and is almost fully leafed out again (of course, no blooms on this one right now - wrong season!).
Thanks aztreelvr for the great advice! I'm so glad my tree made it through with shining colors! (Literally!)
To anyone that can find them, I highly recommend the Palo Colorado!
Cheers,
Tristan

In September I planted a 6-foot Cascalote in my Tucson backyard. Flower buds developed shortly thereafter, but bees were soon swarming around the tree, and now the buds are gone. Are the bees doing the damage, or do I perhaps have a psyllid infestation as others on this board have reported? Merv

Hi Merv,
I doubt your problem is psyllid-related - wrong season (they seem to pop up in April/May); although, one way to test that is go out at tap a branch...if it is infested with psyllids, you will create a mini-swarm of tiny whitish insects (at least that works for me!).

Never heard of bees doing that kind of damage to blooms...my Cascalote is blooming like crazy, and bees are daily visitors, but no loss of blooms at all.

Good luck!
Tristan

Newly planted Cascalote trees may not flower their first season which could be why your tree lost its blooms. They are also frost tender and in Tucson branch tips can be damaged by temperatures below 32 degrees. Be sure to wrap the trunk with cardboard or tree trunk wrap, or cover the entire tree with frost cloth or fabric on cold nights if possible.

Bees are good guys and priceless for pollination. The only bee that may be interested in foliage (not flowers) is the cutter bee, which removes precise semi-circle or circular pieces from leaves of bougainvillea, roses and a few other plants with tender leaves. They don't eat the leaves, but instead roll them up cigar-like to line their galleries where baby bees will grow. Cutter bees are solitary (don't make hives) and non-stinging. They are great pollinators.

Give your tree till next fall and I'm sure you'll be rewarded with the golden yellow blooms.

Thanks for your replies. I took a closer look and found the leaves covered with tiny black insects and a white salt-like substance they are secreting. This "salt" falls off the leaves and covers the ground below the plant. Despite the season this seems to be a psyllid infestation as described by others on their plants last spring. I have washed off the leaves and applied a Merit-containing product as recommended here. Merv

My 2 year old thornless cascalote appears to have psyllid bugs. I have been spraying it with water mixed with ivory dish soap and cooking oil. That temporarily helped, but the little buggers come right back. Now the leaves have stated turning yellow and dropping. Will live ladybugs help if I purchase a large number of them? Or do you still recommend the systemic chemicals. I'm afraid that by the time the sytemic works the tree might be dead.

Will the summer heat kill off the psyllid by chance?

Please advise.

Thanks,

I'd skip the cooking oil. It's not needed because the dish soap works as a surfactant allowing the water/soap mixture to cover the leaves or plant evenly. The oil may actually be suffocating the tree and in our heat can burn the leaves.

It's too hot for ladybugs - they'll head for cooler places like Payson or Flagstaff before laying eggs. It's the larvae of the ladybugs that eat aphids or psyllids so the ladybugs need to stay around long enough to lay eggs.

Most Cascalote trees will tolerate the psyllids. Even though it causes defoliation, the trees leaf out again. Next year you may want to consider applying a systemic in April to help control these pests.

Aha! I'm so glad to have come across this thread. I had no idea what psyllids were just that my cascalote looked salt encrusted in some places. Leaves all dropped off and I figured it was a goner, but just in case gave it a long, deep water. Two weeks later it is leafing out.....must have overheard DH and I talking about needing to take it out! What kind of systemic would be good to use to ward off these pests next year?

Crista, check the middle of this thread. I posted info on a systemic on 5/16.

aztreelvr