I sure have problems with these forums. This is my second attempt for this message...

I have two groups of crepe myrtles. One is healthy and happy. The other has problems. It is a repeating cycle each year for the past four or five years -- ever since I moved back in to the house. I don't recall problems before but I wasn't here much.

They were all planted spring of 1998. They are about 15 feet tall or so. Each year, one group of three (plus two "volunteers") starts out fine. But they quickly start having problems.

The leaves start to have brown spots. They frequently have brown edges. There is always a smattering of bright red leaves too. It seems o affect the tips of the branches first but by the end of the summer, the whole plant is nearly dead. The leaves feel awful to the touch (dry and rough). They put on new growth which looks healthy but soon turns and becomes like the rest of the plant.

Over the past four or five years, I've tried watering more and I've tried watering less. This year in the spring I put two to four inches of compost on top of them. I have just recently put some sulfur stuff (organic) to try and bring down the ph.

The soil test kit (which I don't really trust) says that the soil is depleted of almost everything. (Thats why I put the compost).

I'm in Leander -- north of Austin. I'm mostly sitting on limestone rock and what isn't rock is clay. The group which has problems is planted level with the surrounding ground. The group which is doing well, is planted about six inches above (the flowerbed is raised).

Every time I bring a leaf in to the nursery, they tell me it is just environmental stress -- they are fine. But, I don't believe it.