Dying Vitex

9 years ago

Zone 8b Central Texas. Young Vitex/Chaste tree, planted last late spring/early summer, was about 6ft high. Grew great until late summer when the leaves started turning a pale green and random leaves would turn yellow, often with a few defined black spots, then fall off. The yellow leaves tended to be grouped together but not always. New growth came in dark green. Plant lost a lot of leaves.

I had a smaller Vitex planted the winter before in a raised bed on the other side of the yard that began experiencing the same issue after the big one did, but wasnt affected as bad. We have hot humid weather and last year was rainy so I assumed a fungal issue but didn't treat since it was fall by that time anyways.

Both plants grew like weeds this spring, but a couple weeks ago I started seeing the yellow leaves on the big one and noticed the leaves were lighter green than the small one, which is doing fine. But we have been very dry this year. I rarely water it except for every other day or two giving the plants underneath it a quick drink. The other day, the leaves started drooping which with them has always indicated lack of water, so I gave it a good soaking but the leaves still seemed sad the next day. It just keeps getting yellower and more drooping of the leaves. I really love this tree and want to save it, any suggestions?

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
a 6 foot transplant ... might take a year or 3 to get fully established ... and it will not be drought proof.. until such ... and random leaf yellowing probably indicates its a water issue ... especiually when it happens when the heat of summer hits ...

my best guess is lack of proper watering ...

excessive growth after planting.. brings to mind the question of whether you threw fert in the planting hole ...

take a hand trowel.. and go dig some holes around the plants ... both in the soil planted.. and in the surrounding soil ... and FIND OUT if you are giving them enough water ... at teh depth or the roots which were planted.. 3 to 8 inches down ....

your words above mention random weather ... drought.. rains.. etc .. but you dont mention how you water .. etc .. so find out ...

jumping straight to disease.. is kinda ignoring the elephant in the room .. soil moisture ...

ken
Sara Malone (Zone 9b)
9 years ago
These things are weeds. It's getting itself established and yes, the summer heat with a still immature root system is probably the issue, combined with some water stress. I have had these go completely yellow, drop all of their leaves (water source was inadvertently cut off) and they came back fine. They will drop old leaves as a matter of course. I have quite a few (20 or so) around our barns but this is a plant that I would never use in a close-up garden situation. Too rangy, awkward in its growth habit. It is grown primarily because of the drop-dead gorgeous color blue blossoms in late summer, which here is a big deal as everything is dead dead dead dry dry dry at that time of year and suddenly this thing erupts with French blue. Clients always remark on it.
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leholmes8
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the advice, people on other forums were telling me I was overwatering it by watering the plants around it but it clicked when you said it was probably lack of water instead. I gave it a few days of good soakings and clipped off the seed pods to divert it's energy to more important things. It seems to be doing much better but not back to normal yet, hopefully it will recover fine.