Retarded Apical Growth

[Soh Joo Liang]

The apical shoot of my young durian tree does not grow well,it produces a lot of small erected shoots with yellow small leaves sometime necrotic at the tips and later dying off. The branches below are dominant,long and,are almost as big as the main stem.This symptom is common among a local clone.Could anyone suggest a remedy to this problem ?

[plantlover13]

Hello and welcome!!

I wonder, is this really a problem? it seems to make for a more well branched tree. What is the effect of this? occuring?

[DurianisaDrug]

Might it be from the power lines? Are you pulling the branch to the right in the first photo away from the power line or was it the old epical stem by chance?

[bangkok]

http://durianinfo.blogspot.com/p/why-prune-durian.html

The branches should never get more thick then the main stem (is what i just learned).

This is really a nice website and worth reading.

[cgps]

The epical shoot of my young durian tree does not grow well,it produces a lot of small erected shoots with yellow small leaves sometime necrotic at the tips and later dying off. The branches below are dominant,long and,are almost as big as the main stem.This symptom is common among a local clone.Could anyone suggest a remedy to this problem ?

Hey, me too have  this trouble but, with and peach and Apple tree , a guy that are working in cultives told me that the trouble  of this  plant is the fault of frost hours,excuse me if I talk out of this thread but, is true?

Camilo

[Mike T]

All durians have apical dominance until they get to at least 10 years old. The die off of the leader and then sub-dominant tips in grafted durian after yellowing is not a rare phenomenon. I have one like that also and ruled out most potential causes. A seasoned durian grower advised that this condition is usually due to delayed graft incompatibility especially when side grafted. Trees will be weaker, smaller and more prone to disease than normal and often show deformity in the graft area. they can have fruit but they may be small and have a low rate of staying on until maturity.
SJL this sound like the problem and what is the rootstock variety?

[Soh Joo Liang]

I am not sure of the root sock,but I do remember I used seed from own farm,all local.The scion is "Kunyit" clone,also known as Musang King in Malaysia,bud grafted about a meter above ground.Grown 6 years ago,considered slow because the main shoot keeps dying and I have to prune the branch below which tends to grow upward.Root stock incompatible could be a problem,but is there any research done on this ?

[Mike T]

http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/CaringForTrees/DelayedIncompat9-96.htm

This type of problem doesn't get the attention it deserves.

[Mike T]

SJL mounding or planting a new seedling next to the tree and grafting above the old graft union may work.

[Soh Joo Liang]

Thank you Mike for the advice,but it is not easy to grow a seedling plant beside the 6 years old tree.What about spraying with hormones,GA,or TE.will it works ?