Author Topic: What caused this Longan to die?  (Read 2337 times)

pineislander

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What caused this Longan to die?
« on: September 12, 2018, 03:07:43 PM »
Full of fruit and just died of no apparent reason, no flood or drought, neighboring trees (Lychee/Mamey) are both OK.
What caused its sudden death almost overnight?


achetadomestica

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2018, 03:25:56 PM »
Was it given any fertilizer/pesticide recently?

Cookie Monster

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2018, 04:48:02 PM »
Nuts! Never seen that before.

I see what looks like a graft line at the base?
Jeff  :-)

Orkine

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2018, 05:23:10 PM »

behlgarden

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2018, 05:28:40 PM »
sucks, its horrific, very sad to see this type of picture with big fruits on tree and completely dead. wow!  We get this kind of sudden death on our mangoes and its branches.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2018, 05:56:19 PM by behlgarden »

Cookie Monster

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2018, 07:28:28 PM »
Don't think it's due to girdling roots. Girdling root would cause a tree to be weaker in a wind event, or perhaps lead to a slow decline? Going from healthy to dead is really odd.
Jeff  :-)

zands

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #6 on: September 12, 2018, 07:31:44 PM »
Nasty!  Never seen a sudden shedding like that. I would most definitely not cut it down. It might come back next spring....... Next spring if you see confirmed dead wood I would lop it off. Maybe some live wood too.

Maybe the tree had a nervous breakdown from carrying too many longans. No blame on you. The tree was just too stressed out from carrying. Then in 2019 it has the strength to carry lots of fruits.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2018, 07:36:30 PM by zands »

pineislander

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2018, 08:26:30 PM »
Thanks for the ideas, nothing was given or done to the tree since spring before fruit set. There are dozens more in the grove some holding as much fruit. Here is a wider view which might give a clue. Actually one astute immigrant worker gave a possible reason for what may have happened, have a close look and I'd like to see if anyone else can make the same conclusion. The potted tree in the foreground has been dead for over a year and I doubt it has any connection.



pineislander

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2018, 08:29:12 PM »
Nuts! Never seen that before.

I see what looks like a graft line at the base?
It may be. This is at the former Treehouse nursery on Pine Island. The former owners Bill and Vivian Murray did lots of experimental stuff and may have grafted it, variety is unknown. No visible rot, root defect or anything else on the tree that I can see. This happened almost overnight the tree was just ready to be picked.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2018, 08:30:44 PM by pineislander »

Orkine

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2018, 10:37:20 PM »
By the way, my avocado died back the same way.  It was a much smaller tree but it had fruits and just started browning.  Some leaves are still green but just about the entire tree is brown and the fruits wouldn't drop but shriveled up.Trees on either side of it are fine.

I am curious to learn what you think happened.


pineislander

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2018, 07:26:51 AM »
By the way, my avocado died back the same way.  It was a much smaller tree but it had fruits and just started browning.  Some leaves are still green but just about the entire tree is brown and the fruits wouldn't drop but shriveled up.Trees on either side of it are fine.

I am curious to learn what you think happened.
Like I said before it looks like waterlogging which avocado is very prone to in the rainy season. I too had selected avocados do the same a few in the row but all subjected to flooding, some died, some lived.

pineislander

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Re: What caused this Longan to die?
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2018, 08:08:05 AM »
Thanks for the ideas, nothing was given or done to the tree since spring before fruit set. There are dozens more in the grove some holding as much fruit. Here is a wider view which might give a clue. Actually one astute immigrant worker gave a possible reason for what may have happened, have a close look and I'd like to see if anyone else can make the same conclusion. The potted tree in the foreground has been dead for over a year and I doubt it has any connection.



So, the only possible explanation that does make sense so far is that the location of the tree is directly under the power line which attracted lightning (un relámpago). Since the form of the tree was low and weeping & covered with moist fruit rather than tall and erect, the tree was not split or burned. It was well soaked by water enough that the energy was conducted down to the roots and killed them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3mq1mVChiI