Damson Tree - not doing well

[tallmanbaby]

I would like some advice on my Damson Tree. I bought it as a sapling a couple of years ago, and it has grown a little each year. It seems to have a hearty set of blossoms in spring, these then fall off, to be followed by little green berries. It then really seems to die back with even the leaves shrivelling, now I am getting a rather feeble second growth of new leaves.

The whole tree is very wispy, and delicate looking.

The base of the tree is in clay, I have put compost in round it, raising the soil level slightly, but not over the join with the rootstock.

My problems may be of my own devising, I water it heartily in times of drought, and it may be that the combination of fine roots, loose compost, and a hose of water, is breaking off the roots.

I would like to retain the tree if possible, but should I give it up as terminally unhappy and put in something stronger looking, will it recover if I can water it more carefully, is there maybe some other problem,

grateful for any thoughts ?

cheers -

[Jenny Green]

It could be the tree is sitting in water and the roots are rotting off. Did you break up the clay and mix compost with it, or is the base solid clay while the rest of the tree is in pure compost? This won't give anywhere for the water to drain away and the compost will hold water like a sponge. If the tree is doing poorly it might be worth carefully digging it up and and checking what's happening at root level.

[vivienz]

We have an old plum tree that has been around long enough for most plum related ailments to affect it. We do have particular problems with aphids, though, and have to spray it about every other winter to kill off any eggs or adults overwintering. The symptoms are that the leaves curl up and almost look blistered, then dry out and drop off. The tree seems to have to put so much effort into getting lots more leaves out that in bad years we get little fruit.

It'll be too late to do much about the aphids this season (if that's the problem), but could be worth considering for next. Sorry you won't be getting any damson crumble this year.
Vivien

[tallmanbaby]

A second growth of leaves has now appeared. I suspect that you are right about the problem being with waterlogging. My garden was a jungle full of huge ash trees, these were chopped down and burnt, and I got a bare canvas, albeit one of very heavy clay, with little organic matter in it. Fortunately the whole garden slopes steeply, so there is limited scope for getting waterlogged normally. It has been a huge battle getting shrubs to take, and I am learning the lesson that I really need to prepare the ground the year before, for a successful planting.

To clarify how I planted this Damson, I did break up the soil before planting, but with hindsight, I should really have dug up a far larger area. Seeing that the Damson was struggling I made something of a raised bed, with compost held back by logs, so the compost should not be too waterlogged, but the initial planting of the rootball could well be.

The tree is now roughly a metre and a half in spread, though the trunk is pretty thin. If I were to dig it up, how much should I dig up, and when would be the best time of year to do it?

I suspect that the soil is getting broken up very gradually, so I am half inclined to leave it for another year, the roots are so feathery that I suspect digging it all up would be pretty traumatic.

As before fascintated by your views, best wishes

[Jenny Green]

Rereading your post it seems you put compost up the trunk a little, above the original earth line? This probably won't do it much good. How do you know the roots are feathery? Are they growing into this compost now? If so, best leave well alone. If not, it might be an idea to take the soil level back down to where it originally was. The usual advice is to plant it so that the soil level is the same as the original planting.
As the tree is obviously suffering a little I think you're right, it may not stand much digging up. Perhaps best leave it alone apart from removing the raised compost around it. Most plants that suffer seem to be killed with kindness - too much watering, feeding, pruning, general fiddling around - I would have thought a damson should be fairly close to the wild species and will right itself if left alone to do so.
I'm certainly no authority though. Maybe Mole can help?

[tallmanbaby]

the compost is the usual really loose stuff that you buy these days, but having a poke around in it, it does seem to have a lot of white feathery roots.

I do like to try out any innovative ideas that I have, with the downside, that they can be dreadful ideas sometimes. I am now following the conventional wisdom by putting lots more effort into breaking up and preparing soil before planting trees and shrubs, and it seems to be making a big difference.

I think I will just leave it in place this year, and like you say, hope that it sorts itself out,

regards

PS bizarre ideas
potatoes in the front garden to break up the soil,
along with courgettes, and driftwood
dill shrubs anywhere I can find space
a small cranberry bog
not cutting the grass whenever there is a flower I like
not weeding any flowers I like - mainly lesser celandine and welsh poppies

getting a huge stone to put in the middle of the drying green was ruled out by my wife, but I live in hope

[Jenny Green]

I like to try out new ideas and experiment a bit too.
Although I think you may regret leaving that lesser celandine alone.