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rhus typhina branches falling off

alex.reynoldskjKNSIddalex.reynoldskjKNSIdd Posts: 2
in Problem solving
All the branches of a young, (planted last spring, 18'' high sapling), have come off over the last few weeks, leaving just the leader and 2 main spurs....is that normal in a young plant ? (It grew very well over the summer).

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Yes, that's normal.  The leaf stalks do look like branches when the leaflets fall off them, but those stalks then drop off too, a few days later.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    It may well have exhausted itself. Leave it alone and wait until Sprin when it will throw new shoots if still alive..
     I hope you have plenty of room as rhus are aggresice spreaders and the devils of a job job to control or eradicte. They sucker under paths and fences, come up in lawns and can generally be a pain in the probverbial. 
    It is such a shame as the autumn colour in the leaves is spectacular but be afraid, ve
  • alex.reynoldskjKNSIddalex.reynoldskjKNSIdd Posts: 2
    Thanks both for your advice. I planted it on an island in a small pond, hoping that the suckers can't therefore come up...crossing fingers!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    That could be the answer 🤞

    We need a bigger pond 😂  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I love the form of these trees and the foliage colours thru the year and was sorry to leave a magnificent rhus typhina dissecta behind in my last garden.   A new gardening friend here has given me an offshoot of one of his and I've planted it on the edge of the pond which has high sides so it can't creep too far that way and the other side is just grass so any naughty spreading runners will be decapitated.

    It looks like a stick with little nobbles now the foliage has fallen but I pass by and chat now and then and give it a pep talk so I get some good growth next spring.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    It will creep under the grass and with time develop woody knuckles which catch on the lawn mower, Then you get shoots growing from the damaged areas and you will have a forest of rhus. Apparently once you damage the roots it kick starts the tree into producing more and more suckers. I hope the roots of yours do not push through the liner of your pond if you have a butyl liner. Seriously. Keep an eye on the water level.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    This is probably a stupid question.
    As this plant spreads by suckers, will all the 'new' plants be the same sex as the parent?
    Sunny Dundee
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    They will be identical in every way (ie clones) as it is a type of sexless reproduction.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    Thanks Bob. I suspected that was the case.
    Sunny Dundee
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    No pond liner @Joyce Goldenlily, just abig hole made with a bulldozer to provide water for cattle when this was a farm.  We've had it cleaned out and the bank, at that point, is a few feet higher than the water at its highest level.   We have so much drought it will be a while before the roots get excited enough to start suckering.  
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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