Monkey Puzzle Tree looking sickly

CallyMatt · April 2022

I’ve had a large Monkey Puzzle in a huge pot for a long time and it’s always thrived. It’s now over two metres tall and bonny. In the last week or two the new growth has been pale, but not quite yellow. The leaves also seem to be covered in a dust, possibly mould? It’s regularly fed and watered but what could I do to boost its health? I hate to see it not looking at its best. Any advice gratefully received!

Blue Onion · April 2022

Can you please upload some pictures?

Fairygirl · April 2022

It's not going to manage in a pot long term. At 2 metres, it would need to be a very sizeable container. They want to be huge trees.
The dust could be pollen.

CallyMatt · April 2022

Thanks. It’s been in a pot for over 25 years but this is the first time it looks below par - but maybe it needs to be plated out now. Sadly, I can’t do that. I’d have to find it a new home. I think the dust is more like a mould than pollen.

Plantminded · April 2022

You've done well to keep it a pot for over 25 years. These become huge trees in the ground eventually so be careful about finding a new home for it - someone with a large garden, a local botanic garden or a historic house/visitor attraction with gardens.

CallyMatt · April 2022

Thanks. We bought it as a teeny-tiny plant with no idea what it was! We love it so much and would like to keep it.

Fairygirl · April 2022

We have lots of them around here, and many are in small gardens. They're very suited to the climate, and aren't sun blockers because of the nature of their growth. They don't cause problems either.
If it's been potted that length of time, it's probably exhausted. It should be much bigger than that by now, but it'll have been restricted enormously. I think you could keep it if you can get someone to build you a raised bed of some kind for it. It would be hard to get an off the shelf product that would be suitable.
Has it never had the soil refreshed?

I was taking some photos locally last autumn. This one is a couple of miles away from me. You can see how small the garden is. There's a far bigger one just along the footpath in front of my house.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/d3/2bmbzht8deuw.jpg

Plantminded · April 2022

The tree in that photo looks fine @Fairygirl, at the moment! I've admired them in our local botanic garden where they are huge - the branches start to turn downwards as the tree matures, becoming limited to the top of a high trunk and making them look like a completely different tree. Would the estimated potential height of 30m and spread of 10m never be reached in a UK garden?

Fairygirl · April 2022

The one along the path from me is much bigger than that -around forty feet. Well above roof height, and there's a smaller one nearby too. I've lived in this area on and off for nearly thirty years, and those ones would have been small plants at that time.
There's loads of them around here - all bigger than that one. They'd take a while to reach that sort of size anyway. I doubt if any of them are 30 metres though.
We have loads of trees which are that sort of height that could be more of a problem in a domestic garden. Scot's pines for one - all the ones round here are in that 30 metre sort of height.

Plantminded · April 2022

Thank you @Fairygirl, I like them but wouldn't have one that close to my house! Scot's pines are very common around here, even in domestic gardens - they all have TPOs on them. They are very majestic trees - I've seem householders moving barrow loads of needles though to keep the area tidy!

Mrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants · April 2022

When 'they' widened the main road a while back there was a huge call to keep a monkey puzzle that was in someone's garden. So now we have the original and a new one near it by a block of flats (new) and both are doing fine.

Monkey Puzzle Tree looking sickly

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