Weird Nectarine Tree Growth

[sanzfrancisco]

1. I'm here in Los Angeles at my daughter's house. She planted a new nectarine tree in her front yard, and it was growing slowly, sprouting leaves from the top branches. Now, the entire top of the trees is dead, as in wood that breaks easily and is growing no leaves. However, branches with lots of leaves seem to be growing almost out of the ground. Does this make any sense?? It's too dark to take a photo tonight, but I hope to add one tomorrow before I fly back to San Francisco. Thanks for any and all help.............janice

 

[Chuck]

1. I'm here in Los Angeles at my daughter's house. She planted a new nectarine tree in her front yard, and it was growing slowly, sprouting leaves from the top branches. Now, the entire top of the trees is dead, as in wood that breaks easily and is growing no leaves. However, branches with lots of leaves seem to be growing almost out of the ground. Does this make any sense?? It's too dark to take a photo tonight, but I hope to add one tomorrow before I fly back to San Francisco. Thanks for any and all help.............janice

You planted a grafted tree. The grafted part of the tree is dead. The new growth is coming from the root stock.

 

[Beth_B]

Hi janice,
Does it have any growth near the top of the tree at all?
I don't know if this is helpful, but a couple of months ago I planted a Japanese maple that was lopped in half. But it has a tuft of very vigorous growth right at the top, and I've been pinching off the few shoots that sprout at the base of the trunk. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do, but Dave the tree is doing very well. I posted a question about him here and got some good feedback:

https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/i-rescued-a-tree-can-it-be-saved.5415/

 

[sanzfrancisco]

You planted a grafted tree. The grafted part of the tree is dead. The new growth is coming from the root stock.

Thanks so much Chuck. So do I prune off the dead part, and is there something I can do for the health of the tree??

 

[sanzfrancisco]

Hi janice,
Does it have any growth near the top of the tree at all?
I don't know if this is helpful, but a couple of months ago I planted a Japanese maple that was lopped in half. But it has a tuft of very vigorous growth right at the top, and I've been pinching off the few shoots that sprout at the base of the trunk. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do, but Dave the tree is doing very well. I posted a question about him here and got some good feedback:

https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/i-rescued-a-tree-can-it-be-saved.5415/

Love that you named your tree Dave.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks so much Chuck. So do I prune off the dead part, and is there something I can do for the health of the tree??

99.9% of peach/nectarine trees that are available are grafted onto a different tree root/root stock for many different reasons. The root stock of a peach or nectarine will not produce or if it does the fruit is very small, bitter or any other of a myriad of unacceptable traits. Now having said this make sure that it is a grafted tree. You can easily do this by looking just above where the roots come out of the ground. If you can't see any roots above the ground the tree was planted too deep and is probably what killed the tree. You should see a crooked place on the trunk. This is where the growers took a cutting from a desirable nectarine tree limb and grafted it or attached it to the roots or trunk of the root stock and that limb will become the trunk of your nectarine tree and have the desirable traits and growth habits that your variety is supposed to have. Anything that grows BELOW the graft will not be what you want. It may not even be a nectarine at all. All you can do is slice a little bit of the bark off of the tree in different places. If it is showing a greenish color that part of the tree is still alive, if brown its dead and there is no way to resurrect it so remove all of the dead limbs. If the top of the tree is completely dead it is only a matter of time until the entire tree is dead. If the trunk isn't green it's dead and you will have to dig up the whole thing and replant with something else.

 

[sanzfrancisco]

99.9% of peach/nectarine trees that are available are grafted onto a different tree root/root stock for many different reasons. The root stock of a peach or nectarine will not produce or if it does the fruit is very small, bitter or any other of a myriad of unacceptable traits. Now having said this make sure that it is a grafted tree. You can easily do this by looking just above where the roots come out of the ground. If you can't see any roots above the ground the tree was planted too deep and is probably what killed the tree. You should see a crooked place on the trunk. This is where the growers took a cutting from a desirable nectarine tree limb and grafted it or attached it to the roots or trunk of the root stock and that limb will become the trunk of your nectarine tree and have the desirable traits and growth habits that your variety is supposed to have. Anything that grows BELOW the graft will not be what you want. It may not even be a nectarine at all. All you can do is slice a little bit of the bark off of the tree in different places. If it is showing a greenish color that part of the tree is still alive, if brown its dead and there is no way to resurrect it so remove all of the dead limbs. If the top of the tree is completely dead it is only a matter of time until the entire tree is dead. If the trunk isn't green it's dead and you will have to dig up the whole thing and replant with something else.

Wow....that is all the information I could ask for. Now all I need to do is tell my daughter.
Thanks again.

 

[Corzhens]

You planted a grafted tree. The grafted part of the tree is dead. The new growth is coming from the root stock.

That's my suspicion too - a grafted tree does not last for a lifetime, I mean the graft, and the host would remain. But may I suggest that you take a deeper look at the dead branches. If there are visible pin holes and the bark is unusually brown or dark colored, it may be due to a disease borne by pests. Our lemon tree, 2 of them, are losing branches right now with those pinholes.

 

[sanzfrancisco]

That's my suspicion too - a grafted tree does not last for a lifetime, I mean the graft, and the host would remain. But may I suggest that you take a deeper look at the dead branches. If there are visible pin holes and the bark is unusually brown or dark colored, it may be due to a disease borne by pests. Our lemon tree, 2 of them, are losing branches right now with those pinholes.

Thanks for the reply. No pinholes, just dead branches.