HELP! Collected Hawthorn dying!

[suiseki133]

a few months back i collected a relatively large hawthorn with a huge amount of deadwood from the hedgerow up at my brother's farm, everything was fine over the next month or so, buds formed and burst into a small but healthy looking number of leaves...then they all started dying off save for a handful of maybe 5 small groups of leaves, there were 2 or 3 other tiny tiny tiny buds forming here and there too, but when we got some tree cutters to come in said buds were completely smashed off by branches falling down all over my garden and benches
Anyhow, flashforward 2 weeks and the thing's down to just 3 miniscule groups of leaves, all of which have at least one completely dead, brown and dry leaf amongst them, with all the other leaves looking decidedly worse for wear too and i'm panicking.

Its currently in almost full sun, planted in a mix of clay, grit and leaf litter that drains relatively well but retains moisture for about 2 days after being watered.

Is there anything i can do to even help it to pull through? or am i going to be left with a very pretty but very dead piece of gnarled wood?

[Graeme]

Probably try getting out of the sun for starters and into a shaded sheltered spot. Do you have any Superthrive? If not a good drenching with Seasol might help. What was the rootball like when you collected? Can you spray the leaves with water a couple of times through the day ?

[suiseki133]

The root ball was virtually non existent, one huge tap root plus a small number of scragly old dark roots, but thats about it, when i eventually switched it over to a more free draining soil (a couple of weeks ago i had a look again and there were a handful of short cinnamon coloured roots that looked like they were fairly new, but i'm not sure how healthy they were...
I should be able to water it throughout the day come wednesday onwards, otherwise i can only do morning and night

[anttal63]

This year I have collected 4 very large with lots of roots but cut most off so as to fit into grow boxes... All four have survrived and powered on. They have been in full sun and kept fairly wet !!! Although it sounds like my mix is more open that yours. 50% diatamite,pumice and scoria + 50% potting mix. I dont like the sounds of your mix, it may drain well but will compact and this is what they dont like. They love full sun and being wet but they do not like compacted soil. Even mine at one stage started to die back so i got a poker and loosened all the soils up and they have all repopped hundreds of shoots since and extending well now. I have fed aggressively from day dot. heaps of osmocate in there as well as liquid firt weekly. The other factor they dislike is those strong gail north winds, burns the tender growth.

[Watto]

I'm a collecter of Hawthorn too and I agree with Ant but if I could suggest a spray with Confidor or something similar just to be sure.

[anttal63]

I'm a collecter of Hawthorn too and I agree with Ant but if I could suggest a spray with Confidor or something similar just to be sure.

Yes wouldnt hurt !!!

[63pmp]

Hey Antonio!!

Don't particularly want to hijack a thread, or start a fert flame war, but can you describe what YOU call heavy fertilizer use??
I've not grown hawthorn and somewhat curious about how you define lots.

How much osmocote would you use (type etc) ? What sort and how much liquid feed? How often do you fertilize? Do you measure or just guesstimate dosage rates?

I think it would be handy for people to get an idea of amounts of fertilizer you use for your hawthorn.

Thanks,

Paul

[Justin Hervey]

i eventually switched it over to a more free draining soil (a couple of weeks ago

If I understand correctly you re-potted the tree after just a couple of weeks - this would kill most.

Shade, Superthrive, misting - and pray. Good luck.

[anttal63]

Hey Antonio!!

Don't particularly want to hijack a thread, or start a fert flame war, but can you describe what YOU call heavy fertilizer use??
I've not grown hawthorn and somewhat curious about how you define lots.

How much osmocote would you use (type etc) ? What sort and how much liquid feed? How often do you fertilize? Do you measure or just guesstimate dosage rates?

I think it would be handy for people to get an idea of amounts of fertilizer you use for your hawthorn.

Thanks,

Paul

Hey Paul I dont think the whats and hows are as important as the actual doing. The amounts depend on what size pot and soil area you need to cover and choices of ferts are personal. My point is more about actually doing it !!! Then each of us have to work out what and how much we are comfortable with using.

[63pmp]

Antonio,

Thanks for your reply.

I agree with you that we have to fertilize and everyone's yard is different; but its also helpful to have a starting point, or something bordering on useful information, to launch off from.

It's just that there is a good plot of wild hawthorn not far from where I live and I've had an eye on some, don't often collect trees but some are looking pretty fit. and I'd like to get a feel for how much fert is a lot.

Having some idea is better then none at all.

Any way, thanks again for responding.

Paul