[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick]

It sounds like someone has put a hex on your yard, Debie. You may have to 
hire a witch to dispel it. That is the worse experience I have ever heard.

It is extremely unlikely that any residual chemicals were left behind after 
pool construction. Even concrete debris is not that devastating to plant 
roots. Off the top of my head, it would be impossible to kill that many 
palms if planted properly. I thought the nursery you cited had a guarentee 
on trees they plant. I must have been wrong.

There are a couple of things. You mentioned granite. Some granate soils have 
near zero drainage. A hole filled with water can take days or longer to 
drain. That condition will drown any plant deficient of air for even short 
periods of a couple days or more. Roots must have air. As a water-table 
travels through the soil profile, fresh air flows in behind it. If that 
doesn't happen, the plant will suffocate quickly and die.

One way to check drainage is to dig a hole approximately 6" to 8" inches in 
diameter and about 12" deep. Fill the hole with water and record the time it 
takes to completely evacuate the hole. Fill it again and again until water 
is left standing in the hole for a long time. That is the degree of 
saturation that you must not reach because all the air will have been 
displaced creating an environment that will suffocate the tree. If there is 
standing water in the hole the next morning, you have a serious drainage 
problem.

You can try to drill chimneys through the impervious layer, if that is 
indeed the problem, or irrigate at a rate slow enough that you don't excede 
the rate of flow through and out of the the root zone.

But, some things don't add-up, Debie.

Did you by any chance use a weed killer to rid the yard of vegetation prior 
to pool installation. Some types of weed killers purposefully have a 
residual, long term residence in the soil.

Are you back-flushing the pool into plant wells. A new concrete pool could 
concievably exude chemicals unfriendly to feeder roots. A heavy chlorine 
load might be toxic to plants.

But, based upon my own experience, it is impossible to kill a healthy tree 
in one day after planting unless you are irrigating with a fatal dose of 
fertilizer. What part of town do you live in, Debra?

Can you get clues from your neighbors?

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
University of Arizona
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mangiapane at qwest.net>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:26 PM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


> Debra
> 85048
> mangiapane at qwest.net
>
> Just moved here a year ago and had a pool put into the backyard of a 20 
> year old house.  Had a lush yard but had to have it demolished for the 
> pool.  Now that pool is done we have spent $6000.00 on palms from Moon 
> Valley and they all have died. Mexican fans and mediterainian palms all of 
> which I am told are "bullet proof".  Moon Valley will do nothing so we 
> bought a few small specimens from Lowe's's of Mexican Fan palms.  In one 
> day after planting one was instantly dead and the other is dying.  My 
> question is could any of the pool process or materials have casued our 
> yard to be poisoned?  Its a pebble tec pool in a yard that had a lot of 
> granite to be dug out.  Any help would be appreciated as yard looks awful.
>
> Debbie
>
>
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