[Arid_gardener] Follow Up Re: navel orange citrus, stunted

[Olin Miller]

Thanks to Brent Marshall for bringing the sample specimen and the plot map
showing his trees' locations to the Master Gardener satellite office in Sun
City West.

The specimen was examined today at our plant diagnosis clinic.  The
conclusion was that the stunted growth buds are typical of herbicide damage.
Herbicides can also predispose trees to cankers.  Herbicides specific to
broadleaf plants can also affect the roots and, therefore, the growth of
broadleaf trees.  This is often true for trees planted in lawn areas where
those herbicides are used regularly.  If you or your neighbor use
herbicides, either use it well away from your trees or be certain that the
label permits, or does not prohibit, use of the herbicide in the root area
of trees or in such a way that herbicide drift would affect the foliage.

Another observation that was not pursued is the close proximity of your
orange tree to your neighbor's eucalyptus tree.  There are a number of
websites that tell us that, where eucalypti are grown commercially on
plantations,  nothing grows in the understory of the trees.  This is said be
due to an exudation from the leaves  that inhibits plant growth.  There are
also a few sites that recommend against using Euc leaves in compost but most
of the websites say it's okay, the leaves are just slow to  decompose.   You
might do a web search on your own as I did and read the pros and cons to see
if this applies to your situation.  I have no personal experience with this
but would probably tend to err on the side of caution.

As to the question of doctoring the tree to try to save it, I believe I
would plant a new tree at a different location.

Olin Miller, Master Gardener Volunteer, Maricopa County AZ
=============================================

.----- Original Message ----- From: b.a.marshall1 at netzero.net
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page
>i have  an a navel orange tree that isn't very tall after 8 years  and most
>of the  branch  intersections  have fuzzy green growth areas   I think that
>they are stunting the growth of the tree  what could they be?