What Is Wrong With My Lollipop Tree?

Are the roots dark brown, the tree is wilting, yellowing, and dying?

Are the leaves covered in coarse stippling and may appear silvery?

Are the leaves yellow and the plant looks weakened, tiny, white insects are present?

Is there a white layer formed on the branches and nearby surfaces?

These symptoms indicate a fungal disease - Pythium Root Rot. Do not overwater plants. Remove affected plants and their roots, and discard surrounding soil. Plant only in the pasteurized soil. Hold back on fertilizing too. Keep hose ends off the ground. Apply a copper-based fungicide to protect plants.

These symptoms indicate thrips. Thrips are tiny, yellow to black flying insects. They hide under leaves and inside flowers. Severely infested plant parts should be pruned off and destroyed. Control thrips by introducing lady beetles or lacewings, their natural predators. Insecticidal soap helps in severe infestations.

Yellow leaves and stunted look are caused by whiteflies. These tiny, mothlike flies and their larvae feed by sucking plant juices. Whiteflies secrete honeydew, a sugary substance that makes leaves sticky to the touch. Control whiteflies by eliminating garden weeds and by introducing green lacewings in the garden. Spray infested plants with insecticidal soap every 3 days for 2 weeks.

Blue-green sharpshooters are small insects with bright blue to green wings, thorax, and head, and a yellow abdomen and legs. They feed on plants by sucking sap from succulent leaves. The fluid waste they excrete dries to form a white layer on the branches and nearby surfaces. These bugs transmit the deadly Xylella fastidiosa bacteria which causes untreatable Pierce's diseases on grapes. Organic insecticidal soap controls these pests, but complete control on large trees requires patience.

Mineral deficiencies can cause tip chlorosis or necrosis or cause foliage to discolor, fade, distort, or become spotted, sometimes in a characteristic pattern that can be recognized to identify the cause. When nutrient deficiencies occur, nitrogen and iron are the most commonly seen deficiencies. Apply only the mineral found to be deficient. Excess nutrients, on the other hand, causes symptoms like leaf tip dieback, marginal leaf chlorosis, necrosis (or burn), branch dieback, and pest problems. In this case, you should provide good drainage, and use good practices during fertilization and irrigation.