Brachychiton Drooping Branches, Losing New Leaves

Question

Hello I have planted a Brachychiton populneus 8or 9 years ago in my yard located in Les Issambres near Saint Tropez France. Since I don’t live there yearlong, I can only see the result in August when I spend a few weeks here. The problem began two years ago when I found my usually thriving Brachychiton with drooping new leaves, a lot of them on the ground and bare branches. It had not been raining in spring or summer that year and although our handyman waters some of the plants once in a while, I thought the drought was the culprit. I found it a little better this year although far not as many leaves as before but now after three weeks and 2x/week deep watering, some of the new leaves bunches are dropping again and overall the tree has this unhealthy drooping look. The soil here has a ph around 6.5, rather poor. I have been feeding the tree some slow release succulent fertilizer beginnings of August . Nothing seems to make it better and actually it now looks worse than when I got here a month ago I don’t see any parasite so it has to happen in the ground… Any idea?

Answer 1

It doesn't look, too, bad. This tree would rather not be fed, and would rather be in drought conditions, than it would in wet. It may get a little too much rain in the area. Still, the best course of action will be to leave the tree to grow on its own.

This article will help:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/bottle-trees/growing-kurrajong-bottle-tree.htm