pineapple guava tree

Question

My tree was planted last spring 2017. It has done well until this week, June 2018, and it looks like its dying. I watered it for about an hour yesterday. It has been fertilized twice during the spring but we’ve had temperatures in the 90’s and even 100’s for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I live just outside of San Antonio, Tx so we’re not going to cool off until Oct. It did fine last summer with me watering once a week, but I haven’t watered that frequently since the tree is over a year old now. Please help – its a memorial tree for my father and I don’t want to lose it.
Thanks,
Linda

Answer 1

I will try to help you solve the issue of your pineapple guava decline, which is probably water related. You watered it for an hour yesterday, but what about before that? If it was allowed to go dry for more than a week in A90 degree weather, and if maybe it was not mulched to retain soil moisture, then that could be your answer – water deficit/drought stress. Keep up with the irrigation once a week, and don’t water only at the base of the tree trunk; water the entire soil surface area for two to four feet radius from the tree trunk where the lateral absorbing root system may have spread. Give it some time and it may respond with new growth. Apply a 3 inch
layer of compost or other organic matter to that same soil surface.