Forest Pansy looking sad

gootza

Hi all! Was wondering if anybody would be able to help me diagnose what’s happening with my Forest Pansy. I’m a total gardening noob, so excuse me if I sound ignorant. 

The tree was bought in January in a 10” pot and looked quite healthy. It was planted in February in a raised garden bed in premium top soil. Watered every day for a couple of weeks as it was planted in summer. Now it seems to be looking a little sad... I have checked the soil with a meter and it is quite damp, which leads me to think I’ve watered it too much? Any ideas? 

Loxley

Whereabouts are you? Is that spot a bit of a heat trap - looks like it might be too baking hot for it. 

And it looks like the bark has been scraped off the stem just above soil level. 

gootza

WillDB said:

Whereabouts are you? Is that spot a bit of a heat trap - looks like it might be too baking hot for it. 

And it looks like the bark has been scraped off the stem just above soil level. 

I am from Shepparton a country town in Victoria, Australia and yes this summer was ridiculously hot! So is that just leaf burn you think? Yes I noticed the bark looks as though it’s been scraped.. 

Dovefromabove

WillDB said:

.....  And it looks like the bark has been scraped off the stem just above soil level. 

I agree that does look worrying ... a better photo of that area would be helpful.

gootza

Dovefromabove said:

WillDB said:

.....  And it looks like the bark has been scraped off the stem just above soil level. 

I agree that does look worrying ... a better photo of that area would be helpful.

Here are a couple more photos of the stem. Sorry about the quality it’s night time here atm. 

gootza

WillDB said:

Whereabouts are you? Is that spot a bit of a heat trap - looks like it might be too baking hot for it.  

You could be right. It’s on the south side of our home. It gets sun from about 11am onwards at the moment. We are in autumn now so I’m hoping it’s okay!

JennyJ

I suspect it's the bark being scraped/eaten off that has caused the problem. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=922 for more info.

gootza

JennyJ said:

I suspect it's the bark being scraped/eaten off that has caused the problem. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=922 for more info.

Wow! Okay, thank you for that. The tree was like this when I bought it so that’s a bit upsetting if this is the case 😯

JennyJ

In that case you should go back to the supplier about it.

gootza

JennyJ said:

In that case you should go back to the supplier about it.

Yes I definitely will discuss this with them. Thank you 😊.

The tree was also on sale for 50% off at the time.....

Dovefromabove

Is it grafted? That might account for the difference in bark ... from the photo I can’t tell whether the bark has been removed or whether it’s just ‘different’. Is the tree staked to prevent windrock? Again it may just be a fuzzy photo but it does look as if there’s a gap between the soil and the trunk of the tree. I may be wrong. I’ll be interested in the nursery’s response ...