Question
QUESTION: Me and my husband recently planted 2 crepe myrtles that my husband brought home from his construction site. They were doing great then we noticed the leave margins turning brown and crispy and falling off the trees. They still have a few flowers on them but do not look as vibrant as they used to. We live in texas and they get plenty of sun and water. Im not sure what i should do. Is it a fungus or insect problem?

ANSWER: Sounds like shock form the planting. Check and see if the trees are still alive--start near the end of an upper outer branch and scrape a small bit of bark off the branch and if the color under the bark is green and the twigs are flexible the branch is still alive. If the color is not green but brown the branch is dead at this point on the branch--continue down the branch scraping at intervals until you find green. If it is green the tree is still alive and I would not worry about it. IF you have not done so I would mulch around the tree with not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch not piled up on the trunk. This will help hold moisture around the roots. I would also continue watering once a week unless it rains.

When trees are first planted especially in hotter weather they will drop some foliage and put the energy into root production, About all that can be done is wait until next spring and you should see an improvement. Do not fertilize for the first year--the new roots may be burned by too much fertilizer.

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QUESTION: Yesterday i also noticed tiny black spots on the brown, crispy parts of the leaves is that anything to worry about? I do beleive that there is green under the bark So do you think next year they will do better? when should i trim back the branches?

Answer
The spots on the leaves are just a leaf spot disease that is not a problem to the health of the tree and nothing to worry about. I think the tree will be fine next spring. I would not prune the branch until next spring and then only the ones that are dead. Waiting until spring and leaf out it will be easy to determine the live from the dead.