P.Nigra Leaf Scorch

[Lot 112]

My P.Nigra suffers from leaf scorch. I was wondering if there is a way to prevent this. The plant is in full sun. I have read that this may be due to the PH balance in the soil & or over watering.

I've had several new shoots this growing season with lush green new foliage & unfortunately the new growth is starting to show signs of leaf scorch.

[Mackel in DFW]

My experience with alkaline soil and hot temperatures with nigra is if you sort of neglect it, it does much better. Fertilizing and overwatering with municipal water seem to be highly correlated with scorch, mine is virtually scorch free now after I quit babying it. I still use lots of mulch, however. It grows just fine on it's own once it is established well and rainwater is always best in an alkaline soil. If you push it too hard it don't like it. Other bamboos respond differently, but it is said that nigra is very sensitive to salts, eg alkaline tap water and synthetic fertilizer. Alkaline soil is already "salty" by it's very nature and I assume this is what you have living in a desert. It is a desert essentially in LA, no? So I would advise let the mulch do the fertilizing and only water it when absolutely necessary like when visible leaf roll is present, but you could probably water it a lot more if you only use rainwater collected off your roof, like an inch every week if you so chose. Never seen scorch when it rains a lot, just when I have watered it a lot with our tapwater. Lastly, even organic fertilizer pellets seem to be correlated with scorch.

[BlackThumbNJ]

That looks like it is caused by chlorinated water. I do not live in LA so I'm not 100%.

You can try to distill your water. Let it stand for 24 hours before watering your plants. This reduces chlorine content. It has worked for me here with potted plants. May not be very convenient depending on how much water you need.
There may be something you can add to the water for instant gratification, not sure.

If you do have alkaline soil, you can amend it(lower the ph). Many municipalities will test a soil sample for you. You can also test from a kit from Home Depot or similar.

I see photos of what I consider giant nigra with the same leaf tip yellowing. It is fairly common in bamboo and does not harm the plant. Your plant looks pretty healthy from the photos.