orchid trees in s.w. louisiana trouble

[vbflmt]

i am losing an orchid tree. the only thing done differently was last week i sprayed fungicide soap in my landscape do not remember if the tree was sprayed or not. there was a set of gardinia shrubs next to the tree that was sprayed but the trees very large overhanging branches could have gotten some overspray. also, one of the bigger branches of the tree had broken due to weather. i cut that branch just a little under the dead part making sure of a clean cut. any ideas? this week 1/4 of tree dead.

[Bud]

Welcome and Hello !
Why would a tree die of fungicide soap spray? There must be a problem with the roots. Trees just dont die fast. This must been an ongoing blight and it just triggered now...you need to go to a College where theres a botanist major...who specializes in trees...we are orchid hobbyist, Trees are just out of our league...we can barely solve the orchid diseaces problems we have...

[vbflmt]

thank you for your comment. sure going to an expert makes sense. figured it would be fun to hash this out with someone whom the topic struck an interest with.

[Leafmite]

What type of tree is it? I'm assuming that you mean that you grow orchids on the tree, right? : ) I can't see that a fungicide would harm a tree, though. I have fruit trees and they get sprayed every two weeks during the spring and summer with fungicides and pesticides. You had mentioned the loss of branches during a storm...perhaps an insect or disease got in that way? A tree that is sick will often lose more branches than normal in a storm, as well. You probably should have a specialist check out the tree, as Bud suggested. It might take a systemic to clear out any boring insects or some sort of chemical treatment to clear out a disease. Or, the tree might be too far gone....we had to cut down a pear tree that kept getting fire blight, a bacterial disease that took constant spraying and chopping to try to control...just not worth it, especially when hardly any tree was left.
Hope it works out,
Leafmite

[camille1585]

Fungicide will not kill a tree, it's definitely something else. What kind of tree is it? Do you have photos of it?

[Katze]

It must be a Bauhania, also known as "orchid tree".
As far as I know leaves can fall after a heavy blooming season, so if that's the case, just leave the tree be and it'll sprout again soon.
But I'm no botanist, so perhaps checking with someone who really knows about it is a better shot.
Good luck!

[camille1585]

I didn't know there was a tree called 'orchid tree'. I was thinking orchid tree in the sense that it's a tree that has orchids growing on it! Thanks for the info.