Today I noticed some of the leaf edges on one of my chokeberry ( autumn magic) shrubs turning black as in a matter of hours... we did have some wind today, the soil appearing moist( not super wet but somewhat moist). I have these growing in a container untill they are large enough to Plant in the soil( I leave them outside in the container.. full sunlight).. last week it was in the mid 80s and they were doing well.. Prior to the leaf blackening I noticed the new leaves were cupping upwards.. Could this be Nutrient toxicity from the Miracle grow I used? Not enough water ( once a week)? Wind burn perhaps? and it seems to be just ONE plant as the other one is growing like mad... even having been exposed to smoke from a BBQ grill a few times. both are in the same container and no pests that I can see.

Is it literally black, or are the leaf edges just getting brown and crispy? Is there any way you could post a picture of it?

sooby said: Is it literally black, or are the leaf edges just getting brown and crispy? Is there any way you could post a picture of it?

leaf edges are black and crispy... a few others are curled upwards.. the pots are too heavy to carry so I can't take any pics it is growing new shoots but wondering if this is a watering or perhaps wind issue?

I haven't grown the plant but references suggest it is tolerant of various levels of moisture. If it is growing new shoots it sounds like a temporary thing. Just wondering why you cannot take a camera/phone to the plants, or do you not have either of those? Also why they need to be bigger to plant in the soil? Is it possible it was exposed to frost?

sooby said:I haven't grown the plant but references suggest it is tolerant of various levels of moisture. If it is growing new shoots it sounds like a temporary thing. Just wondering why you cannot take a camera/phone to the plants, or do you not have either of those? Also why they need to be bigger to plant in the soil? Is it possible it was exposed to frost?

I could TRY to take a pic with my webcam if I have someone carry it upstairs.. I have a digital camera but for some reason it wont upload pics on my PC.. only my webcam will. I was told by the nursery to put them in containers due to them being small enough for rabbits to gnaw on.. I may end up going with some well established bushes and Just planting them.. the leaves are falling off the one plant now to begin with when I got it.. mail order they have chopped off most of the growth.. but not the other plants I got from them ( HIRTS).. all were packaged well and protected. I actually got two species of chokeberry.. one the low ground " autumn magic" sort ( hardy in zone 3 where I live) and the taller viking bush that gets abit over 6 feet tall.. THOSE seem to be faring much better. I will have to see what I can do about posting a pic... maybe it will help someone to identify the issue I am having.

condition of my autumn magic black chokeberry shrubs..... WHY???

two autumn magic black Chokeberry shrubs ( Aronia berry) native to Zone 3.. mail order as 4 inch pots and transplanted.. the tall one is healthy the small one has distorted cupped leaves which are turning BLACK..

NatureGirl75 said:


two autumn magic black Chokeberry shrubs ( Aronia berry) native to Zone 3.. mail order as 4 inch pots and transplanted.. the tall one is healthy the small one has distorted cupped leaves which are turning BLACK..

one thing I would like to add is the smaller shrub had been cut way back ( how I recieved it) and has always had cupped leaves while the taller one had ALL of it's growth. After a pretty windy day which was 52 degrees outside the smaller one started getting black edges and now the leaves themselves turning black.. even though it WANTS to grow. WAAAYYYY too much was cut off this poor shrub.. I may email HIRTS about this.. these shrubs cost 12 $ each plus shipping. I REALLY want to grow chokeberries on a hilly section of my property which has excellent drainage and full sunlight. The soil there has been burned to get rid of invasive pea shrubs and is now rich. thoughts anyone???

i planted 2 aronia last year on my lawn. the leaves were a light green when i got them. as the shrub got older all the leaves darkened to a plum color. new ones are green then darken as they get bigger. could that be whats happened to yours?