Camellia Dying?
pattysheehan
10 years ago
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Vicissitudezz
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Roses are easier than anything else so far... go figure
Comments (17)>My large (dying) camellia is Marie Bracey. (japonica). When I planted it, I planted it according to the nursery instructions, which were to dig a large hole and amend the soil with half camellia/azalia soil mix and half of the existing clay. Usually my local nursery is pretty good about plants... but I know they can't possibly know about every plant. That sounds really good to me, depending on what the camellia/azalea soil mix contains. At any rate, I'd seriously doubt that your soil mix is the basic problem. If the plant hasn't been watered, that's almost surely the problem, or a large part of it. (A stressed plant is more likely to come down with extra new problems too.) We have 6 Marie Braceys (aka Spellbound) here! We kind of like that variety, I guess you might say. :D Two were large blooming plants new this winter. Three are about 7 years old and planted in far too much shade. They were very slow to get going from their original 1 or 2 gallon size but still are exceptionally healthy without any disease problems at all that I've noticed. They just began to bloom this year. And one has been planted maybe 18-20 years and is quite large and bushy, even though it is not ideally sited (less than ideal amounts of sunlight and competing with too many tree roots for moisture). This long-planted large camellia has survived all droughts without enough water, while some azaleas and rhododendrons right next to it died from the lack of water. So Marie Bracey can for sure send its roots pretty deeply to make it through less than ideal rainfall/watering, but I'd guess that to have that happen takes either some luck with when heavy rain finally does fall--just in time--or a good watering strategy for encouraging deep roots. Just in time heavy rainfall is what must have happened here over several successive rainfalls. You can make use of a similar strategy with your own watering scheme by giving it successively slightly longer time spans between watering and making sure to water very deeply when you do water, so that as the water level falls, the roots are encouraged to grow deeper and deeper to get the moisture that's there. Yours didn't quite get either kind of treatment, so its roots weren't deep into the soil and prepared for the long drought you accidentally gave it. It's likely a protective measure that your Marie Bracey has gone through recently to stop sending its scarce moisture to all branches, but just sending necessary moisture to some branches in an effort to keep some parts of the plant alive--a better thing than having the whole thing die at once. You might look at it this way... The plant succeeded in what it was trying to do if any branches at all are still alive now. Hurrah! Just trim off those branches that died, and water the plant regularly and very well for a very long while to give it a chance to regain its strength, send out more roots, and look like a robust, leafy, healthy plant again. Eventually it would be a good idea to try the less-frequent deep watering strategy, though. Maybe wait until next spring or even the following spring to do that, depending on how long it takes for a full recovery? When you do get around to trying this, the roots will grow deeper looking for moisture and it ought to be better prepared to get through the summer heat with enough moisture to have a good bud set then. (It's amazingly how much better the bud set is when a camellia gets plenty of moisture when it is trying to set buds!) Marie Bracey is an old variety that has stood the test of time. We've never had any problems of any kind with ours, and they have been mostly completely neglected. Once yours gets back to adequate moisture, it ought to recover unless it's really too far gone. Only time will tell on that, but it's such a healthy variety overall it's certainly worth giving it every chance now. >I'm sure I need to do something to amend the ph some... I wonder if it would be better if it was planted a bit higher, in a berm or something. The other smaller camellia (Kramers Supreme Camellia) is near a drain, so I think it gets pretty good drainage there (and it's doing better than it's larger friend) Berms are great, and they look wonderful too, adding a three-dimensional effect. For future landscape planning, that's a great strategy, and makes your yard much more interesting to look at. I wouldn't rush to do anything about PH without getting a soil test done first, now that you know you've gotten a problem from the lack of water. Your PH might well need a little adjusting, but since you don't have other camellias dying in the same soil, there seems to be no big rush on perfecting PH. >Should I wait to see if the camellia recovers? Well, you know the old saying: "Don't fix what ain't broke!" Yes, wait! Just water. Don't fertilize. Don't spray anything near the plant, don't do anything except giving it water. If you have an easy way to provide a bit more dappled shade to some of the plant--a potted tree on its south side perhaps?--that wouldn't hurt either. If it were my plant, I'd give it until next March or April to show good signs of recovery before yanking it, unless its position is so prominent in your yard that you need that spot to look good again really soon. You might eventually decide to relocate the plant or to raise it some within the planting hole--or decide not to. Just make sure that the plant has recovered first before giving it any new stresses to have to weather; it has lost some or potentially most of its roots now to the lack of water and recovery is going to take a good bit of time. >what would IDEAL planting situation be? (ie what kind of soil amendments?) I don't really know the answer to that, and I'm not sure anyone does. So much depends on what kind of soil you are dealing with to begin with. Your county extension agent might have an idea about that for your area. (Or not. It might depend on what kind of plants he/she knows best?) It also depends on what components you have available in your area for a reasonable price, and what suits you. There is no single formula that is necessary for success. The general keys pointing toward the potential for good results with camellias, I think, are the combination's overall ability to drain reasonably well while holding a reasonable amount of moisture that still does have some aeration, the combination's overall acidity, and its overall proportion of organic materials (improves the chances for the first three, plus makes for lots of benefical soil microorganisms). If you are curious as to what we do here, well... We buy a truckload of sandy loam soil here every now and then so we usually have that available to use for amending our hard clay into something more crumbly but that will still hold itself into a clump if you squeeze on it. We use a fair amount of sandy loam in a clay mixture that is heavy on organics. We also have composted leaves in abundance to use and we use them abundantly. And at times we get free delivered hardwood mulching materials, so we mix in a fair amount of that too. Sometimes pine needles and pine bark. Plus we scoop lots of fresh hardwood leaves into the mix (helps to hold the soil in place for heavy rains, including on our berms). And usually we add some cottonseed meal and sphagnum peat moss too. Often we push in some leafy twigs as a final step after the camellia is planted to help hold the soil and those break down very gradually and nicely. We don't throw in the kitchen sink, but almost. ;) We use some cow poo, alfalfa, and bonemeal with the roses, but not with camellias. If you want to use manure or very much bonemeal with camellias, be sure to do things to adjust the PH downward some because very much of that will likely raise the PH to something that's too high. We also have some greensand, but haven't gotten around to using that except on the roses (and not much there either). You might well have good luck with fewer organics than we use, but we've had good luck with what we do and are likely to keep doing it. We never use commercial fertilizers of any kind anywhere in a planting hole or after a plant is planted. (Nor do we spray any inorganic chemicals of any kind. Camellias don't need themit to thrive and they all usually look somewhere between fabulously healthy to pretty good overall, even if they are not absolutely perfectly disease-free.) For fertilizing after planting, we use cottonseed meal, along with hardwood mulching and leaves that keep getting new layers added on top each year as the old layer decomposes. We also have two Kramer's Supremes, another old favorite variety. One is a well-established plant (planted at the same time as the oldest Marie Bracey and far too close to a tree) that has never had any problems at all, but hasn't bloomed well until this spring--when it went wild! And was wildly beautiful! (Last summer it had lots of rainfall when trying to make buds.) This variety grows more upright than Marie Bracey does but is also a very beautiful plant. It gets huge pretty quickly. We also bought one more (large, 7-gallon) Kramer's Supreme last winter and it's sited in a much better spot, with adequate sunlight and no tree root competition. I can't wait to see what it looks like in future years there. You are going to like this variety too. I always hope for fragrance and it does have a bit, but it's fairly faint. With as many camellias as you already do have growing successfully, you have more experience with camellias than I was assuming when writing earlier. I'd guess that you weren't even close to giving up on camellias, and probably thought my post a bit funny! Anyway, consider yourself REALLY encouraged now! :D Fingers crossed here that your Marie Bracey makes it. It's easy to see why it's also called "Spellbound" as its blooms are so breathtakingly beautiful. But if this one is too far gone, don't hestitate to replace it with another of the same variety. It's a great variety that you'll love having in many good growing years ahead. Best wishes, Mary...See MoreCamellia dying - please help
Comments (14)Hello, jenni reany. Camellias like well draining, moist, acidic soil and protection from the strong afternoon summer (so morning sun, afternoon shade is ok; dappled sun is ok too. I wonder if your soil is going thru periods of wet and moist and causing problems. Start by doing a soil analysis to determine how acidic it is and if it has any mineral defficiencies. Plant nurseries sell soil pH kits to tell you how acidic (or not) your soil is. If the nurseries are nearby, they could simply tell you if the soil is alkaline or acidic. If alkaline, amend it with garden Sulphur, green sand, iron sulphate, iron-chelated liquid compounds sold at plant nurseries, etc. An easy way to tell if the soil is alkaline is to monitor the leaves. If the plant is in an area that is too alkaline, the leaves will turn a light green or yellowish color but the leaf veins will remain dark green. This is called iron chlorosis. It occurs when the shrub cannot absorb iron from the soil because the soil has become too alkaline. Amending the soil as described above will correct this within a few weeks. You may need to reapply once or twice more but remember to make a habit to do it yearly in spring and again as needed. Then start a watering program with the finger method. Begin by inserting a finger into the nearby soil to a depth of 4 inches (10cm) daily for 1 or 2 weeks. Determine if the soils feels dry, moist or wet. If it feels dry or almost dry, water the soil early in the morning. Then make a note that you watered on a wall calendar. After two weeks, observe how often you had to water. Set your sprinkler to water on that same frequency (once every 2/3/4 days). If your temperatures change a lot with the passage of time, monitor the water usage for another two weeks with the finger method and tweak things as necessary. Maintain 3-4" (7.5-10cm) of mulch year around to reduce of your waterings and protect against windy locations. They can be fertilized using compost, composted manure or cottonseed meal or you can use a chemical general-purpose slow-release fertilizer with an approximate NPK Ratio of 10-10-10. In the southern part of the US, I fertilize in early March, early May and early July. That probably translates to September, November and January for you. The last thing I was going to mention is hard to test for. It has to do with circling roots. When the plants were planted, any roots that were growing in a circle around the pot needed to be pruned by making vertical cuts every 2 inches (5 cm) to prevent them from continuing growth in that circling fashion. Unfortunately, this is hard to test for after the plants have been in the ground for a while. At some point after being planted, the circling roots absorb all the minerals from the potting mix and then have health problems afterwards. Does that help you? Luis...See MoreCamellia dying, help please!
Comments (34)It could use more foliage. Not sure if it lost foliage due to inconsistent watering, cold winters, etc. I could not tell if the camellia is a hybrid, sasanqua or japonica from the leaves. Do you know? Does your pot have drainage holes in enough spots to allow for excellent drainage? The pot should have acidic, very well draining soil (not garden soil). The soil should also be kept as evenly moist as you can -not wet but not dry either-. The foliage needs morning sun only if it is a hybrid or japonica, reticulata. Sasanqua leaves can take more sun though. Mulch will minimize soil evaporation, protect from hot/cold extremes and provide some nourishment as the mulch decomposes. Plastic pots may get too hot in the summer and stress roots in contact with the plastic. Avoid weeds and grass in the pot as camellia roots are only about 4" deep, tiny ad fibrous so they compete with grass/weeds roots. Not sure what fertilizing program you are using but a fertilizer for camellias, azaleas and hydrangeas applied per label directions may be fine. Pinching may be useful to make the plant fill up with more foliage once the cause of the original leaf drop has been addressed....See MoreHigh Fragrance dying- Please help
Comments (2)There's a lot of things that it could be. Sudden Oak Death is not likely one of them. Very few camellias die from it, from what I understand, they just tend to be carriers. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say it was root or soil related. Some likely problems could be: Potting too deep - camellias are shallow rooted and should not be planted too deep - sometimes even 2-3" below surface could cause problems. Using a commercial bagged potting soil or soil that doesn't drain well can cause root-rot or poor root development. Commercial bagged potting mixes also have a lot of peat which hold a lot of water. Also sitting it in a saucer without draining the water could do the same thing. Periods of excessive dryness coupled with cold weather could cause the problem as well. Check the bark - scratch the bark with your fingernail. If it is green, you have a chance at saving it. I would cut back any dead limbs until you get to green bark. Check the planting depth and the soil - if you did use commercial bagged potting soil, you might want to repot. If all you have access to is potting soil or mix, then you can use 1/2 potting mix and 1/2 perlite to add more drainage to the soil Keep the top of the plant root-ball near the surface of the container - don't plant too deeply. Also empty any saucers after they drain. Miracle Grow makes a transpant or quick-start fertilizer. I would use that to help it overcome whatever stresses it might have and to get those roots growing....See More
pattysheehan
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