Oleander Leaves Dark Green Black Drooping

14 years ago

I'm located in Zone 5/Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, and we have an Oleander shrub/tree lovingly grown from slip over 8 years ago into an over 6' shrub. We take it inside our house/large window foyer hall every winter and, because the rootball is so big, we then repot it in the ground in the same south west, but partially shaded area every May/April. Because it had spider mites in late Feb. and it was unusually warm out early April, we put the plant out on the porch to harden it off and hopefully kill off the mites that still existed after spraying it with soap for a couple of weeks. (We've done this around 3 times during the plant's lifetime with success both with beating the mite problem and hardening it off/transplant shock.) The plant looked just fine while on the porch for a week, except for the remaining mites and the odd yellowing leaf.

Then we dragged it out in 25 celcius deg weather in the yard towards its usual location and soaked the soil (clayish but with earthworms) in order to dig up the deep hole- and also put some compost assorted tree leaves in the bottom for conditioning. We hadn't fertilized the plant all winter, and still haven't, but now I'm wondering what to do.

The plant, out for a good 3 weeks now seems to have gone well beyond its usual transplant shock and I've never seen the leaves this dark and not rebounded from the droop. The only thing I can think of is that the weather turned cold at night again, but it remained pretty warm during the day: 15-20 celcius most days, and sunny, though with a few rain soakings now and again. We also haven't watered it since, since I know it hates sogginess, and it rained a few times since repotted. Or perhaps we gave it too much water when we dug the hole to pot it?

Some of the green/black leaves also have white towards the pointy ends, looking a bit like salt stains. However, most of these dark leaves don't fall off on their own like the yellow ones used to. These dark leaves actually have to be pulled off (or should I not touch them?) The stems themselves don't seem to be too dark or dried out, so I don't know what's going on.

Is it possible to save this plant if what harmed it was just the extreme cold weather shock (1-5 celcius most nights), or is it something more sinister? What could I do to keep it going? I love the plant even more for its beautiful dark green palm tree like foliage than for the pretty pink flowers it gives 3 times a year, and we did get the original tiny clipping from an elederly Italian man's plant over 8 years ago and took great care to nuture it. Have we been careless and killed it now? I can provide photos of the tree if there's a forum here to do this, or in an email attachment.

Thanks for any help

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Comments (3)

ianna
14 years ago
It was way too early to bring out a tropical - this was my first thought. You need to see consistent warm temperatures not just during the day but also over night. I live in Ontario and I know it's too cold to keep plants out overnight which is what you've done. Dark green leaves are indicative of exposure to very cold weather

I do think your plant has suffered in 2 ways. The cold temperatures and also transplant shock. So it's not one thing but both. So I make sure they are well watered before they go through stress.

We have had weather extremes. Just last week we had flurries in my area.

Also as a matter of practise, I normally water plants a day before uprooting or transplanting. When the plant is uprooted, the roots get into that transplant shock state and is unable to absorb water.

It is also worth knowing that tropicals tend to go through a form of hibernation during winter and may look poorly indoors but come spring, they seem to spring back. So they start having new leaves, etc. during spring and the plant does not go through root development. I do hope you didn't do any root pruning at this time.

So what to do now. I hate to say it but take out that plant and put it in a pot and set it the garage. DO NOT do any fertilizing. Watch for die backs. Branches and leaves will start to show these first. What you hope for is that the base trunk/trunks remain alive. All you could do for now is a wait and see. Water only sparingly as needed. Watch for growth. If in doubt, scratch the bottom trunk to see if you can see greenery. But do be careful as oleanders are toxic and their sap can irritate your skin. If you also wish to check to see if their 'arteries' are functional, cut a tip off one branch and see how quickly sap will show. If it doesn't the branch is probably dead.

If you cannot do a transplant now, then do your best to protect your plant by insulating it well.

Good luck.
darkgreen200
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks kindly for the detailed information ianna. I think we soaked the plant pretty well before we placed it in the ground, and we definitely haven't fertilized or pruned it in any way at all, and won't, based on your advice.

However, since bringing it back in/taking it out of the hole isn't an option now, and we're going down to an abnormally chilly -3 tonight, I mounded up a big, thick pile of straw around the base. Before doing this, though, I took a thin pole and stuck it into the ground about 2 feet, and the soil is still damp- so no water is needed.

I did notice, though, that in order to pull the dark leaves off, you have to pull hard, and upon closer examination, it seems as though the tiny portion of the stem which joins the leaves to the branch is still green and firm- small though that join is. I also note that in general, the structure of the plant seems firm, that is, the branches and trunk and stems seem pretty solid. It's just the leaves that are flopped down. Though, not all of them are blackened- a few of the smaller, younger ones aren't as bad and appear more speckled and mottled than a solid dark colour.
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Thanks, yeah I think frost damage. They are outside. The last frost should have passed, and it hasn't actually gotten down to freezing, but I guess some of the plants die in the high 30s, which I didn't realize. It hasn't officially gone below 40 but I guess there can be a few degrees of variation. Oh well, I have backups still awaiting transplant for most. Just want to make sure it wasn't a disease.
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My thought is perhaps the roots were damaged at planting time so there is not enough root to support the leaves. If that's the case pruning it back a bit a suggested above will help. Oleanders don't require a lot of water and like a well draining soil, but the root ball should be kept slightly moist until it has settled in and roots have had a chance to grow out into the surrounding area.
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i think plants can recover without leaves too though. trees shed theif leaves in autumn and still grow it back. dont know about ficus elastica, but its a tree too if im right. Not quite. You are right about one thing-plants can come back after a complete defoliation if they have enough energy to do so. Here's the thing-you're comparing deciduous trees with tropical plants. Deciduous trees are made/are used to annually shedding their leaves during the autumn season. They store up tons of energy during the growing season and store it in their branches and trunk before shedding their leaves (I think-I'm not too well versed with this kind of thing) However, tropical plants are a different story entirely. Their natural habitat does not see a proper winter (temps below freezing, snow, etc.). They have more or less consistent warm temperatures all year. They are not designed to annually shed their entire foliage system; nor are they adapted to withstand winter conditions. I believe they do store energy, but not to the same extent as deciduous plants do-tropicals don't worry about the winter season. This means that if something happens which causes all of their leaves to drop, the plant will be stressed. If conditions return to normal, the plant should slowly grow all its leaves again. Too much of this, however, and the plant may run so low on energy reserves that after one final defoliation it will be unable to push a leaf and will die. It's important not to mix deciduous trees and tropical plants-if you put your ficus outside during the winter and treat it like a deciduous tree, it will most likely die and not come back during spring. If exposed to cold temps (below 50*F) cold damage will occur to its leaves and/or branches. If it stays too cold for too long, the roots themselves may freeze-resulting in the death of the plant. Now onto your plant- but i have to worry less about overwatering with perlite anyway, right? Again, not exactly. Perlite helps with a little aeration, but unless the soil mix contains a LOT of perlite overwatering will still be a problem. Keep using the wooden dowel method for the future. How are outdoor temperatures right now in your area? If it's warm enough, perhaps you could put it outdoors and let nature work its magic. I'm honestly unsure whether or not it'll come back, but I do agree with what others have said-if this plant does end up dying, don't feel so bad about it. It'll be important that you understand exactly why it died, so you don't make the same mistake again with future plants.
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Yikes. It's going to be a b***h to re-pot this guy cause he's so big and unwieldy. I fear I might break a branch. But I'll give it a try. He's going to have to go back into the same pot, though - it's already at the upper level of us being able to load him onto a dolly to move into/out of garage. Will give him all new potting soil. i suppose if I see rotten roots it's safe to cut them off. But should I see that he's pot-bound, is it safe to prune the roots any? And during its past two winters in the garage the pot did rest on bare concrete. We kept lights on constantly and ran a small heater on those few days when it got really cold as we had other plants in the garage. The first winter in the garage didn't seem to bother him any. (snivel) if he dies my heart shall break. I got him because he's the same type frangipani as I was familiar with from my childhood in Saudi Arabia, where this Singapora Obtusa was common and grew to HUGE trees, and perfumed their entire vicinity. He's grown from a mere stick into the specimen you see in the pix.
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ianna
14 years ago
when tropical plants go through a freezing, they will continue show green but it's deceptive. For Oleanders the best way of finding out if it's survived it's ordeal is to nick it and see if sap quickly come out.

For tonight, I would advise if you have this available, covering the entire plant with a tarp or bubble wraps. The best thing you can do for now is to keep the temperature steady.

Again good luck.

Oleander Leaves Dark Green Black Drooping

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ianna

darkgreen200
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Oleander Leaves Dark Green Black Drooping

Comments (3)

ianna

darkgreen200Original Author

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ianna

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darkgreen200
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