What's causing my Black Knight Buddleia to Wilt?

13 years ago

Hello, I am new to the GardenWeb community and very excited to be a part of it! I hope someone can help me with this problem.

I've hit the books and the internet to provide as optimum a growing environment for my young Buddleia as possible and so far it has been thanking me with it's first blooms of the year. However, I have noticed some wilting usually towards the ends of the branches during sunny, hot days. It has been in the ground for approximately a month and receives regular deep-watering about once, twice a week.

I'm experiencing some analysis paralysis here with the wilting. If the cause is root-rot from over-watering, then I shouldn't water it even in warm weather; if it's the heat that's causing the wilting I should water it...I feel like I should do SOMETHING...Aargh.

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Comments (5)

hannah82
Original Author
13 years ago
Oh, I should also mention that our area has been experiencing some weird fluctuations in weather lately. Cool and overcast one day, then hot and sunny the next-just all over the board. Can the "yo-yo-ing" weather be partially responsible for the buddleia being a bit slow to adapt?
gardenerme
13 years ago
I live in zone 9 and mine was planted on a south facing slope 2 yrs ago. In my experience they love water and would be very hard to overwater in our dry hot summer. In my opinion it is because it cannot hold enough water on the slope. The drainage is superb: rocky soil, steep incline, south facing. I have built a small basin out about 2 feet, filled it with mulch, and do supplemental watering. That was last year during the summer. We will see if it has rooted enough this year to make it through without supplemental watering, as the slope is irrigated all year when it is not raining. I believe that in the height of summer, it will need more water. Also, I keep it pinched back very severely so that I do not get lots of long bare branches and dieback due to the heat. Good luck.
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wanda
13 years ago
It's easy to check. Just dig down about 6" BESIDE the rootball...not INTO the rootball and feel the soil. If it's dry, it needs more water. If it's wet, then it's too much water (unless you just watered, of course).
Your buddleia is still young and the roots really haven't gotten established yet and may need a little extra water on hot days, but check first.

Wanda
gobluedjm 9/18 CA
13 years ago
I have 2 black knights and both are were planted over 2 years ago. They do like extra water when really hot but as Wanda said yours is very young.
When mine were young they got extra water to get them going.
I cut mine back to about a foot tall in late winter and are already over 3 feet tall with lots of buds. They get 5 minutes once a week but once July gets here I will have to manual water some. They are the only thing I think I have that is native or drought tolerant.
So definately check it before watering again.
hannah82
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you for all your sound advice. I'll be armed with my watering can for the hot weekend due ahead!

What's causing my Black Knight Buddleia to Wilt?

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hannah82
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gardenerme

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What's causing my Black Knight Buddleia to Wilt?

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