Nikko won't stay up!

17 years ago

Hello friends:

About six years ago we had our home builder plant a Nikko Blue in our East north east facing front yard. The blooms have turned a whitish pink since the first blue year. There are no shade anythings around it so it gets full sun till about one in the afternoon. I water it everyday at about 6:30 am. Two hours later it is wilted. I water it again. A short time later it stands up. At noon, however it is wilted; but I just wait till the sun is out of sight then I water it again. It stands up for the rest of the day. It is planted in clay (slightly amended - not well).

I purchased an ES to replace Nikko because I've just had it trying to make this baby survive. There is no other 'shady' spot around our house. Every side (because of it's angle and lack of substantial tree shade) is sunny for a big part of the day.

I put the ES next to my nikko and they look identical (No flowers on either right now). Leaf shape, color, everything. they look like the same plant. OH BOY. I was going to put peat in the ground and nice topsoil and Aluminum sulfate and make a really beautiful home for it.

Now I'm thinking I should just take the ES back and do the ammending for my Nikko since I believe one of these plants must have been mislabed or something.

My question is will it make a difference in the Nikko's performance if I fix the soil? I moved him last year and he didn't bloom (probably because I disturbed him). I'm willing to take another year of no mopheads if it will eventually give me a show stopper blue entrance plant. Am I wasting my time with macrophyllas in this particular spot? I'm looking for a summer show about 5 feet high. I want him, but does he want me? Carolet

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Comments (6)

angelainohio
17 years ago
Are you sure you're watering the Nikko deeply? I can't imagine that you would have to water as much as three times a day if you soak the ground. I just planted one this year and it gets a substantial amount of sun but I only water every other day. Perhaps you could try a soaker hose. The reason for no blooms could be winter kill. The Nikko from what I've read sets blooms after flowering and if you have a harsh winter it can kill the blooms. You may need to protect it in the winter. I plan to surround mine with bagged leaves to offer some extra insulation. As far as getting the color blue, it requires special treatment of the soil. See here for an explanation:

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea color change
carolet
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi angelainohio. You've helped me before! That information on changing hydrangea color was very informative, and very saddening. Well, I guess it's not easy to turn my Nikko blue without quite a bit of effort. I'm still going to try. I took the ES back to the garden store and ammended the soil about two feet further away from the house. Which, by the way, is brick so it leaches lime; hence making it even more difficult to change him blue. I used peat, manuer, and garden soil mixed with my beautiful clay(HA). Now today it is about 80 degrees and my boy is not drooping! HMMMM. Was he too close to the house (about 2 feet away). Maybe the heat off the brick baked him too much. I don't think the soil change could have affected the plant so soon (one day?)_ Well, what ever the case, so far so good. Now (hopefully) I can focus on the color. I had heard manuer (SPElling?) helped to change the color blue. Have you heard such a thing? Carolet
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angelainohio
17 years ago
Carolet, being to close to the bricks definitely could have heated him up. Try dumping your coffee grounds around the base of the plant.
yellowgirl
17 years ago
Any hydrangea will wilt in midday heat and brick only intensifies the heat, however, if your plant is wilting at 8:30 am after being watered at 6:30 am, you must have other factors at play here. Root trouble?......yg
carolet
Original Author
17 years ago
Yes YG, maybe root trouble. It 'was' planted in pure ohio clay! with a little old mulch over the top. I hope that has been the case for the last few years. It's pouring rain now so it sure is happy. Time will tell if moving the plant and ammending the soil will help my Nikko. I really appreciate this spot. I know I can get helpfull answers from many very shortly after I post. Thank you so much.
yellowgirl
17 years ago
Hydrangeas need constant even moisture and GOOD DRAINAGE as they don't like wet feet...I don't think unammended clay soil qualifies as it can cause any one or both of the following to happen; plant sits in puddle of water and roots rot...and/or....plant can't extend roots enough to (for lack of a better term) drink/store nourishment properly. Root rot or root bound, either way, spells trouble. If it's root bound, that can be remedied by digging it up, freeing some roots and planting it back in 'ammended' soil. Root rot, however, can be difficult if not impossible to save. If the roots smell really bad when you dig it up, they are probably rotting. Try to seach the net for root rot remedies, you never know. The sooner you dig it up, the better. Good luck....yg