Replant/lift rhododendron that I planted in fall

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Hi! I'm in East TN/zone 6b/7a and I planted a gorgeous Honourable Jean Marie de Montague last fall after losing a Nova Zembla to root rot due to our clay soil the horribly hot/wet summer we had. I treated and replaced most of the soil and I also treat the plant each month to prevent that from happening again, but I would like to raise it up a bit so it will sit a bit higher. I was waiting until it finished blooming to do that, but we've been having July/August weather for the last few weeks so I've been afraid to mess with it. Assuming I could dig around it enough to not disturb the roots since they probably haven't grown much, could I lift it out and put some more soil underneath to raise it a bit then put it back without harming it given the hot weather (90s and very humid but no rain) or should I definitely wait until fall? Thank you!

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davidrt28 (zone 7)

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I would wait. Just protect it with whatever antifungal you are using for the rest of this hot season.

But I am experimenting with planting any remotely rot sensitive rhodie (which is most of them, I'm in NE MD where summers are often very wet) on mounds of native soil. The height of the mound being determined by the height of the root mass, more or less. Mine is a brown clayey loam, probably a little better than yours but not sand and still capable of killing rhodies during hot wet spells. So, far, so good, and I'm surprised the fact they are on mounds doesn't seem to substantially increase watering needs. Yet.

'Jean Marie' seems to be less susceptible than many reds. Mine is not in a very good spot at all, and has never shown any dieback.

"treated and replaced most of the soil"

treated? nothing a home gardener can do can decontaminate soil of root rot spores. Nor should you need to.

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Comments (6)

davidrt28 (zone 7)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
oh btw be VERY sure a container grown JM has all of its roots de-tangled. See my other posts about this, I think it's an epidemic these days in container grown nursery stock. The problem is the knotting might trace back to the first liner pot the plant was in, so you really have to reach deeply to find the circling roots. If you take it out of a 2 or 3 or 5 gallon, everything can look ok on the surface.
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It does sound like a problem with too much water to me. There is a problem with seedlings called 'damping off.' It's similar to what you are describing and is caused by too much moisture and fungus. Pictures will really help us help you. My growing conditions are much different. I can grow outdoors and approximate the way they grow in nature. You are trying to recreate those conditions indoors. I wonder how big your plantlets are when the leaves fall off. My leaves seem to hang on for a while. This one was quite unusual - the leaf stayed on for nearly a year! In this next tray you can see a few dried leaves, but they are still hanging on, like that one near the quarter. All of these leaves rooted before I planted in these trays, but I have tucked them into the potting mix and let them sprout in the soil with no problems. I've done the same thing in my garden - let them root where they fell. These are a few weeks older. I tried using turface and perlite fines I got from sifting. I won't do that again because it stays wet too long. It looks like sand and I should have known better. LOL A couple of these have fallen off the leaf - like that one just above the quarter. I will leave it in this tray until it gets larger so I don't disrupt or damage the roots. Oh - these are deli meat trays that I punched holes in. The potting mix is not deep, so I water about once a week when it dries out completely. Mine are in the sun after plantlets show up, but I have also put them in the sun once I have roots in the potting mix. I look forward to seeing your leaves!
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artanddesignstudios
Original Author
7 years ago
Then I shall! One of the main reasons I want to lift it a bit is just to get it even further away from what's left of the clay under/around it because I don't want to lose another one lol. And I wanted to do it now rather than later to give it a little more protection in case we have another summer like last year, and also so I could finish out my beds/edging, but I would rather wait than risk anything happening to it. So far it has nice new growth on it and is doing well. I did have a bug problem (the leaves looked like they had a residue of oil or acid rain on them or something and the underside looked a bit spotted), but I sprayed a couple of times and that seemed to take care of it. I have noticed some brown tips on a few of the leaves but I can't remember if that was left over from before (the bugs) or if it's new so I'm keeping an eye on it. I think I noticed a little yellowing on one of the brown leaf tips as well which is new.

Yes! I actually contacted Jim at oregonrhodies.com and explained everything and asked his advice. He was great and recommended the JM because it was one of the most resistant, and red which I really wanted. I purchased the 7 gallon and it was in superb shape inside and out, much better than anything I've ever purchased locally, or the NZ which I also ordered online.

I replaced what soil I could then drenched it several times with the agri-fos before I planted the new one there in a new acidic soil mix just to be extra safe lol. I was so terrified of losing another one that I'm sure I went a bit overboard lol. Thanks again!
davidrt28 (zone 7)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
FWIW I now believe some cases of root rot/lack of vigor/die back etc. problems I had in the past were majorly exacerbated by knotted roots. But varietal sensitivity is still the main culprit.
artanddesignstudios thanked davidrt28 (zone 7)
artanddesignstudios
Original Author
7 years ago
Definitely! I'm still having trouble with these spots on the leaves if you have any ideas. I did spot some powdery mildew on a few of the stems a while back so I gave it a good milk bath and I haven't seen any more since, but there are still these brown and white spots popping up on the edges of the leaves and there are also some yellow/green speckles on some of the leaves. Do I just need to get a good fungal spray? Pix attached!
artanddesignstudios
Original Author
7 years ago
Sorry for the duplicate... not sure what happened there. Here's the other pic with the yellow speckles. I couldn't see it in person, but in these pix I can see powdery stuff everywhere lol! What would you recommend?

Replant/lift rhododendron that I planted in fall

davidrt28 (zone 7)

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Replant/lift rhododendron that I planted in fall

davidrt28 (zone 7)

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