Dead rhododendron - re-plant? New shrub?
Mich A
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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Mich A
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Planting a new shrub/perennial border, please help
Comments (10)The closest trees are a lovely Japanese maple and a large oak. I haven't had trouble so far growing shrubs in areas closer to the trees than this will be. I admit to a bias against hostas because most of the rest of the yard is quite shady and I have more hostas than I know what to do with! But some will probably make their way into the border as I divide. I'm thinking about bugbane and maybe moving some astilbe and bleeding hearts over here once I get the shrubs figured out.... Started digging today! My first foray into "double-digging", and I think my back will be paying for it tomorrow....See MoreHelp my Rhododendron...is it dead or not???
Comments (1)Hmmm...reading farther down the forum, could it just have been from not watering enough last year??? Oh I wish I knew. I'll post a picture tomorrow....See Moredead purple gem rhododendron
Comments (1)Sorry to hear about that, moonbelly. The Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, which covers DC, recommends that you avoid planting "most" of them in a south, southwest or west exposure. So if your plants were to be alive consider transplanting them to an east-facing location where they can get morning sun/afternoon shade or dappled sun. It is likely that they may have had soil moisture problems when the summer months started so try to determine if this is the case by testing the soil with a finger inserted to a depth of 4". If it feels dry, you may want to research why and take appropriate corrective action. The finger test method should aid you quite a bit in the future. Use it daily for 1-2 weeks and make a note on a wall calendar every time that you water the shrubs. After two weeks, determine how often you water (say, every 2/3/4/5/etc days) and set the sprinkler to water 1g of water on the same frequency. Then recheck with the finger method if you notice that the temperatures fluctuate 10-15 degrees and stay there. Rhodies and azaleas prefer moist soil. It is ok to wait until the soil feels almost dry to dry before watering but, if you wait to water too long, the plant will be stressed and will dry out. It sounds like this may have been the case. If you transplant the shrubs or if you get new ones, try to select an area where the sprinkler system or drip irrigation can take care of this. About 1g of water per watering should suffice as long as you also maintain 3-4" of acidic mulch. If the plants currently do not show any green foliage, things are more difficult to predict and correct. They probably have dried out if there is no green. To tell if the plant is dead for sure, you can try to prune the stems in 1" or 2" increments until you either hit the bottom or see "green". Or, of course, you can simply pull the plants out and take them back to the nursery (do they offer a refund of some kind?). If the plants show some green then you will have to show them some TLC to see if they recover. Maintaining the soil moist with plenty of mulch & applying no fertilizers would be the things I would do in that case. I would prune out the dead stuff in the Fall or after the plants leaf out in Spring. If there is no green or if you do not have time to monitor the soil moisture often this summer, I would replace them provided the nursery will do it. Good luck, Luis Here is a link that might be useful: Potomac Valley Chapter of the ARS...See MoreAzaleas & Rhododendrons..Dead & Sparse Branches ~ Leave or Remove !!!
Comments (1)There are many possible causes for branch dieback: harsh winter conditions, drought, fungal infection, physical damage, for example. Dead branches should be pruned out. Usually this will result in renewed growth and eliminates a possible source of additional infection. That you're seeing the conditions you describe in parks and public (?) gardens suggests that staff shortages and budget constraints are problems as they are in many places. The RHS and other organizations can certainly help with recommendations for care. Finding the people to apply that care and the funds to pay for it are other matters entirely....See MoreNHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years agoMich A
7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoMike McGarvey
7 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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