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Perennials Container Gardening garden

Gardenia and Plumeria issues

2 years ago

Hello all,

I'm not sure what's going on with these plants but I'm hoping someone can help! I bought my gardenia 3 months ago and it has been doing very well until quite recently. There are holes in the leaves (my gardening app diagnosed it as caterpillars, though I haven't found any yet) and also spots of white all over, which I'm thinking is either mineral deposits from watering or possibly powdery mildew (I've had issues with powdery mildew ever since I moved to Southern California, but so far this particular plant has seemed resistant). The other thing I just noticed today was that several leaves are curled up and very stiff. I have no idea what that could be.

I bought a Plumeria a couple weeks ago and although it's about 1.5' tall, it came in a tiny little pot (4" I believe) and didn't seem to have much of a root structure (1 pretty long root and just a few very short ones). I put it in an 8" pot to allow room for the long root and used a commercial succulent mix for the soil. It seemed to be doing well since then, with the exception of the plant not staying straight up (the soil is very lightweight and when the wind blows even a little the plant gets pushed to the side). I'm not sure what to do about this, but I pushed the soil down a little more to try to secure it and also sheltered it during periods of heavy wind. A few days ago I noticed the bottom leaf was yellow. The soil was quite dry so I assumed I had let it go a little too long without water and gave it a good drink. That was 2 days ago. Today the bottom leaf is still quite yellow, and now another one has a spot on it and is curled. The soil hadn't dried out since I watered it, and unfortunately it rained this morning so the soil is pretty wet. I also noticed some white residue on the woody part near the base of the leaves, which again, I'm afraid might be powdery mildew.

Any and all thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (2)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
could we see the whole plant...

all the damage looks like shipping damage.. probably before you got it ..

where are you.. big city name ... socal is a bit vague.. to me anyway ...

if the plants blow over in wind.. i hope the new transplants are not in any sun .. until they root in ... did you moisten the media ... before use?? .. if not.. that might be a reason you cant tamp it down enough to stabilize the plant.. again.. if we see the whole plant and pot.. we might be able to intuit something in that regard ...

ken
Emily Smith
2 years ago
@Ken Thank you for the response! I live in Huntington Beach, about 3 miles inland. Here are the full pictures of the Gardenia and Plumeria. I also included a close-up of one of the Plumeria leaves because it has gotten brown spots in the last few days. I have been keeping it in the sun because that's what I thought it liked... should I move it to the shade for a while?

I used a succulent potting mix when repotting and I can't remember for sure, but I think I just watered the plant well afterwards and didn't pre-moisten it. I did tamp it down pretty well, but I probably could do it a bit more firmly. I was just afraid of packing the soil too tightly since I read that they need loose, well-draining soil (that's why I used the succulent mix). I was thinking about adding a layer of pebbles to the top to help secure it but wasn't sure if they would get too hot in the sun... also I could plant it deeper in the soil, do you think I should try that? I wasn't sure how deep I could get away with, so I tried to keep it the same depth as it was in the original pot.

Update on the gardenia: I sprayed a copper fungicide the day after I started this post and it seems to have helped. Some of the leaves still have spots and of course the curled leaves and caterpillar damage hasn't gone away, but overall I think it looks healthier and there is lots of new growth. It rained quite a bit yesterday as well, so that probably helped too. I'm thinking I'll keep spraying it regularly just to be safe.
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