A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Please help rescue my poor Rhodie!

Please help me figure out what is wrong here!!!!!

[img][IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m220/Johnna81/plants%20march%2007/hostasandrhodo.jpg[/img][/img]
Rhododendron

Give us some more background on your plant??

What's the growing conditions?
Type's of soil/dirt..
Drainage, good or bad..

Have you fertilized it?
If yes, what kind and when...

How's the temps?

Any signs of bugs?
Fine webbing? Bumbs' on stems?
Colors *bright orange* on stem?

And are the roots' walked/stepped on???

Bought last year at Home Depot.
I mixed manure & compost in Oklahoma clay since that's what mother nature delt me and added peat moss specifically around it and a couple other acid loving plants.
Drainage-not good yet. Have been advised to raise garden and I will be doing that. But I do have guttering on house now.
No fertilizer-just Rhodie/azaelea food aprox. 2 weeks ago.
(miracle grow).
Temps this spring=up and down. range from 30-75, that's OKlahoma for ya. But I covered it when freezing since it apppears to have blooms trying grow on it now. Although we had a semi-rough winter and I let it get snowed on and freeze in a ice storm.
I have grubs and I have seen catapillars. Not spcifically on the Rhodie though. I raked around it to peek under it's soil to see if I saw any buggies there and all I found were termites!!! But that's a whole other issue.
The stems look ok-no orange.
The brand new, tiny leaves are healthy looking, the small leaves have some browning dead spots on edge and the mature leaves are pretty much all damaged.
Never walked on.
You can see more pics on my signature photobucket. I'll post more curent one of whole garden today.

New pics posted. Click on my photobucket.

Another quick Q... Do I pick the sick leaves or let them fall off??

That is one stressed Rhodo. There are two types of Rhodos: evergreen, which does best in filtered light and deciduous, which can take full sun. Your Rhodo looks like an evergreen. Rhodos are understory plants meaning they need protection from the sun. Check its tag.

Some requirements for this plant: filtered light if an evergreen, moist but fast, well draining soil, protect from cold and wind, plant shallow with the top inch of the soil ball above the soil line since you have clay, mulch well and don't cultivate or disturb the roots.

If evergreen, the plant needs to be moved at some point. Its under so much stress its a dilemma deciding if you would be better off shading it for now, adding mulch, keeping it moist and letting it recover first-or- since it's sited wrong get the move over with and hope it recovers. Transplanting is a stress itself. For temporary shade, if the Rhodo is small enough try an open plastic milk crate over it. The crate top can be covered with cheesecloth.

Add no more chemicals to plant or soil until the plant recovers. When the soil dries several inches down, water the plant at a slow trickle. Mulch will hold moisture in. Remove some larger very damaged leaves, like the one with the blackened tip, but leave the rest. Is the brown on the leaves a fungus or is it splashed residue from mulch/soil?

Soil. Will go try to wipe off tomarrow. BTW, I have a feeling it's got a fungus b/c it's kinda got white speckles on it and has for a while.
I have almost decided to just go with moving it to North side of house where it will get less sun. -in backyard behind privacy fence. It's kinda like a little nook there where it may be happier. Maybe I should post a pic of new planned location? I don't think it can stand to be moved twice!

This is an email from Tulsa Master Gardener, Jerry. I emailed them the pic of my plant. Here is what he said...
Hi Johnna
It should like you have planted the Rhode pretty well and it liked its home till the cold weather damaged it a bit. You may not get blooms this year, but remulch it, keep it in good drainage, fertilize it in 4-6 weeks, keep it watered, yet not flooded and you will be happy, I think.
Thanks for contacting us, JerryG/TulsaMG

See our Newsletter at www.tulsamastergardeners.org
Tulsa Master Gardeners
4116 E 15 St
Tulsa OK 74112
918-746-3701
email via mg@tulsamastergardeners.org
web via www.tulsamastergardeners.org

I could have done a better job watering this winter, I am beginning to think I caused the poor thing all this trauma. But I am so indefinate. If it weren't for the cost I would hire someone to come help me! ~But I can't.

Okay, he's my 2 cents worth,
but not sure I am considered a Master Gardener..

I live in a growing zone 5, and I get lot's of cold,
freezing sub~zero temps, snow and ice...
My mom has a Rhodie
that's at the edge of her house that ice and icecycles drip on/land on..

There's never anything that looks like that..
From cold weather..

The leaves curl under and protect themselves,
and I can't say that it's not possible, but to me
it seems like something else..

These two things jumped out at me...



They like and need good drainage..

and Termits!!!!
I am not sure of them, as I have never seen them on mine
and not sure of what damage they do....
Maybe someone else can jump in and atest to a yes or a no..

The other thing that says something is..

What time of day did you do it??
Was the soil dry or moist when you did it???
And was the leaves brown before you did the fert????

It was in afternoon on a mild spring day. The soil was semi-moist, if I remember right. Yeah, leaves were already brown. So fert and food are the same thing??

So do you think move it to other side of house? It will get full sun where it's at and I think the tag said partial shade.Ooops~I think it will be important even if it still has other issues but I don't know what to do. I have to raise my garden today and it's going to get moved to do that anyways so today is probably a good time to go ahead & biite the bit and transplant it to new location. ~ & hope it lives through it.

Again, I am no expert...
but I'll give it a shot...

If what you tell me that the leaves where already brown,
before you fertilized it, that tells me the problem was there before you fertilized it.. *so, hence even if you did the fert wrong, that wouldn't be the problem..
And an FYI for any fertilizing of any plant..
Never have the soil dry, first.. always water the soil, either the day before, give it a good soaking or earlier in the morning so the plant can have it's days' drink, *they drink during the wee~early morning hours*, then when they're in moist soil, then you fertilize..
Also, NEVER fertilize on a hot, dry day, like at noon..
always do it in the early morning hours, before the bright sun can burn the stuff on to the leaves..
~~>doing a foliar feed on the leaves is good, but just not at noon time when the hot sun is piercing down on it..<~~

So, my next thing would be the drainage, or something bothering it's roots...

If you're going to move it, prepare the soil before you move it, they like well drained, rich humusy soil..
**think of the bottom of the forrest floor, all the goodies from the leaves falling in the fall, and mother nature decomposing all that rich food under it**
(I planted mine in compost and chopped leaves, there were ageddddd but it's also in a raised bed cause were I have it
it doesn't drain fast in that area.)

For mine, it's under trees, but peaks out to full sun from like 11:30am to 4:00pm*ish*, if that helps, my mom's gets full morning sun and then nothing else the rest of the day..

And then you're in Ok, where I am in NY, and the full sun here may be totally different in heat factor that in Ok, again, I am not firmilar with your area..
Maybe someone lower into your region can tell you where is a better place to position it?????

One last thing, if I've caught you before you move it,
is get a picture of the roots.. that can tell us alot too,
by the color and how they are positioned...

Sounds like the brown at the edges [margins] are a result of salt injury/leaf burn...what it probably means is that the soil is more alkaline. Rhodies like acidic soil in the pH range of 4-6; however, the acidic soil certainly helps but is not the only factor in the healthy plant; it is the acidity of the plant cell sap. Internal acidity ensures the availability of iron within the plants' tissues, because iron is essential to the production of chlorophyll, which in turn manufactures carbohydrates in the leaves and is responsible for the green color. The loss of internal acidity is caused by alkaline soil. At pH 8+, the roots are unable to absorb iron. A foliage spray of chelated iron or application of iron chelates in the soil will do the trick. In a week or so, you should see some improvement. If not, then it is probably a magnesium deficiency. Spray foliage with magnesium sulfate [(epsom salt) 2 tablespoons of epsom salt in one gallon of water]. Again, you should see some green leaves in a week or so. Leaching will also remove excess salt in the soil.

Aside, just follow the recommendations from the other board members here. If you transplant the Rhodie, just remember not to plant too deeply. The roots needs to be closer to the top soil.

The following information may be helpful when diagnosing an ailing plant:

When plants develop a problem, most gardeners tend to apply fertilizer or a chemical treatment. That is the last thing one wants to do. A stressed plant won't take up food since the roots it needs to do so are to busy keeping the plant alive. The fertilizer/food/chemical now sits in the soil and can burn roots. Most problems are due to the wrong location and poor air circulation due to overcrowding. That little sun or shade logo on the plant tag is really there for a reason.

The first post under the sub headings of the Plants and flowers forums has basic plant culture information that would be a good starting point when researching a new plant.

Don't be discouraged. This is called "As the thumb turns from brown to green". By summers end you'll be posting photos of a thriving flower bed.

Johnna - You might want to research the placement of your weigela (if that's it planted under a window in the front flower bed) and the Dwarf Japanese Maple. As these plants mature there may not be sufficient room for them and a possible move now will be easier than the chore of constant pruning. This post is probably best under Plants and flowers but would lack the photobucket photos.

I don't know where else to put the tree. It was a mother's day gift and I love it so I would hate to give it away but it got too much sun in front yard and it burnt the leaves last year so I moved it wher it is now. There's no where any shadier for it to go except there at the corner on the North side of the house. The South side of my house is always sunny as is the West and the East is where I had it before.

[img][IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m220/Johnna81/plants%20march%2007/transplantednow002.jpg[/img][/img]

I did notice one thing when i moved it. I had it planted too deep. There are pics now on my photobucket of the leaves cleaned off with water. There's white specks on 'em.

See your Rhodo thread in the Shrubs and Trees sub-form for information on a possible solution for the "white specks".

Where the white specks on the plant?
Or in the soil all around it??

To me, real quick looking at it,
it looks like white specks in the soil,
but almost reminds me of perlite/vermiculite..

The specks in soil is grub killer. The white specks are on the leaves.

Cool. I did thanks.