Peonies: Help! Transplanted tree peonies dying..., 3 by wasfy

wasfy wrote:
Hi --

New member here.

I just invested in a border planting of Gansu Tree Peonies. All of the Peonies are being treated the same but some look very healthy while 3 are seriously declining. Haven’t been able to figure out the cause.

Details below. Also included one pic of a healthy shrub and a few of the declining ones.

Any idea what the issue should be and how I could correct? Transplant stress I should wait out? Is it a fungus/sickness I should treat? Planting depth? Too much/little water? Get them out of that spot? Other?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

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Details

* I'm in CT about a mile from the coast of the sound. Zone 6.

* I'm told the tree peonies are about 10 years old and they are on their own root (though most still have the herbaceous graft as well)

* Planted in winter. Had to pretty much break through frozen layer of ground to get them in. This is the first spring I've had them. Over last several weeks a few of the peonies have been wilting and their leaves have been shriveling at the edges. The most severe case is a division I took from a larger Peony

* At the sellers direction planted in a deep hole (3'x3') with equal parts mix of native soil, compost, and stone dust. Also tossed in a handful of lime to bring the Ph in range. Top dressed with mushroom compost as a mulch this spring and added some light general purpose fertilizer

* All the peonies leafed out (though some better than others). The healthiest ones had a few small flowers. As I understand, that is a poor showing for their age, but not unexpected given the recent stresses of being transplanted

*We've had a very wet spring with several weeks with 2”+. Irrigation is set up to drench them infrequently (1x a week) but it has been turned off until recently.

* There is a walnut nearby. The closest Peony is probably about 15' from it. But the walnut leans steeply away from the plantings over a fence so no litter falls near the peonies. My research found that 'some peonies' have issues with juglone. But no one say which varieties nor mention tree peonies. When planting I showed the seller the walnut and she didn't think it would be an issue.


This message was edited Jun 16, 2017 5:27 PM