I'm losing them, has anyone else experienced this. I'm losing them to the rain, slugs - you name it. I put all that are dieing in Mircle grow in pots, any suggestions. Please help me.
Spent the Whole Day Trying to Save My Plants.
Debbie -
I am sorry to hear that - I think putting them into pots is an excellent idea, you can better control the moisture. Any thoughts about what you will be doing with them this winter? I ask, because I don't see the rain stopping any time soon, do you? I personally am about ready to start building an ark..... I have been having issues with the rain too, however my problems have been more with my iris's and my lilies.
The reason I ask you about the winter - I heeled in some of my potted heucheras last winter. I had several pots of them along with some pots of clems and I buried my clems, but only put the heuchs into the dirt up to the level of the top of the pot. They all fared wonderfully......I did not lose a single plant doing it this way.
Carolyn
Carolyn, that is what I'm planning to do with my heuchs, or store the pots under my deck near the house-for warmth. What makes me so mad, is I'm losing heuch's that made it through the Northeast winter. I'm also in love with lilies, and are having a terrible time with them. Not just rain, and slugs, I also am fighting daily, lily beetles. I can't believe the damage that they can do. I even tried chemical warfare, which didn't do much good. I'm sitting at the computer because it is raining in MA, again. I'm ready to build an ark also, or my house might just float away.
Debbie
We'll get throught it!
^_^
Debbie, I've been losing Heuchera all summer. It's been affecting every variety. My opinion is that it's been due to the extremes in moiusture level. Completely soaked to totally parched. I've tried saving some to no avail. This is happening all through out my beds and in different light and wind exposures. C'est la vie.
I will replace some Heuchs and also plant other things in those spots. My beds are entirely too large to baby plants to survive.
So far I'm losing 3. I don't know exactly what's happening with them. I have 2 Georgia Peach that emerged beautifully in early spring but then we had alot of rain and they were sort of in a lower spot. They started looking bad so I moved them to high ground, they've struggled ever since. Then Peppermint Spice, which looked great even after the rains suddenly started to get curled up leaves, never browing, but is curling and shriveling up. It looks pathetic. I'm just leaving them and see if they return next next.
Carolyn - I have gallon pots that I don't think I'll get planted in time - I have more amending to do before planting and don't know if I'll get all of it done. Am I understanding that you just buried them, pot and all - to the soil line and they faired the winter well? Was yours in a protected spot or anything? My husband will be moaning if I drag them into the garage all winter because they'll have to go on "his side" where the windows are for the brightest light.
medinac, I buried small pots of Heuchs in large tubs like whisky barells and some other deep oblong planters full of dirt and they did fine over the winter. All survived and grew well when planted.
Medinac
Yes, I did that last winter and will be doing that this winter as well. The area that I do this inis somewhat protected. There is a privacy fence on 2 sides and I have lilacs growing back there along the fence and my garden shed is on the other side - I have a garden fence with plantings and a Fringe Tree growing in front of that area. I suppose there could even be some type of microclimate back there. This area is behind the metal garden fence in this picture. Typically around October I heel my plants in and Aprilish I take them out and bring them up by my house.
Carolyn You said something that struck me right away. You said you had them in pots with Mircle grow. I think there is to much nitrogen in there. I have killed my share of heuchera with potting soil. I do not know what kind you have but most Heuchera do not like very fertile soil and a lot of water. All of my Heuchera,Heucherella and Terrialla are in pots ( from 5 to 30 gal sizes) except Purple Palace and Chocolate ruffels. They are both very hardy around here and we fill in spots between our hosta all over the yard them.
I grow most of my potted plants in pure well aged compost.
Sorry - I don't use Miracle Grow...... I fertilize my clems, but that is about it.......
Carolyn and Stormy - Thanks - If I don't get them in the ground I'm going to try this. I know frahnzone5 who's a DG'r (and my neighbor) will do this as well. She has a raised bed she puts them in. I wasn't sure that was what you meant so I wanted to clarify. I'm glad you have success doing that so now I don't have to feel so much pressure to get them planted.
ikozark - You know, I've heard that too about Heuchera not liking Miracle Grow soil but I had 1st year plants that I put in Miracle Grow in small pots and some that weren't doing well coming out of winter that I did the same with. Last year those plants thrived in it and this year they grew, although slowly, but are growing better now with our cooler weather. My experience tells me that they don't seem to mind the fertilizer. I do water them well and then let them thoroughly dry out before watering them again. They seem to like that.
Medinac--- I have never heard anything about miracle grow or any other planting mix fro that matter. I just had experiences with those that say they feed for the whole summer,6 months etc. I just wondered if there was a high nitrogen content that might do something. Other than that I have very little contact with commercial potting soil. I have access to a large commercial turkey barn operation that is also a leading compost developer. I buy the stuff by the cubic yard and mix it with crushed oak leafs.
A lot depends on your weather I am sure and the and background breeding in the plant. We have a lot of heat and humidity here and some like plum pudding are almost impossible to keep in the Ozarks. Even most of the nurseries around here will not carry some of them because they loose so many. Around here we do best with those Heuchera from the Villosa strain and a few Microcantha. The hybreds are really a role of the dice for us.
Debbie, Did you check your plants for Vine Weevils? I did not check mine as the roots were firmly intact on those that I dug up. Even if I had Vine Weevils, I don't know what I'd do about it as I spent so much $ on beneficial insects and nematodes this year. I wouldn't want to apply anything that would harm them.
I looked for good roots as first I suspected vole damage, but that was not the case. My crowns were all firmly attached to the roots too. I did move 2 of them to pots and that did not help, nor did moving others to other garden locations. It's still a mystery. I can, as of now, only attribute the deluge/desert effect as to the cause. It seems that the Villosas are not affected by this. Is that your experience?
Stormyla, I think the best explaination I've come to is that they got too much rain. I did save some by putting them in pots, allowing them to dry out abit before the next rain. The funny think is that I seemed to have lost the older plants, three year old's the most. In fact I have to move a couple more today that seem to be dieing. I know one of the heucheras died because of slugs. We have never had this many in New England, once again because of all the rain. I have to agree that the Villosas seem to be more hardy.
ikozark - Do you get turkey poop or compost from there? I never tried planting Heuchs in straight compost before, interesting! The only thing I have access to around here is fresh mushroom compost. I mix that in with soil though. The only thing problem with that is it tends to be alkaline. We have enough problems with our soil being alkaline without adding to the problem. I think that's why my phlox look terrible and some of my hydrangea leaves look chlorotic. I think the alkalinity affects the plants uptake of minerals. I'm finding better luck with the Villosas here too for the most part.
I thought that Georgia Peach had villosa parentage - if that is true, that one was definitely not happy being wet.
I'm going to have to pull the Peppermint Spice and see what's going on with it or I'm going to lose it. It's looking worse everyday.
Medinac--- I get my compost from from Central Missouri poultry producers. Thier compost operation is about 30 miles from me near a town called High Point. They have a barrel they compost in that is over 10 ft in dia and 50 ft long. They compost over 50 tons at a time. They have a whole bunch of turkey barns. What I get is allready pretty well composted. I mix it with ground leafs as early in the fall as I can collect them at a rate of about 50% are a little better leafs. Then I till it a couple times a year and keep it moist. I do not really use it until the next fall. If I do I mix with soil. I can tell you the rate of the straight compost from the barrel is about 1 part to10 soil. That is what all the farmers use around here. I have heard of mushroom compost but know nothing about it. Poultry compost is suppose to contain a lot of trace elements. That might be what the heuchera are responing to. But you got to be careful with it as well it is very stron stuff.
ikozark - You are so very lucky to have such a great source. My husband has some quail and he collects their poop for me. Last year I put it in the veggie garden over winter and then tilled it in before planting. This year I'm going to do the same only to let it age and keep it out of my dogs' reach - and then use it to till into my flower beds for new plantings.
I remember seeing turkey barns on the cable tv show "Dirty Jobs" - THAT is a whole lotta poop!
We used to have a nut processing factory next town over and we could get all the FREE nut shells we wanted to use as mulch. That stuff was great. It was a rich dark brown that didn't lose it's coloring and was slow to decompose. Of course the high cost of operating drove them down to Georgia, I think it was. Sigh...