I purchased three hydrangeas from a nursery (wilkerson) and they arrived about two weeks ago by mail. One is a mop (angel blush) and the other two are lacecap (blue tier).
They arrived in fantastic shape and my mop is doing really well (new leaves emerging, green and lush). But my lacecaps are not doing well. They are wilting and many of the leaves are dying.
I am not sure if I am overwatering or doing something else wrong. I am treating all three plants the same & while the mop is thriving - the other two look like they are dying.
They are in large containers & I am hesitant to plant them outdoors yet due to the potential of a late frost in my area. (Has been known to snow in May).
Help! The lacecaps were the most expensive of the bunch. I am new to hydrangeas - so I might be doing something wrong.
WILTING Hydrangeas
Can you post some pictures? My first guess is overwatering but there are other possibilities too but it's hard to tell without a picture. I would think if you're treating them all the same the mophead would be suffering too if that were the case.
I would also contact the nursery you bought them from, if all the plants are the same size and in the same size pots and you're watering them all the same then either you just got lucky and the mophead is more tolerant of overwatering, or there was something else wrong with the lacecaps when they were sent to you.
Hello, gardenshowers. Here is a tip for you on watering. Insert a finger to a depth of 3-4 inches and see how the soil mix feels: dry (you need to water), moist (do not water) or wet (you are watering too much).
Consider the location of the pot too. Placing the container in a windy location will dehydrate the plants and cause wilting. For example, a container located under the a/c or heater vents would suffer from wilting as the air movement dries it out. Relocate the container to a less "windy" area that gets 4 hrs or so of sun, if necessary.
Wilting is a normal response to situations when the plant is losing moisture through the leaves faster than it can absorb water through the roots. It is most common at the height of the summer, when outside plants appear wilted in the afternoon but recover by bed time or by next morning on their own. Immediately water if a plant looks v-e-r-y wilted in the afternoon. On the other hand, if the plant was somewhat wilted in the afternoon but recovered by morning, take no action.
Since the plants are just 2 weeks old, make sure the root ball is getting watered. And when watering, water the soil, not the leaves. Maintain 3-4" inches of mulch at all times.
I hope that helps you and do send an image that shows the plant's condition.
Luis
I received 6 hydrangeas fri. an aspera, 4 lacecaps, and 1 mophead.
I opened and planted sat. I have the same possible problem, they looked so moist
and green out of the box and in the house. after I planted them, they looked so wilty
I watered them well and not too much, still wilty. then yesterday sun we had 30mph winds, same wilty look. These plants are 2 years old. maybe a quart container?
They get filtered shade, but they act like maybe they're not used to sunshine or something that's all I can guess I've nevr had hydrangeas either. You would think they were a seedling that wasn't used to the outdoors or something. I ordered mine from a different nursery. If they were under watered they should perk up after an hourmor so, but they just look the same. i'm clueless. I hope someone knows
Can you post a pic of yours? I don't want to assume that it's the same problem as with gardenshowers'. You might also want to start a new thread for yours especially if it turns out to be a different problem, otherwise it'll get confusing trying to talk about two separate problems in the same thread.
That being said, I think yours are suffering from transplant shock, possibly combined with not being hardened off properly. Taking it from the pot into the garden is always a bit stressful and thirsty plants like hydrangeas will tend to wilt easily until their roots get established. Be careful of the watering though--make sure the soil's actually dry before you water them. What happens with new plants like this is that their roots aren't able to take up water from the soil fast enough to keep the plant from wilting--but there is often plenty of moisture in the soil so if you add more water every time you see them wilt you could wind up overwatering. So check the soil first and don't water unless it feel dry an inch or two down. If the wilting problem is really bad, you could try cutting back some of the top growth, that will make the amount of leaves more proportional to the amount of roots and then they won't wilt as much.
And for hardening off...if you got them and they're already fully leafed out, then they may have come from a nursery that's in a warmer climate than you, or from a place that was growing them in a greenhouse. In either case, they would have been better off if you hardened them off to get used to your colder temperatures, and also worked it up gradually to whatever amount of sun you have them in. If there's more sun than it's used to you'll notice discoloration on the leaves, so if you're not seeing that then the sun is probably fine. (whenever I get something through mail order, I always assume that the plant came from a greenhouse and had less sun than it'll be getting in my garden and adjust the plants to those conditions gradually)
thanks ecrane3, I did see your post after I wrote this about transplant shock, and I bet that is what this is. The leaves don't have any discoloration just wilty looking.
and yes I believe they came from oregon but it looks as though they were colder there than here. I planted sat and it wasn't long b4 they looked wilty but they actually didn't change or get any more wilty after our 30mph winds all day sun., I figured that would make them worse looking but didn't seem to make any difference. I'll see what they look like tomorrow. and again I sure thank you for your reply, it's eased my mind a little
just to update, my hydrangeas started looking worse (leaves turning black), so I just
cut the dead leaves and any leaves that looked like they were going to die. maybe half the leaves? It really stormed here and today was cloudy and rainy but they didn't die any more. I also bought some solar screen at the hardware store and some 16 gauge wire, threaded it through screen and stuck in ground on sw side.
my theory is to screen sun and maybe buffer the wind. we'll see what happens.
so my guess was that the sun and having too many leaves to support might have been the problem. at least they made it a couple of days without any further decline.
as for the aspera I'm not so sure, it only has about 4 teeny tiny leaves left and the stem is peeling,looks like a riverbirch or peeling bark maple
Blackened leaves makes me worry about fungus/overwatering so I would be really careful about how much water you're giving them, make sure you stick your finger down in the soil and make sure it's not still wet before you give it any more water. Screening the sun until they're a little better established will help too, it'll remove some additional stress so they aren't constantly wilting.