This one however I can't detect WHY it is suddenly getting dark leaves. Anybody???? MayDay. This is the C.Jap."Eleanor McCown" should bloom between Dec and Feb. Full with buds but nothing happening yet, not even one is starting to pop out. And since a week now it is getting some darker leaves, mostly at bottom half of plant. Is it too wet, this my new border area, everything else seems to be doing fine including the more finicky "winter Daphne".
Tuliplady;
I'm no expert, but gardening in similiar climate and probably same zone, my Camellias were affected by scale insects this early Spring. Tough pests to treat, but dormant oils spray while the weather is milder should take care of them creepy crawly pest. Use the chemical with care, read the label and follow strict instruction.
Lily there is nothing that even looks remotely like animal on the plants. That is so strange. I'll go look again in an hour. Sun is coming out now so everything will be dry. The other one(C.Sas.) is doing fine, bought on same day at same Garden Center (Pike's), same border etc. That's why I am so surprised. When your C. were affected by these scale insects did the leaves look the same?
These scales are hard to differentiate by the necked eyes. They appear like immobile tiny bumps on the canes and underside of leaves. They sucks nutrients out of the affected area, thus causing the leaves to appear moltled and discorated. Pikes is a great nursery in our area too, I'd suggest you take a sample of the affected leave, branch back to them in a sealed plastic bag. And see if they can help further? I would.
That's a thought. Thanks. I;'ll browse through my garden enceclopedia first to see if I see a similar "problem", if not then I'll go back to Pikes.
My thoughts..
1. Sun scorch.. is it in too much sun now that leaves have dropped?
2. Drought.. Is it getting enough water?
I have Elenor too :) She's loaded with buds :)
Susan
Tulip Lady. What kind of fertilizer are you feeding your plant and about how many leaves are turning dark?
Definitely NO sun scorch. The sun is barely hitting this spot in morning (over the house)
Too dry? Don't think so, soil feels pretty damp (re: sun) so I have watered it only first 2 weeks.
She is loaded with big roundish buds, but no bloom yet.
To tell you the truth I used just a touch of 10-10-10 in the hole when I planted them; I just got these plants in October and they still had a lot of those Osmocote balls in it. Good looking root, nothing wrong. The border they are in is newly dug and has new soil, part garden soil, compost and sand.
From the above pic. They do look rather healthy to me. I don't usually fertilize my new planting, unless it's slow released fertilizer likes that of Osmocote. Fertilize-burn maybe a factor as Starlight's was concerned about. Next, I'd considering acidic ferlizer next growing season. For Camellia likes that of Rhodies' habit, they prefer acidic fertilizer.
Kim (signing out).
tuliplady, i hope you find a cure, because one of mine died this fall. all the leaves turned brown and dried up. my other one is fine and is getting buds
Hi Coby, as for the blooms and no flowers part, this may not be the time of year for the flowering, just yet, anyway. I have three different varieties, and two of them are blooming now and the one that has the biggest blooms, double, triple, and sometime quad blooms, is in full bud, but it will not open up until March. So maybe it is just getting those blooms ready for a later date.
As for the foilage problem, had similar looking leaves early Spring, and I literally washed my bushes with soapy water (I use one of the windex washer bottles you use on the siding...filled with dish soap, some listerine and a regular coke) then I sprayed them all down with messenger, and they really looked great soon after.
We have had so much drought, and all of our plants have struggled here! I have lantana that did not bloom until the end of November, and then the leave were hit by the frost, but the little lilac flowers are still hanging on, frozen in time, so to speak...looks kind of strange...lol
Ouch, that 10-10-10 could be a big part of your problem especially if the plant already still had fertilizer pellets with it. When you have a good composted bed you have plenty of fertilizer in there, enough to feed the Camellia for about a year. Newly planted Camelias shouldn't have any additional fertilizer for that length of time.
So you have all that rich fertilizer from the soil, plus all the fert from the container and you added fert. Then your say yoru soil is damp, but have ya checked way down underneath dow as far as the roots will go? Take a yard stick or some other thin long items and move about a foot away from your tree and stick it down in the ground. Let it sit for a coupel of hours and pul it back up. Wood item the best becaus e if yoru ground is damp or wet below then the stoick wil abosorb some of that moisture and leave a mark to show you exactly where your waterline is.
If you have all fertilizer and not enough water your burning the roots which can cause the scab condition of your leaves.
Janet is right about some of the cultivars opening later. I had some that didn't open til February that should have opened months before hand.
Also with all that fertilizer, you promoting growth of the foliage and as long as the plant doing new growth, it wil take longer for your blooms to open. New plantings some time s get confused too. Ya don't know the conditions of the gh were the plant was propagated and it may be experiencing some kind of shock still.
Well that might be tru Janet although officially it should bloom betw. Dec- and Febr. but the other one was late too. Maybe because they still need to get settled, that doesn't bother me so much, but the browning leaves do. It almost looks as if they are too wet??? Is that possible with almost no rain for moooonnths??????? A good rainfall last week though and that area is quite shaded.
I'll try your messenger spray Janet, hopeully that will stop it.
Fertilizer could be the problem although I used so little that I was wondering why I did it to begin with??? The plants have been in ground now for about 1 month now, brown leaves I noticed this past week-end. I am in the yard on daily basis, just to check on things. One thing that does occur to me now is that they can possibly be dug too deep. Camellia's need to be a little higher than the ground they are in according to "the books". Do you think it is safe to try and loosen the ground around them and then "pull" them up some???? It is their blooming season however, I might do more damage than good.
This message was edited Dec 12, 2007 12:42 PM
I'm not really seeing a problem. As far as blooms mine are late this year, temp. and drought combo. No big deal. As far as the leaves getting darker green mine always do that and I would worry if they weren't turning dark green. Brown leaves could be a little shock from planting them. I would not fertilize them and for that matter I never do to anything I plant until it's a year old or at least 6 months. I would check to see if it's planted to deep. If your trying to get more flowers you're way to late. Flower buds formed long ago and it wouldn't make any more till next year.
I really don't see a problem so I wouldn't worry unless you see a bunch of brown leaves. I don't use much fertilizer on my camellias. One shot of milorganite in the spring and that's it. I do mulch around them every year.
Oops typed to fast, edited
This message was edited Dec 14, 2007 12:53 PM
CoreHH, maybe you're right. I did check on depth yesterday, seems fine to me. But soil on that particular border is very damp. Although I haven't watered for months (just the 2 Cam. for 2 weeks) I wonder if that could hurt them. And I suppose it's always possible they still need adjusting to their new home.
Hi TulipLady,
I am a horticulturalist, and it looks pretty much like edema. Plant cells are unable to deal with excess water and explode.
More info in this UGA article.
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B813-w.htm
I see it alot on camellias at my nursery. No need to worry, it looks ugly, but not harmful. Somehow you need to get better drainage in the soil.
Gingerlillies, I think (I am afraid) you're right. I have been thinking it for a while just by looking at the soil. My top section of front yard is doing very well, but I did not have enough of that soil to fill this patch, so I mixed some of the soil I used for the grasspatch. That in itself wouldn't be so bad but that patch gets almost no sun so it stays very wet for long time. So I guess as soon as I can dig I'll be in there.
The one problem Camelia has actually lost almost all its buds (it had no flowers) BUT it has some new growth on it! There is still hope???
Tulip, there are Camellias that have been around since the civil war.. They are tough.. There IS hope :)
Maybe too much water and the cold weather we had this past week combined?? I am no expert. Mine seem to do better with lots of drainage..
Elaine
Your camellia still has a chance. The dry weather has probably really helped out the Camellia, yet when the rains come back again it could promote an environment for a root rot disease. Not an easy task, but you must improve the drainage. Can't think of many no dig methods to improve soild other than installing drainage pipes away from the area($$$$), adding charcoal to the soil(may not be enough to do the trick), or I have actually tried mixing in Soil Moist in the past. Most likely you will have to dig it up at some point and amend the soil or move it. Hope this helps a little.
gingerlilies, a very good article with lots of good info.
Elaine
Sorry, haven't been here for few days (trying to re-decorate our daughter's bedroom). The camellia has not bloomed and YES the rain yesterday (downpour) was good for drought but I don't think the Camellia's liked it. I will start digging in maybe 2 weeks?? and take out major part of soil and change over. Will have to check for drainpipe underneath it, maybe broken?,although just put in and nothing else happened here. I have been trying to find a soil-moisture meter to check how wet it really is, but nobody seems to have it yet. When I stick my finger in ground it feels way TOO wet!!! Happy enough that both Camellia's have new growth and the 2 Winter Daphne's are getting their blooms. They are in different corner of same site and have a little morning sun and late afternoon sun. So, all hope is not lost.
