Droopy or curve leafage on this bush is a sure house your industrial plant is n’t happy . Here ’s how to diagnose and compensate the problem .
Rhododendrons are sturdy , broadly worry - freeevergreen shrubsbeloved for their beautiful bounce salad days , so it can be startling when you find that a usually healthy plant ’s parting are curling inwards . calculate on the season , there are actually several reasons these shrubs might get going wait unhappy . Use this mere checklist to find out what ’s wrong , and learn how to fix the problem — then you may go back to look up to the year - round looker of yourrhododendron . And here ’s a pro pourboire : After the blooms fade , remember todeadhead ( pinch off ) each cluster of flowers , call a corbel , at its base . If you do that each class , you ’ll be repay with lots of bloom the next spring .
Rhododendrons Curl Their Leaves Against Winter Wind
If yourrhododendron shrubis exposed to too much inhuman wintertime wind , it will wave its leaves inwards , trying to keep less foliage control surface divulge . The shrub is trying to keep body of water from evaporating from its leaves . Here ’s how to facilitate : Whenever the temperature mystify above freeze , give your rhododendron a ho-hum and steady trickle of water until the soil feels damp 8 - 10 inches down .
Keep that needed moisture in the ground byadding two inches of mulch . The mulch layer should cover an area start two inches aside from the luggage compartment and going out beyond the ends of the ramification . Next fall , get your rhododendron ready for winter by giving it at least an column inch of water system ( from you or from pelting ) each calendar week . you may also move your rhododendron to a position with protection from wintertime wind to alleviate this trouble .
Rolled-Up Leaves in Summer Could Be a Sign of Dry Soil
Like any other plant , when a rhododendron does n’t get enough water , it will wilt . The shrubs have fair shallow root system , so they need a regular provision of water . If rain is n’t settle , you have to turn on the sprinklersor get busy with a hose . And check out that you have at least two in of mulch around your plant to keep H2O in the soil from vaporise . If you’re able to , use pine bark mulch , as itcreates the acidic soilrhododendrons choose .
Too Much Water Can Cause Curled Rhododendron Leaves
Rhododendrons can put up from root rot if they ’re not inwell - drained soil . set up one of these shrubs in a cockeyed spot in the garden is always a mistake . A pathogen call phytophthera takes hold in to a fault damp conditions . To see if this disease is the problem , you ’ll take to do a small excavation . Because these shrub have shallow roots , you wo n’t have to dig too far to get a flavor at them . If the root are slushy and black instead of firm and tan - colored , ascendant rot has set in .
handle with a fungicide wo n’t help , but to see if your shrub can recuperate , you could try move it to gamy , well - drained solid ground , or into araised bed . Clay soil holds onto weewee , so if that ’s what you have in your garden , be sure toadd spate of compostor pine bark to the unexampled planting area . Do n’t plant another rhododendron orazalea ( they ’re close relatives)in the old location , as the pathogen will assail the newfangled plant , even one specially bred to be disease - resistive .
Credit: Randall Schieber
