Quote:
Originally Posted by Omf_24
Weird. I water them on a timer for 15 minutes every morning using a soaker hose. What would you recommend? Thanks for the responses!!
|
I think you have a bacterial or fungal infection - round holes on leaves, it doesn’t look like scorch to me. If you see a brown ring around the black circle - most likely bacterial infection but hard to say from the photos - it doesn’t matter as the remedies are the same below.
Are they newly planted? Make sure the crown isn’t buried with soil.
Did you have frosts in spring? Looks like old leaves are damaged by “scorch” type damage?
Anyway,
I am seeing some mulch?
Make sure that mulch doesn’t come too close to the crown of the hydrangeas - leave at least 4 -6 inches of bare soil around where the hydrangea sends branches out.
The roots need a good air exchange, mulching too close impedes it and could harbor bugs, create perfect environment for the disease, etc.
Make sure the mulch isn’t too thick. 2-3” should be enough
I see a lot of new fresh growth. Your hydrangeas should recover, don’t need to spray: by the time you see the damage done it is too late to apply anything anyway
The only thing I would do if you can - remove at least the worst of the diseased leaves - as the rain, dew, wind, bugs may spread it to healthy growth.
Increasing the air circulation would definitely help to dry the leaves out - preventing the infection from spreading.
Remove old stems, cut to the ground the weak ones;
If you see some stems with blotches - cut them to the soil level; leave 5-7-9 stocky healthy green canes.
Make sure that the crown of the shrub are not planted too deep - it should sit slightly above the surface of soil.
Clean up the dead fallen leaves from the ground - reduces the infection
Do the thinning soon - it could stimulate the plant to send fresh new healthy (hopefully) stems and foliage.
Is it mop-head? Then you could still get flower buds for next season’s bloom.
I would change your watering schedule: water maximum 2 -times a week or even only once if no rain but slowly and for longer duration?
Frequent watering keeps the mulch and soil wet but shallow.
Your goal is to water less frequently but deeper so roots could grow deeper into a cooler soil, not hang out in the shallow and hot soil.
The soil must dry out between watering. Do not let water spray the leaves.
Try to insert clean empty tuna can level with the ground. Once the can is filled with water- rain or irrigation - you just provided 1” of water to the shrub.
1” should be enough for a week?
The leaves may droop during the heat of the afternoon, but should perk up in the evenings
If you have 1” of rain one week you don’t need to water that week.
It is hard to kill hydrangeas. Unless you do it with kindness- by shallow overwatering?
Your first photo shows leaves with triangular type damage? Can’t say for sure, it could be a verticillium wilt.
That is more serious; you may even need to remove some plants
Read just in case and observe your plants.
https://www.hydrangeaguide.com/ident...to-control-it/
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
