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Can anyone help me to identify what happened to my Rhododendron?
It finished flowering 3 weeks ago and now its leaves are droopy all day long and they got brown spots.
Rhodies can be persnickety. Since it is in a smallish pot for the size, I will take a stab that it is a combination of a small pot, soil and watering problem. If they dry out too much they will wilt and die and on the other hand if too wet the same thing can happen.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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There are several causes, you have to investigate which it is in your case.
1. Planted too deep in the soil - they like to have 3/4-1" of the rootball above the soil.
2. Poor drainage - they do not like their roots to be sitting in water
3. Not enough water in summer (though normally the first sign is the leaves drooping severely, much more than yours are)
4. Root weevils may be eating the bark right near the ground
5. Over fertilizing
6. Too much afternoon sun
For a start, the planter is much too small for the plant. That could be sun burn or wind burn. Apparently, they don't like salt spray, either, if you are right on the ocean.
Wrong type of potting soil with wrong pH. Soil must have excellent drainage and never get fully dry--- although that doesn't look like lack of water to me. It looks more like sun burn.
I'll take that back. I didn't look at all the photos. Last photo looks thirsty. Although they get droopy from over-water, too, if the feeder roots have rotted. Brown still looks Iike sunburn to me.
If that small pot gets too much sun the roots could be over heating.
Thank you very much for all your help. We bought special soil and are going to repot it. I had cut off the bad leaves.
I was worried that it has a desease.
We were on holiday for two weeks and it was raining all the time. Brown leaves are everywhere, even on the leaves which are hidden in the grass. So, thanks to your comments I suppose overwatering and soil problem.
Do you think it would be all right to stay one more week in its current pot with (probably) overwatered soil? Or it would be better to take it off and to try to dry it somehow?
In my neck of the woods rhoddies have to be fully planted in soil and have good mulch covering. And shade too. When newly planted i have to water sometimes twice a week if it doesn't rain. I would never try to grow rhoddies in a container.
My son and dtr-in-law moved into their brand new townhouse in 2001. The builder had landscaped with a large rhododendron and some spreading evergreens. She hated both and dug them up and gave them to me. I planted them and lost one evergreen.
The rhodie was doing well until last Summer when, after a spectacular bloom, it began to lose leaves and by this year was nothing but tall bare branches. We cut it down but at the base, there was a small, very, very small happy little green leaf. We left it. (This was in late May) The little fella is now 14" tall with many, many new leaves and I hold out hope that this plant will rejuvenate to its former glory.
Don't despair.
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