I plated this rhododendron plant (Princess Anne) on my backyard in the beginning of this May. It was doing great until lately I observed red and drying leaves on the plant. (please see the attached picture which I took this morning). My other rhododendron (Impeditum), planted in the same area at the same time, is still doing great, growing new healthy leaves. What is wrong with my rhododendron princess anne? any sugguestions to fix the problem?
The root-ball dried out, it got stepped on and broke off, it had root rot when you bought it and it finally killed it now... Many heath family plants, including rhododendrons die of root rot in cultivation.
Thanks, Ron for identifying the problem. Is there any way to revive the plant? I had this plant for 2 months.
"The root-ball dried out, it got stepped on and broke off, it had root rot when you bought it and it finally killed it now..." Ron, your comment cracked me up. Thanks :)
If it's not dead yet, it might have too much mulch around the base of the trunk that's causing it to rot? As long as there's still some green in some leaves, there's hope :)
Thanks, Anna, for giving me some hope. Do you think it is too dry or too wet causing it to rot? Any ways to revive it?
If there's mulch piled up against its trunk, it might be trapping moisture against the trunk, causing some decay. If that's the case, pull back the mulch to expose the trunk and make sure there's enough room underneath for air circulation so that it dries out (prune some lower branches if necessary). This may or may not help, but it's worth a try. If the actual rootball is dying from root rot as suggested above, it's probably because it is / was too wet. I'm afraid I don't know how to save it. My only suggestion would be to remove any surface mulch and make sure there's air circulation so that it has a hope of drying out. This could help if it's not too far gone already. One final thought: Sometimes (often), rhododendrons are sold in a completely root-bound state. It's possible that the plant was quite root-bound when you first planted it and it never found a way to get itself un-root-bound when planted so that it lost the ability to take up water. This is unlikely after 2 months, but it may be worth a look at the roots. If the rootball is dying due to rot, you could remove the dead root material to see if there's any healthy root remaining. If there is, prune the rhododendron so that the amount of healthy root remaining can support the amount of rhododendron above ground and re-plant the healthy rootball. If the rootball looks fairly healthy but all tied up in a knot (root-bound), you need to untie the knot (pull the roots out and down so that they can seek water and nutrients) and re-plant. If there are no signs of life in the rootball, it's sadly too late.
