Sick camellia
frenchy999
Posts: 7
Hi there,
This is my first post on here, and I am hoping for some help. I have a large pink camellia, that seems to be slowly dieing. It was already in the garden when I move into the house a few yrs ago and got a lot of lovely pink flowers on for 2yrs. Due to some building works I had to move it. I moved it after it had flowered, and managed to get about a 2ft root ball when it was moved, taking 3 of us to move. It is now on the opposite side of the garden and slightly lower than where it came from in an 8inch raised bed area. It is still in full sun for at least half of the day, as it previously was.
After moving it last year, the leaves seemed ok and still a good dark green colour. No buds formed at the end of last year for this year's flowers, but took it that the move was to blame and it would bounce back. Since about March/April this year there have been more and more yellow and then brown leaves, which in turn have fallen off. I trimmed the plant earlier in the year but this didn't seem to make any difference. I did find what I thought were weevils near the plant early in the year, maybe a dozen, but that was it. I killed them and didn't find any others.
After visiting the local garden centre, I have used 2 kinds of feed on it, one mixed with water, and one that is small balls that release nutrients over time. I started this about 4-5wks ago now and this hasn't helped.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I am considering digging the plant out again to check for weevils deeper in the soil or to see if the roots are growing or not. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go such an extreme, so any advice is very much appreciated. I would hate to lose it, as it's a good size and looks fantastic when in flower.
Thanks in advance!
Posts
Have you checked the Ph of the soil? Camellias like acidic soil
These plants need plenty of water from mid July onwards in order to make and keep their flower buds. They also need plenty of water after they've been moved.
Sounds to me as though yours is thirsty and possibly also anaemic form lack of iron and/or magnesium. There may also be pests in its roots but don't dig it up again now. Treat these with something like Provado which will leave the roots in peace as they try to recover and grow.
Try feeding it with some sequestered or chelated iron using rain water, not tap, unless you know you have soft water. These feeds are available in garden centres and good DIYs. Just follow the instructions for dilution. You can also pour it over the foliage as a quick feed.
For magnesium, you need 15ml of Epsom salts (not Andrews!) dissolved in 5l of water as above. Pour over the foliage and around the roots and be generous.
I haven't done any ph testing, but the two types of feed I have are specifically for camellies and azaleas.
I have a similar sized red azalea I moved at the same time, that's about 10-15ft away from the camelia and that has flourished. I believe they both like the same conditions.
Thanks
Thanks for the extensive info Obelixx, I will hunt down those products and hopefully that'll sort the problem out.
I have only been using tap water previously, as my rain water storage system off my shed became unusable.