Osmanthus issue

gardenman91 · May 2020

Hello everyone

I have an Osmanthus that has been planted for a couple of years but doesn’t seem to be doing well and keeps loosing some leaves. Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

gardenman91 · May 2020

Bump

Fairygirl · May 2020

Hi @margaret005 - it doesn't look like a terribly hospitable spot there. What is the soil like etc? What prep did you do before planting, and was the shrub nice and damp and not root bound or anything like that?
Do you know which variety it is too- the variegated heterophyllus one, or similar?
Many shrubs can take a year or two to get well established though, and Osmanthus can ceratinly be quite slow to get going, and need well watered in the first year or so, depending on your local conditions.

gardenman91 · May 2020

I honestly can’t remember what soil prep I did haha I was very new to gardening and still am as I’ve only been doing it for a few years. It’s called Variagatus I think or something along those lines. Well I think we garden on chalky soil but the soil is rock hard so may be some clay in there too?

Fairygirl · May 2020

It's maybe just struggling a wee bit @margaret005, especially if it's a bit dry there. They can cope with that once established. I think it's the one I mentioned -Variegatus just means it's the variegated version of the shrub

Keep it really well watered, and if you can add some compost to the surrounding area on a regular basis, that will help retain moisture, and feed the soil generally. They don't really mind what soil they grow in, but if you can add some organic matter, it will help the soil structure in general. Well rotted manure is also excellent for that purpose if you can get any

gardenman91 · May 2020

Thanks Fairy Girl I will give it a good soaking. It’s a tiny shrug and wonder if I can revive it? I think a lot of the bare stems are dead, though they may have just lost their leaves?

Osmanthus issue

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