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Have I killed my “bargain bucket“ Viburnum Davidii???
Luke_S
Posts: 7
Hello there!
I have a sad Viburnum Davidii and wonder if anyone can tell me the prognosis please? To give a bit of background I picked it up at a garden centre in the good old “bargain bucket”. It looked a bit sad, but I just thought it needed a good drink and a bit of TLC. Having gotten home ready to plant it in the garden, to my horror, I realised that it was crawling with vine weevils. UUURRRGGHHH. School boy error and lesson learned- always check the roots of new plants if possible!!!
Anyway, I was determined to save the plant, as it still had plenty of healthy growth and looked to still have a pretty strong set of roots. Luckily I had just invested in some vine weevil root soak, but to be honest just plonked the root ball in the bucket with the pesticide and left it to soak overnight. I then checked in the morning and some some larvae still wiggling a bit (but not looking very happy). I then decided to wash as much of the compost off the root ball as possible with clean water, which seemed to get the rest of the grubs off.
I have a sad Viburnum Davidii and wonder if anyone can tell me the prognosis please? To give a bit of background I picked it up at a garden centre in the good old “bargain bucket”. It looked a bit sad, but I just thought it needed a good drink and a bit of TLC. Having gotten home ready to plant it in the garden, to my horror, I realised that it was crawling with vine weevils. UUURRRGGHHH. School boy error and lesson learned- always check the roots of new plants if possible!!!
Anyway, I was determined to save the plant, as it still had plenty of healthy growth and looked to still have a pretty strong set of roots. Luckily I had just invested in some vine weevil root soak, but to be honest just plonked the root ball in the bucket with the pesticide and left it to soak overnight. I then checked in the morning and some some larvae still wiggling a bit (but not looking very happy). I then decided to wash as much of the compost off the root ball as possible with clean water, which seemed to get the rest of the grubs off.
Anyway I potted it up in normal compost and mixed in plenty of well rotted manure to give it a bit of nourishment after its trauma, and now it’s just turning a strange red colour and the growth is completely stunted.
I’ve probably killed it to be fair, but really want it to survive, as it’s a lovely little plant. Does it look salvageable, or will my efforts turn out to be futile? What could have caused the red colour?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you 😊
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you 😊
0
Posts
Mine also took on a red colouration as the weather cooled, but it has no detrimental effect and enhances the beauty of the plant in winter. The leaves return to green in the spring.
Your plant looks very healthy to me. The leaves are a bit pale, but I'm sure that's because it's just settling-in.
PS - welcome to the forum
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If you encounter any weevil grubs on roots, you can also just wash all the soil off and replant in fresh stuff. The birds can be given the old compost, and they'll pick out the grubs as a tasty treat.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...