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Honeysuckle dying

English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
edited May 2021 in Problem solving

Hello, I bough this honeysuckle a few months ago. If I'm honest it looked a bit raggedy back then. Anyway, I planted it and some green leaves started to show up but then they all just turned brown 😕  I ended up moving it to a different location but doesn't really seem to have helped, the roots seemed ok when I moved it. Is there anything I can do to help bring it back to life? It is in a fairy sunny location and the soil has lots of nutrients in so I dont really understand what is wrong! Thank you for any advice 😊 (I did try looking on the internet but all the info on rescuing them seems to be for well established honey suckles) 

Posts

  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    This is the ticket....
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2021
    Can we see the whole plant, including the base area around the roots please ... that'll give us a clue as to what might be needed. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    Dovefromabove said:
    Can we see the whole plant, including the base area around the roots please ... that'll give us a clue as to what might be needed. 
    This is the whole thing, it's not very big...
  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    I out some straw round the base before as I read that they like to keep their roots cool, but but then i moved it because i wasn't sure 🤔
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2021
    OK ... it's thirsty ... very very thirsty ... honeysuckles like  their feet in the cool  and especially the damp (like a shady ditch/hedgerow or damp woodland edge) and their faces in the sun.  Yours looks as if it's in dry soil at the foot of a wall.  Often walls produce a 'rainshadow' effect shielding the rain from the area at its base 

    Scrape a little bit of bark away with your thumbnail ... if its green under there then it's still alive.  Give it two buckets full of water now, then one every other day for the next few months ... even if it rains.  Pour the water on slowly so at it soaks in and doesn't run off the surface.  Every year start the watering regime at the beginning of March and carry on until mid September.  

    Mulching the area around the roots with lots of organic matter so that the worms incorporate it into the soil will improve it's moisture retention.  

    Belgica is a lovely honeysuckle; we have a couple in this garden ... I hope it recovers for you.  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    I honestly think that honeysuckles are picky plants and will refuse to thrive if they don't like the location. If it is showing any signs of life at all, I'd pot it up and look after it very carefully until it starts to look more robust. I have had failure after failure with honeysuckles in my garden apart from Halliana which would take over if it was allowed. If nothing else, that shows that soil and place are not the same for all honeysuckles. Yours may be happier in a pot for now.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    How very sad. My father had 2 honeysuckle plants in pots. When he died we took them and kept them in their pots for a year and then when we eventually moved in our own home we transplanted them.
    They are still with us and flower every year and stay in leaf all year round.
    No idea what variety they are but they have survived now and continue to do so for over 40 years.
    They are pruned back each year and are in good old somerset clay!!!
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