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Magnolia leaves covered in spots

shellme67shellme67 Posts: 5
in Problem solving
Hi. I have a magnolia that’s been in a pot for years. It flowers every year and has never had a problem. During this heat wave I’ve kept it well watered and fed it with ericaceous plant food. It has been in full sunlight as my garden is south facing and there’s nowhere to keep it out of the sun. It’s suddenly developed a “rash” of brown spots (not raised) and some of the leaves have turned brown and are falling off. Is it a disease or has it got scorched? Temperatures here have been up to 36 degrees. Thanks.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello @shellme67 and welcome to the forum  :)

    How long since your magnolia was repotted with fresh compost?

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





  • shellme67shellme67 Posts: 5
    Hi. I’ve added compost but never completely repotted. It’s in a huge ceramic pot that’s rounded at the top so the only way out is to smash it, hence I’ve never done it. It’s been in there probably 16-18 years, maybe more, it’s survived 5 house moves and all sorts of natural weather disasters… but it’s never seen heat like this. I don’t want to lose it, it’s like family after all these years, so if not repotting is what’s suddenly making it sick I guess I’d have to smash the pot, find a spot in the garden and plant it out. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2022
    Well that’d be my course of action … don’t know what others think?
     
    Who’s about? … @Hostafan1, @fidgetbones, @punkdoc, @Fairygirl … anyone?


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





  • shellme67shellme67 Posts: 5
    So I was out doing a bit of weeding and such today and noticed that the magnolia isn’t the only plant with the same problem. There’s a rose (floribunda bush) with the exact same pattern, a Japanese acer has gone brown and curly at the edges and a rhododendron has spots and dying leaves. The magnolia is the only one in a pot. I’ve also realised that there’s a large number of plants with powdery mildew and growth issues. I feel like my lovely garden is suddenly dying on me! The only thing out of the ordinary that’s happened, besides extreme heat, is I had some people in to clean the pond out. They couldn’t find an outdoor drain so they were tipping the pond water and sludge over the garden and pots (they said the plants would love it). Could it be that’s what is causing all the problems? Maybe too much fertiliser from the dirty water & sludge? The grass went very green afterwards and one oxeye daisy plant grew to over 5 feet tall, but it didn’t appear to have an impact on the other plants (although I suspected it was the reason a couple of dahlias died!). Other than that I’ve been watering everything early each morning when the weather was scorching so have I over watered and caused all of this? Any help or advice on how to save my garden would be greatly appreciated.
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    The sludge from your pond probably had a high nutrient value.
    Your magnolia, first photo, could have powdery mildew, exacerbated by drought. You describe other plants being poorly with a variety of symptoms. Think I have got all those symptoms in my garden. It's been a difficult year. Many plants will deliberately lose their leaves as a defence mechanism, it minimises the stress from drought but is generally nothing to panic about.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Definitely plant it out,  it’s done well to survive for so long in a pot. They want to grow into huge trees,  so putting it out may kick start its path to treedom.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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