Floppy camellia

Humblebea · March 2023

Does anyone know why my camellia is flopping over? I recently moved it to a bigger pot, could that have upset it?

bcpathome · March 2023

If you moved it and re potted whilst it’s flowering yes .Never do that ,always wait till the flowers finish . Now that it’s done you should make sure it’s watered well , draining well
and getting enough light . Other than that ,no more you can do except cross fingers and hope
You are lucky that you have a camellia,I’m very envious,all mine died in the cold wet weather a few weeks ago . I’m devastated.

Humblebea · March 2023

Oh no! It was in a tiny pot before so I thought I was helping it. I’ve only had it a year but I’ve always loved the big jolly flowers. Sorry to hear you lost yours. I just assumed they were hardy. We’re on quite a sheltered spot on the south coast so protected from the worst of the weather here.

bcpathome · March 2023

Yes you are better placed than I am here in north bucks . I hope it recovers for you . I was given a hydrangea plant which is the same teeny weeny pot , huge plant . It’s the same with that .I’ll have to struggle to keep the huge thing watered till the blooms die off before I can replant it .

Wish garden centres and other outlets wouldn’t do that .

Joyce Goldenlily · March 2023

Try standing the pot in a large container, dustbin or bucket, with water above the level of the soil. Only use rain water, and leave to soak until bubbles stop coming up, overnight would be good. Then drain the pot and keep well watered, especially during the summer when pots dry out quickly. There is a chance the original root ball became too dry and repotting hasn't given it a chance to soak up enough water. Shrubs in full flower use up a surprising amount of water, like gallonas

Fairygirl · March 2023

I've often moved plants when in flower, and it isn't always problematic.

How big and how healthy was the rootball when you re potted it @Humblebea? Did you tease the roots out a bit when you repotted? They need a good loam/soil based medium if staying in pots - not just compost. That's only ok for a short time.

If the rootball is big, I don't think that pot is big enough. There's a lot of top growth for the roots to support, but it can simply be a bit of transplant shock too.
How small was the pot it was in before? It may have been one of those forced ones if you got it a year ago. They don't grow that quickly, so it's likely to have been quite pot bound when you got it.

Camellias are absolutely bone hardy. If any are dying off it's down to the cultivation and conditions they're growing in, rather than the winter weather - even the wet/freeze stuff we had in December, and earlier in March. Snow does no harm at all, and neither does excess rain. They wouldn't grow like weeds up here if that was the case. They do need decent drainage in the ground though - waterlogging is a bigger problem than almost anything else. I often pass a house which has rhodos and camellias in a border on the boundary. Everything about the site is wrong - south facing, planted right at the pavement footings, no shade for them from anywhere else, and on a slope [running back towards the grass] which is always waterlogged - even after normal rainfall. They're all desperately trying to survive...

Humblebea · March 2023

It was in a tiny pot when I bought it so I moved it to the only pot I had available, which was for a hanging basket so quite short and wide. I only decided to move it this time because the pot was so small and shallow I didn’t think it would get enough rain.

It’s in ericaceous compost and some manure at the moment. I’d love to put it in a border but I think the soil here is too chalky. I have spotted quite a few growing happily in the ground in my area though?

bédé · March 2023

Humblebea said:

I think the soil here is too chalky. I have spotted quite a few growing happily in the ground in my area though?

Don't just think, check. pH test kits are quite inexpensive.

Where are you? Soils can vary vastly in a short distance. I thought my daughter's Chiltern soil would be chalk, but it turned out to be Clay-with-flints. About ph 6.5, quite acidic enough for camellias.

What camellias need is iron. You can always use sequestered iron solution.

Fairygirl · March 2023

Unfortunately, you can't rely on rainfall for watering it thoroughly. If you don't live in an area with good, soft water, it's always worth collecting it for watering, especially for that late summer spell when the new flower buds are forming.

Although they're not quite as shallow rooting as rhodos [hence the need for plenty of water in summer ] they still need a decent growing medium in a pot, so a soil based one is what you need, and you can then add ericaceous compost every now and again. Good drainage too.
It's totally reliant on you for it's needs, so it's always harder to grow them well in pots long term, rather than in the ground, although some are more easy going than others.

Floppy camellia

Posts