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Salix

callypwattscallypwatts Posts: 1
in Problem solving
We have a beautiful 6 year old Salix (flamingo?) which started to lose colour and now is beginning to turn brown and may be dying. How can we revive it

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2023
    Hello and welcome to the forum 😊

    Salix need a lot of water … it sounds very thirsty … give it 2 buckets full of water,  poured gently over the root area so that it soaks in, every other day for the next two weeks …. then 2 buckets full twice a week until mid September, whether it rains or not. You cannot overwater a willow (Salix). 

    If it survives start watering again in early March … 2 buckets full twice a week until Mid Sept. More often if it’s a hot dry spell. 

    🤞 

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





  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited July 2023
    @callywatts They can scorch in full sun. We have also had some drying winds here. I wonder if you have watered it. Mature shrubs are normally fine and should be left to get on with it normally.
    I would give it a very deep soak with as many bowls of washing up water as it can take at the roots avoiding run off if you can.  Avoid water that may have strong chemicals. Washing up liquid well diluted is fine. Welcome 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    A mix of wind, sun and drought are the usual reasons. 
    You can't overwater them, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're in one of those areas prone to hosepipe bans and long dry spells, that it may not be worth having it at all.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited July 2023
    Without chlorophyll, variegated leaves are easily damaged by sun. Similar to the lack of melanin in white-skinned people.  AS the season progresses the leaves get greener and less easily damaged.

    Like all salix they like a lot of water.    I am not a fan of "grey" water that may contain a lot of fat and cooked food that will tend to plug up the pores in soil and reduce free drainage.  (I am surprised that the very people who complain about my spraying insects with dilute fresh dishwasher solution will accept this practcie.)


     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @bedeIn this country every time we turn on a tap we have the luxury of fresh drinking water.
    There are hose pipe bans in various parts of the country at present water butts are empty so what is best for a plants survival? Clean drinking water that is left to stand is best but ecologically wrong so there is a conflict of interest and for most gardeners it becomes a mix of both.
    Due to a cold winter there are less insects personally I don't spray for them anyway.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    @bede as a child we had a grey water tank that took the grey water from the bath and sink in the bathroom. I always assumed that this happened with everyone. There is nothing wrong with using this water especially as it was allowed to sit in a huge tank for a long time to allow any sediments to settle. Fats in washing up bowls maybe a concern but if needs be then people should be allowed to decide if they want to use it.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    bertrand-mabel said:
     Fats in washing up bowls maybe a concern but if needs be then people should be allowed to decide if they want to use it.
    To make the right decisions, they need the facts, which they don't have.

    A small amount of human skin oils should present no problems, but a large amount of post-cooking oils and fats from washing up is different.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    “A large amount of post cooking oils and fats from washing up” shouldn’t be in the washing up water and going down the drains anyway. What are you like?!?!?

    Thought you said you were environmentally responsible in the way you do things @bédé !?

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





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Read my post again, carefully.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I did … and I quoted your words. 

    If you didn’t phrase it quite how you meant it I suggest you have another go. 😊 

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





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