Forum home› The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

JASMINE 'PROBLEM'?

billy5billy5 Posts: 24
in The potting shed
I have an established Jasmine growing healthily in a large pot. It's about 7 years old and flowers profusely every year. Recently, over the last couple of weeks, a lot of the leaves have turned a deep red and have eventually fallen off. The plant looks healthy and is still in flower.

The leaves do turn red in the Autumn and Winter months but never this early. The pot is 600 (2ft) dia X 450 (1.5ft deep) I have looked at Jasmine, of a similar size, growing in much smaller pots in garden centres. So, it would appear, that it does not need repotting.

Is it normal for a Jasmine to shed its leaves in Summer? It is watered and fed regularly.  

Posts

  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    I would increase the watering - adding buckets every few days - not drizzles. Maybe consider giving a top dressing on fish, blood and bone or manure.
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    billy5 said:

    The leaves do turn red in the Autumn and Winter months but never this early. The pot is 600 (2ft) dia X 450 (1.5ft deep) I have looked at Jasmine, of a similar size, growing in much smaller pots in garden centres. So, it would appear, that it does not need repotting.

    Has the plant been in the same compost for seven years? Just because garden centres have plants in smaller pots, that doesn't mean your plant couldn't do with an upgrade or maybe just some new growing medium. Garden centre plants are intensively grown and nurtured to ensure they look their best for the customer but once the plants are taken home they have to be allowed to expand their root systems a little.....or a lot. If the roots are taking up all the space in the pot then it will be difficult for the plant to take up water.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    It sounds like starvation and drought. Try replacing about half the compost with fresh and keep it watered. You could even try thinning the plant out to about 50% to  give it a rest.
  • AthelasAthelas Posts: 946
    edited July 2023
    Agree with the others — assuming the potting medium hasn’t been refreshed in 7 years, any nutrition in the pot will have been long used up, whatever the size of pots and plants you see in the garden centre.

    Suggest using John Innes 3 and a large handful or two of well rotted manure when you replace the compost (as advised by @Joyce Goldenlily), as simply using multi-purpose compost does not provide enough goodness.

    For a pot like that, I would be giving ~15 litres of water at a time.
    Cambridgeshire, UK
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I agree too. If the compost hasn't been changed in 7 years it will have used up all the nutrients, and it might have got to the stage where the pot is so full of roots so that water just runs through no matter how much you try to give it.
    Leaves turning deep red suggests to me Trachelospermum (common name star jasmine) rather than actual jasmine, but the advice would be the same either way.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • billy5billy5 Posts: 24
    Thank you all for your advice. I re-potted the plant a few years ago. I regularly water and feed, usually chicken manure, blood fish & bone and growmore. (Not all at once) OK I will try a couple of handfuls of chicken manure and heavily water the plant.

    Once again.

    Thank you  
Sign In or Register to comment.