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Azalea - yellowing leaves
Possum3
Posts: 19
I have an small Azalea bush that I planted a few years ago in it's recommended soil. Apart from the black vine weevil enjoying it (which I am currently dealing with) it's now developing yellow leaves. It's never a pretty looking plant, except when it flowers, due to its bitten out leaves and the odd yellow leaf all year round. But now that Autumn is here the amount of yellow leaves has gone crazy. I am not sure if I should replant it, in the same place but replacing the soil, or it is just not a happy plant in the wrong place or perhaps has a disease! As anyone experienced this before and resolved it? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Hi Possum, they do drop some leaves, as do Rhodies. What's the soil like where it's planted? They like a bit of damp - don't do so well if the soil dries out. Has it been markedly worse this year?
The grubs of vine weevil are the usual issue for plants of any kind - most healthy rhodies and azaleas will shrug off the adult damage, so it's just a bit unsightly, but the grubs are a different matter altogether.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You can give yur azalea, and all evergreens, a foliar feed using a solution of 1tbs/15ml of Epsom Salts in a gallon/5 litres of water. It provides magnesium which helps with chlorosis (yellowing of the leaves).
You can also water the roots with a solution of sequestered iron or Miracid following the intructions on the pack.
Use rain water if you can as hard water locks up any iron and magnesium in the soil so that the roots of ericaceous plants can't access it and then they get anaemic and chlorotic and can't photosynthesise properly.