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Drooping Rhododendron
Paddy5
Posts: 82
I have a Rhododendron in a pot which flowers beautifully from early June. This year the leaves are drooping and the flower buds (of which there are many) are just not opening. It is not lack of water as the pot is watered regularly. Any advice please? It is a sorry looking specimen!!
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I'm having a similar problem albeit my flowers are open and looking stunning. It's a 4 year old plant and has never dropped like this before. Giving it regular ericaceous feed too.
Any advice welcome!
Does yours look like this, OP? (Leaves I mean)
Yes exactly minus the beautiful flowers !!!
Paddy5 and Glitzy, providing you've fed and watered your pots regularly, I think the most likely culprit is vine weevil larvae. I can see notches on the leaves in your photo, Glitzy, which look like adult vine weevil damage, so the larvae may well be present. Take the plant out of its pot and look for small c-shaped off-white larvae. If the grubs are evident, but there's enough life left in your rhodies, you could treat them with biological control - and there's a chemical killer if you don't mind using it.
Thank you will have a look.
Thank you so much Liriodendron. Sadly I think you're right. We found an adult on our almost dead azalea last night after reading your post.
We've drenched and drenched over the past couple of years and it's not cleared them so I've ordered some nematodes and traps for the adults. Only hope my beautiful rhody can be saved.
Out of interest which plants are most susceptible? I have my rhodies and azaleas in pots. My borders with petunias and violas have been untouched (except by slug). Think they've also had my hydrangea.
I also have roses in pots. Should I apply nematodes to everything or target the most susceptible plants?
That's hard luck, Glitzy. I think you'd do well to look on line for confirmation (the RHS website is very reliable), but my understanding is that almost anything in a pot is susceptible to vine weevil attack. In the ground, the only plants I have to treat on a regular basis are members of the primula family, heucheras, and strawberries. I probably just don't grow the other plants vine weevil particularly like, though! Nasty little beasties...