Elaeagnus looking unwell
Green Hope
Posts: 5
Hi all,
I'm an absolute novice when it comes to gardening, but I love trees and we had some planted into the ground (container grown from nursery). The elaeagnus was always a tad unhealthy from the beginning and arrived to us with a white powdery substance on the leaves (which is still present), shrivelling leaves and dry, parched soil. She was recovering quite well and started flowering about 2 weeks ago. However, this past week we've noticed that some of her leaves have turned yellow and are shedding and many of the others are beginning to shrivel. In the area where the trees are planted we recently had a permeable membrane put down with 20mm gravel on top. She is watered daily.
Is this some kind of cycle or have we done something wrong? Please kindly advise us as to what we can do....
With thanks,
SB ????
Posts
Mine has the silvery dust and it seems quite healthy,. so I don't think the silvery dust is a problem.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
I wonder why you are watering every day? How much are you putting on? You should really only water when the ground is dry. Personally, I would cut a large circle out of the membrane round any shrubs and keep the gravel well away from the roots. In Spring, when the soil is moist but not wet. put on a mulch of well rotted manure but don't allow it to touch the shrub. Eleagnus are pretty tough so give it a chance to survive, it may yet recover.
Many thanks to all of you for your replies, it's much appreciated.
I water daily as that was the advice given by the nursery, who explained that once planted into the ground it will need to establish its' root system, and then less watering would be required. It gets about 5 litres daily, and I also read that on forestry.gov.uk/pdf/eng-treecare-guide.pdf/$FILE/eng-treecare-guide.pdf
Do you think I'm over-watering? I'll be working on removing that membrane tomorrow! As apart from flowering, that was the only main change it's encountered over the last couple of weeks.
Thank you once again!
SB ?
Yes I think you are probably overwatering.
I planted mine in the top corner of my garden in not particularly good soil but it has thrived. Our soil drains well.
What is the soil like in your garden? How well does the soil drain away? It could be that the membrane is holding too much water.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
I think watering depends on conditions. Many people - my OH is one of them - bung a young tree in, give it a drink and feel that that's job done for the next fifty years. If the weather is sunny and breezy and your soil is light, frequent watering will be needed but in cool, cloudy, damp conditions or on moisture retentive ground less is ok. Plants die from too much as well as too little. I have several eleagnus, some in shade and some in sun. The soil is heavy clay and can become very wet in winter but they don't seem to mind at all.
On the topic of under-/over-watering I'd like to quote those wise words from one of my favourite gardening websites, the Renegade Gardener at http://www.renegadegardener.com/
more specifically on that page: http://www.renegadegardener.com/content/ttenets.htm
"Starting to garden is to slip on board a train of creativity for what will become a lifelong, relaxing journey, relaxing once we get past that initial stage where we plant a tree and then kill it by watering it, heavily, every day, for fear that it will die from lack of water. Or, conversely, kill the tree by watering it heavily at time of planting, then never watering it again, unaware that a newly planted tree (or shrub) needs to be watered about every five days, the first season."
(my italics)
Thank you for your replies.
Our soil does not drain well, if we dig about a foot in we get clay! So it seems clear that the advice I have been following is not really for our trees...
How often should I water if our soil is how I've described? And I take it she will recover if I stop the over-watering?
Many thanks for your input.
SB ?