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advice on poorly plant
simontarrant5
Posts: 1
Hi, need some advice on this plant - not even sure what it is, but its been lush and healthy for 8 years we've been in this house, and now its in a bad way. I have fed it, and watered it, but its previously needed (or had) no care and been fine - any ideas please?
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Posts
My limited knowledge tells me it's a Fatsia Japonica although why it is looking so poorly is outside of my skillset I'm afraid.
Hi
Fadtia Japinica are normalily pest free and very easy to maintain if they are in their appropriate aspect on semi to full shade. It's does look from the photos that it is wilting due to lack of water. Have you planted anything close to it that would compete with nutrients in the soil. Is the aspect for the plant still the same and it is still in some shade
I would also check the soil surface for any signs of problems, although what the problem could be is hard to say
I would also cut in down to the base and see if that will kick start growth
I suppose you've checked for vine weevil, could be roots problem, a dog couldn't have wee'd on it?
Looking again, another thought... it seems to go above the fence, have next door neighbours taken a dislike to it and sprayed it with weed killer?
I don't like the way the leaves are dying from the base at the top of the picture, it looks very much like it's drinking something that will kill it. My first thought is that somone has been using weed killer for dandelion on a lawn or pathway and it's seeped into the bed. Others may have other ideas, but I suspect it's too late for activated charcoal but it's worth a shot, as is root pruning. If the roots have grown under the fence and the neighbours have treated the lawn then you dig a trench cutting the roots off from absorbing any more. It might bounce back so give it time.
Ohh nasty! I have had one for years in places where there are vine weevils and it still grows beautifully. It is usually pretty tough, has it suddenly collapsed? That is very sad, I love mine.
They are very easy to cut back hard, the wood is quite soft. I noticed a plant in your next doors garden behind it, is that looking as if its dying off?
It would take an awful lot of dog pee to kill it. I do hope it will improve. Have you tried hosing it down in case it's had weed killer on it?
Last edited: 21 April 2017 06:52:16
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
If it's lawn weedkiller then hosing will make it worse I fear. Im not sure cutting back is a good idea until you know if it's in the soil or not, you don't want it absorbing more chemicals as it tries to regrow. Casually Asking the neighbours if they have treated the lawn or paths recently because you are thinking of doing so and what would they recommend is the non-confrontational and painfully British thing to do.
The same thing has happened to my fatsia this winter. It is bigger than yoursbut has now lost all its leaves. I don't think it has been poisoned as it has fresh growth from the base nor has anything around it changed. So far I have just left the bare branches and will see what happens but I am at a loss to know why a plant that was healthy and thriving for years has just gone to nothing.
We had a mild spell and then a cold snap - I'm wondering if that's at the root of the trouble - tender young growth being turned to mush by frost.
If it were mine I'd leave it alone for a while ... a couple of months or so when we should be getting some more reliable milder temperatures ... then maybe you'll get some fresh growth.
Fingers crossed.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My fatsia has been in the garden for years. There is probably a frost hollow at the lowest point of the slope at the bottom of my garden where the plant is and it survived throughout the exceptionally cold winters of 10/11. 11/12 . There is a high canopy of next doors large oak tree which might protect it a bit.
I am willing it to recover. Poor plant.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'