Showing posts with label Chlorosis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chlorosis. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Another sickly plant.....

I posted about my sickly Skimmias the other day and now I'm posting about my sickly Camelia - another ericaceous loving plant.
Unlike the skimmias that were potted wrong and in unsuitable soil this Camelia is in a large enough pot, in ericaceous compost and has been fed according to instructions as often as required, I'm pretty sure this can't be Chlorosis.
And yet it still looks like this


Despite obviously ailing from something the Camelia is covered with healthy buds as usual



Anyone have any idea of what it suffers from? I'd really love to know.
All I can think of from a little internet searching is that maybe it's getting too much sunlight. I keep it in the polytunnel as it would not survive up here outside and it isn't shaded in any way. I wouldn't have thought that would be an issue but apparantly Camelias do not like early morning sun - who knew!
But would excess sunlight cause this? Could those brown splodges be burns?
I've quickly moved it to a slightly more shaded area of the polytunnel to avoid too much sunlight but  I'm not even sure if this is what ails it. HELP!! I love my Camelia and would hate to lose it cos it produces flowers like this



On a brighter note, guess who managed to get out in the garden today? Go on guess.....
Yup, yup, yup the snow (what there was of it) has gone, the winds have dropped to barely noticeable and this means the temperatures are not quite so cold as they have been.
So myself and Mr TG (rare day off from work, well his usual work anyway) spent the day outside - I was clearing ugly borders ready for moving around of perennials and a serious mulching and Mr TG was rotovating and everything else associated with being stubborn enough (and foolish enough?) to believe he can turn all the land over with just his trusty rototiller.


He's actually done alot more than is shown here but I wasn't nearby to catch a picture of him rotovating (I'll snag him tomorrow though) so a raking picture will have to suffice for now.
He's determined to do this himself (maybe to prove his COPD does not affect him one iota -insert rolling eyes here) and luckily we're not bothered about a perfect field. we just want to get it levelled enough to mow it (it's full of digger tracks and Dane holes and a danger to walk on at the mo).

Saturday, 23 March 2013

Skimmia needs help.........

It seems as though I do nothing but moan about the weather at the moment and to be honest I really shouldn't because we have it much better up here than our southern neighbours (for a change) however it really is flippin freezing here.
I wrapped up this morning with thermal clothing, layers of jumpers, thick trousers, a coat, gloves and my 'Hotheadz' hoodie and even then I still froze. We don't have the forecasted snow though it's just a biting gale force wind that is causing the temperature drop.
I messed around outside for as long as I could take it but then headed back in to the warmth of the house.

Here's something I've been meaning to look into for a while now and keep forgetting. I have a couple of Skimmia Japonica - one is planted in the ground and one is in a pot. The pot one looks quite straggly and sickly and while the planted one is a lovely shaped shrub the colour is looking a little yellow to me - what do you think?


It's not just me it IS looking sickly isn't it?


The planted one is in a shaded position so I know it's not getting too much sunlight. When I was potting up the other one I checked the roots so I know there's no issue there. The only other thing I can think of is Chlorosis.
So with Chlorosis in mind I guess I should maybe add an Iron product to the soil? Or should I dig it up, check the surrounding soil and then dig in more suitable soil before replacing? Or do I spray the leaves? Or do I do both soil and foliage treatment?  Is it ok to dilute the soil application to spray on the leaves or do I need a special feed?
Could really do with some help on this one guys because I've looked it all up on the internet and I'm more confused than I was before - have any of you guys had a similar experience and managed to rectify it?