Hydrangea help

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HoosierDaddy
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Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » June 24th, 2017, 3:16 pm

I've had this Hydrangea for 4 years now. The first year I had it in a full sun area and it struggled. The next year I moved it to a spot that gets a mix of sun and shade. The heat stress is gone, but it hasn't grown much in 3 years and the colors are off as you can see from the pic. Any thoughts/tips?

Image

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by ken-n-nancy » June 27th, 2017, 6:16 pm

What have you been doing for fertilization?

HoosierDaddy
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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » June 27th, 2017, 9:47 pm

A handful of Milo once a month-ish...

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by bpgreen » June 28th, 2017, 11:56 pm

If I remember correctly, hydrangeas do best in acidic soil. The yellow leaves with green veins are a sign of iron deficiency, often caused by alkaline soil preventing the plant from using the iron that is in the soil.

You could add chelated iron to the soil for a relatively quick and short term fix. Sulfur worked into the soil takes longer to work, but also lasts longer.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by ken-n-nancy » June 29th, 2017, 10:07 am

By the way, has this hydrangea ever bloomed for you? The color of typical hydrangea blooms can be a rough indicator of soil pH -- hydrangeas in significantly acidic soil will typically have blue blooms, while those in more alkaline soil will typically have pink blooms, due to the differing ability to take up aluminum at low pH vs. high pH. (Well, unless your hydrangea has white or cream-colored blooms, which don't exhibit the color change.)


HoosierDaddy
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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » June 29th, 2017, 10:12 am

Blooms have been rare, but the few from a couple years ago were pink. What I would have expected from my alkaline soil, 7.8 per the last soil test.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by bpgreen » June 29th, 2017, 11:49 am

HoosierDaddy wrote:
June 29th, 2017, 10:12 am
Blooms have been rare, but the few from a couple years ago were pink. What I would have expected from my alkaline soil, 7.8 per the last soil test.
If your soil pH is 7.8, I think your hydrangea will continue to suffer. Foliar iron sprays (when it's cool enough) and watering in chelated iron will help with the iron chlorosis in the leaves, but won't help with the color. Those are both also short term fixes (foliar spray especially so). For longer term help (and help with the flower color), you need to incorporate sulfur into the soil (surface application won't do much, if anything). That will last longer, but even that will need to be repeated every couple of years.

In general, it's better to choose plants that are suited to your conditions than to try to change your conditions to suit the plants you've chosen (I stole this line from somebody on the GardenWeb Rocky Mountain forum).

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » June 30th, 2017, 11:15 am

I have the same issue, mine is more sun related. They fried in the sun the first year, I moved them - now they don't get enough sun.

And my soil is alkaline like yours, which doesn't help.

As the sun has shifted this year, they've done better, but are still puny. Surface applied sulfur alone didn't remedy anything for me.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » June 30th, 2017, 1:37 pm

We bought one for ourselves the same time as we did as a gift for a neighbor. Hers is flourishing. She's done nothing to it.

HLG- mine now gets afternoon sun for a few hours, 12-5-ish. As long as it doesn't die, I guess I'll keep seeing what it can do.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » August 12th, 2017, 2:40 am

Hi there!

Not sure if we are allowed to post links to products? Is this against the rules?

Well anyway, there are a few things I would suggest looking into after having read your posts. I really have no idea the extent of your gardening skill and ability or experience. I'm not listing these tips to state the obvious or talk down to you or tell you something you probably already know - I'm just simply listing how I would attack the problem myself:

1) I'd pick an area right near that bush that is representative of the same soil your hydrangea is growing in. I'd then perform a soil percolation test if you are unsure of the drainage of that particular bed. The standard advice is to dig a hole 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep with straight sides. Then you fill the hole with water from your garden hose and let it drain. Once drained, fill the hole once more with the garden hose and then time how long it takes to drain again. If it drains in under 6 hours, the drainage is acceptable. Even better is around 2-4 hours.

2) I'd water the bush well and wait a day . The following day, I'd then dig up the root ball out to the dripline of the plant carefully and inspect the root ball. Are the roots a nice bright white? Do they smell? Is the bush root-bound? This is important, because some people don't have the heart to score their root ball when they plant and the root system grows around itself in circles - and the plant sits there doing nothing. If you do have a root-bound root ball, take a knife and score the outside of it. Don't be too gentle here. It looks and feel worse than it is. The thing will recover just fine and do much better for it!

3) When you re-plant the rootball, make sure to enlarge the hole to twice the diameter of the rootball, but keep it the same depth, so that when you re-plant the rootball is level with the surface of the soil. Mix the soil you removed from the hole 50/50 with compost. Place the root ball into the hole and back fill with this amended mixture. Then water it in twice to settle any air pockets and add some more amended soil as needed to level everything out.

4) I'd also use Miracid or what's now called Miracle-Gro Azalea , Camelia, and Rhodedendron Plant Food (https://www.miraclegro.com/smg/products ... d_Food.pdf) to feed it every 14 days and keep the pH acid where it's most happy!

Just my 2 cents! Hope it works out for you and happy gardening!

Cheers,

John

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » August 14th, 2017, 1:21 pm

John- thanks SO much for all these tips. Is this a good time of year for this exercise? I will work on that this weekend. As for my gardening skills... I like things that don't take too much work from the flowering perspective. Lots of perennials. Roses, Lilies, Daylilies. Spring bulbs- daffodils/hyacinths. Most are no muss, no fuss. My biggest issue? Rabbits. Next, this hydrangea. So you've hit my number 2 concern! :)

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » August 14th, 2017, 2:24 pm

I'd do it 4-6 weeks before your first frost at the very latest to let the root system re-establish.

Let me know how it goes! I guess we'll see next spring! :-)

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » August 20th, 2017, 2:24 pm

John- Drainage is an issue. My 1X1X1 hole still had a few inches of water at 6 hours. I didn't check later than that as it was getting a little late :) Next day I dug it up, and the root ball was very small, but not bound per se. There were several small shoots off the main roots but I was surprised at how small it was in relation to the plan size. The plant was roughly 18 inches across, but the root area was maybe 6 inches. I dug out a large 18 inch deep and 2ft square area and mixed in compost. Replanted and watered in. I haven't gotten any of the plant food you recommended but will add that as well.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » August 20th, 2017, 3:37 pm

Sounds great! I'm excited to see if the little guy takes off now!

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » August 20th, 2017, 3:48 pm

Also, please be aware that most hydrangeas bloom on old wood. Meaning, that if you prune it back each fall/winter, you're removing the flower buds it developed during the growing season, and it won't bloom for you next season.

So, the most common way to prune a hydrangea (and it does depend on which type you have - is it a mophead, a lacecap, an oakleaf?) is to prune it after it blooms, and only prune back the oldest, most diseased or damaged and gnarliest looking 1/3rd of the canes all the way down to the ground. This way, every 3 years, you've renewed the entire bush.

My father used to prune his hydrangea down to the ground every November/December once it wen't fully dormant and he wondered why the thing never bloomed. Then, I told him, just like old garden roses, they bloom on old wood! So last Fall, he didn't prune it at all - this year? It bloomed, albeit it late because it only gets part sun. Hydrangeas really do need full sun to bloom evenly and early! And really, you need to site them well, because pruning to control their horizontal and vertical spread is kind of a losing battle with a hydrangea IMHO.

Please do keep me updated!

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by andy10917 » August 20th, 2017, 6:52 pm

Also, please be aware that most hydrangeas bloom on old wood.[/quoteg

I don't know if that is true anymore - it used to be but the mix is now around 50/50. It's why I never offer advice on Hydrangeas.
Hydrangeas really do need full sun to bloom evenly and early!
Except for that. Especially that. Full MORNING sun is OK, but protection from full afternoon sun is needed. They naturally wilt a little at the peak heat of the day, but full afternoon sun can lead easily to less flowering and even loss of leaves.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » August 20th, 2017, 8:29 pm

I agree. They get sad and wilty in the heat and dont do well in hot afternoon sun. I don't have any real hardcore full sun areas and I live in a cooler climate than most, so my experience is only that they dont flower evenly and early unless getting a healthy dose of light from all angles. I can imagine somewhere hotter and in a eide open field, they wouldn't be too happy. I live in a heavily wooded lot.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » September 1st, 2017, 1:45 pm

Hey HoosierDaddy, did your Hydrangea survive the shock? Anything to report?

HoosierDaddy
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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by HoosierDaddy » September 1st, 2017, 1:55 pm

It's looking pretty bad. I'll add pics when I get home. I think it might be a goner.

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Re: Hydrangea help

Post by jfoege » September 1st, 2017, 3:16 pm

Damn. That sucks.

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