I planted two Isanti dogwood bushes this spring, they were very healthy; now they look thin and sickly. I don't know if I'm over watering or under watering or if they have a fungus. I've read about Dogwood blight but I don't know if it attacks bushes. I have a close up I'll add to next entry.
Here is a close-up
A couple questions. Do you fertilize them, and if so with what and how often? Is that a drip irrigation system or does it have spray heads?
How often and for how long do you water and are you getting regular rainfall? ( weekly?)
I did put down Bayer Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed Granules with 12 Month Insect Protection in late spring. I allowed them to get too dry and had one wilt pretty bad so I put drip irrigation on them. I was watering them every day and discovered that it was too much. So now I'm trying to let them dry out more between waterings. They are on the north side of our deck, I planted them this spring when I moved some hydrangea bushes I had planted on the west side of the house last year (too much sun there). We are located in the Kansas City area (zone 5 or 6); it's been an unusually mild summer here with more rain then we usually get. They get some early morning as well as some late afternoon sun but are in the shade for most of the day. This picture was take around 3pm at the end of July. Thanks for the help.
J, from your other thread, if these plant are getting 1 hour of drip irrigation on a daily basis, they are getting too much water and the same problems are present. With that much water, you are washing away the nutrients the plants need, and if they are too wet, the feeder roots can not absorb what the plant needs. I know that the C stolonifera 'Isanti" can tolerate a wetter soil than most dogwoods, but even it can't stay wet all the time. Cut your watering back to once a week, for however long it takes to put down the proper amount of water. The easiest way to figure with a soaker hose is to mark off 1 inch on a plastic cup, sink the cup into the ground under the soaker hose and see how long it takes to reach that 1 in mark. That tells you how long you should water if it doesn't rain.
For example: It takes 1 hour to fill the cup. Each week that you do not get rain, you turn the system on for 1 hour. If you get 1/4 inch of rain, in a week, cut the time back by 1/4.....or 15 minutes so that the plants get supplemental water for 45 minutes that week. To take the guesswork out of it, get a rain gauge and place it out in the open away from overhangs and trees/shrubs. Make it a habit to read and empty after each rain. That way you will know just how much and just how long to supplement the rain.
I hope this helps you. Good luck with your garden
Thanks
Your pretty sharp for a Louisiana country girl.
Thank'ee sir. Some might not agree, but they haven't seen my tongue.....GRIN
Tongue's not black is it? You know with that howl at the moon, you never know. I howled at the moon one night. Have to share it with you some time.
Not black,Jim. Sharp....just very very sharp. And not always intentionally either...grin.
I can not wait to hear this adventure. I tell ya, it can be good for the soul and what ever else ails ya.
