My CamelliaPLEASE help!

I have had this beautiful Camellia ("Bob Hope") for almost 12 years.

It has bloomed beatifully for all these years. Then--three years ago--during the Winter it started having yukky leaf problems.
So many leaves became blotched and spotted and "fungusy" looking--even though it did noet affect the growth, overall nor the blooming.

These affected leaves started in mid-winter and stayed on the plant until mid-Spring--well into the blooming time. Then they slowly dropped off.
I have been in contact with MikeQ in Georgia) and he advised me last year to feed it to death and mulch with pine needles.
I have been fertilizing it with Espoma Holly Tone and, last Fall, I put a lot of coffee grinds on it and mulched it with pine needles....
Didn't seem to help.

My Camellia seems to look very straggly ion the last couple of years. Perhaps it is just getting old?
The branches are growing here and there and, overall, I no longer like the appearance of it.

I was wanting to ask if it would be OK to give the whole shrub a serious cur back pruning. Like--REALLY down ti the main stems?
The new growth is already going gung-Ho! Is it too late? Can this even be done?

The blooms are not as they should be--but then we all had a VERY long, cols Winter.
They look like as if they were affected by too much rain..the buds are not "fresh looking" and have petals on them that look moldy.

WHAT should I do? PLEASE only knowledgeable posters reply. No "guessing games" here. OK?
I am a very good gardener....just sometimes, I do not know what is wrong.....

Here is a picture of the affected leaves from last year. What do these tell you?

The shrub has gown more and more straggly (old age, maybe?) but, yo me, it is starting to look ugly.

I will post a few pictures of how it looks right now. My question is, though, should i give it a serious cut back.....REALLT a serious one?????


Here is how the leaves are looking now....

This shows the overall straggliness of the Shrub....

This is a view from the front steps showing the top of the shrub.

ALL the leaves that grew last Summer have now dropped off, leaving bare stems.
The new growth of the stems is doing very well, I am almost afraid to give the whole Shrub a cut-back because of it.

Here is a close-up of the leaves. What do you think? This has been happening the last 3 Winters....

It doesn't seem that the plant is affected, overall--just that the leaves dropping off is making the whole shrub look sickly.

I still wonder if I should give it a SERIOUS cut-back????

Please post a reply ONLY if you know what you are talking about. NO guessing games! OK?
I am NOT a novice gardener--but this really bothers me.

Thanks, Gita

Just FYI---

This Shrub is by my front steps which face NW. It almost gets no sun at all.

Because of a leaking gutter--when it rains--it does get a bit too much water,but it is easily absorbed in the bed.
The water does not drip right on the Shrub--but maybe a couple of feet to the back of it.

Even though the attached picture is from 2006, you get an idea of where it is located......
It is, by now, much taller and wider.......AND--stragglier.....

My Camellias leaves always look rough in late winter and the old leaves drop off with dark green ones replacing them. This is right time of year for that to happen so I wouldn't be very worried about it. Do you know the PH of the soil??? Camellias like acidic soil and if it's not acidic enough that would cause more yellowing of the leaves right before they fall off. Your foundation might be pushing up the PH level right next to the house. Over all your camellia doesn't look odd to me for the time of year.

Some varieties of camellias are perfectly shaped some aren't. Yours looks like it could use a pruning to control the size and the density. Camellias will do fine with being pruned pretty hard but I would do it right now. Best time would be right after it flowers.

Camellias love my area and simply grow trouble free so there maybe a some sort of disease in your area that I don't know about but over all looks well enough to me.

Core---Thanks for your comments....

I have fed my Camellia 2x a year with Espoma Hollytone, and last Fall, I dumped a pile of coffee grinds on it and mulched it with pine straw.

This leaf problem started 3 years ago....Never before!

The hose foundation is a good 4' away from this plant. There is a buffer of stones edged by a RR tie to hold them in. THEN the bed starts.
It IS closer to the concrete of my fromt steps--but my house is 41 years old. I don't think there is all that much left that would leach out...

What concerns me more than anything is the moldy appearance of the blooms....They are dropping of by the dozens in bud. The blooms are nowhere near the size or "freshness" that they used to be..
I know we had a VERY cold, snowy Winter this year. Perhaps the temps. were too much--as far as the blooms are concerned--as they develop already in late Summer....

Here is what they look like.....These are a few of the fallen off ones......See the "fungus" looking ones? Most of them have this to some degree......

Thanks for any words of wisdom . Gita

I do get a little a little mold on the old leaves before they fall off but not the flowers themselves. That looks like the flowers got moldy before they bloomed so the problem goes back to the fall. I know we had a very wet winter in SC and I imagined you did too so your camellia most likely just stayed wet for days at a time without heat or sun to dry it out. That would be a one time event and nothing to worry about either. You can't do anything now and conditions will be different next year. I would clean up the blooms and old leaves removing them from the area and you could use a fungicide just to make sure you get rid of any left over mold. The problem with fungus is if you start having it reoccurring then it's the conditions the plant is growing in and you will be fighting an up hill battle. If the plant was fine for years and nothing has changed condition wise it's just a one time event.

Core--

Do you know Mike Quinn ("mqiq77") in GA? He has been my adviser for years......I sent him a pile of cuttings about 3 years ago and he rooted them all. I think i will send him some more--as the consensus now seems to be that I cut the shrub back--pretty severely.....SO! That is what I will do in about a week.....

Much of what you said, he also has suggested--and I, myself, have already thought of doing.....The growth just looks too straggly and "not well".....I have never grown any other camellias--so i do not know what a 12+yr. old camellia should look like???/
So be it! I will give it a severe pruning back--clean up all the old mulch and dropped leaves, and spray well with Daconil. Kind of--start over.......Nothing else I can do!

This is NOT a "one time" event--as the leaves have been having this problem for 3 years in a row now. Never before 2007!
After seeing all my pictures and reading about all my woes--he thinks that I have given it the good old "college try" and it is time to cut it back.

Have you ever cut a mature Camellia back to the heavy wood? How did it fare after that?

Thanks again for all your input.
Here is a close-up of the blooms from 2007...The way it looked back then! All healthy and robust!

Gita

I have one camellia at the corner of the house and I do cut that back every year maybe 2 -3 ft cut off. It would be growing over the roof if I didn't trim it back No problems doing that at all, in that camellias case it never really had a good shape to it it tends to run branches in any direction it wants. I have some others that are heirlooms and no one knows the names and those all have a natural pyramid shape. They are also 20 ft tall or so. Just remembered one of mine I transplanted from a construction area, it was about 15 ft tall and I pruned that back severely. It sent new growth straight out of the trunk the next year and did fine.

No I don't know Mike BTW.

Here's a link that might help you. Camellias come in many different varities. Big, small, etc etc. http://www.camforest.com/

Core---

We live in very different zones. You are in zone 9a---I am in zone 7a.
I cannot imagine a Camellia 15' tall!!!! NOT here! I don't even think too many people grow them around here...

I believe most Camellias are borderline hardy to zone 7....and, sometimes they are even struggling to survive here....
People just need to know their "wants" and "needs".....
The main reason mine has done so well is that is totally protected from harsh winds from the North-West by two larger Shrubs on either side of my front steps---One is a Canadian Hemlock to the West--and a large Yew to the East. Both are foundation plantings when the house was built 40 years ago. I keep them trimmed--every year.
SO! It has grown happily in this environment for years. It almost gets NO sun at all.....It is in a moist/wet environment--and is protected from harsh winds.

SO! In the end--something else has done it in......NOT just old age!

I shall persevere-----and I shall cut it back....

Gita