quick decline of new barberry red rocket

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kinym Carmichael, CA(Zone 9b) Apr 21, 2013

It was purchased a month ago, planted in a rock garden type setting. Light watering and a small bit of rain. Warm weather, 70's and just reached the 80's this week. It stayed bright red for about 3 weeks, then slowly began turning more green, with some not all leaves curling, dry at the tips, some whole branches dry. I'm adding pictures of before and after... Does anyone know what could be going wrong? I pulled it out to check the roots. New roots look bright, and the soil, football was just damp, not soggy.

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Apr 23, 2013

I have seen the 'individual leaves dry and curl' when the plant in the can or newly in the ground goes dry just once. It does not kill the plant, but a few leaves are more affected, others recover. It can also happen that the container was sitting in the sun and the can (and roots) got too hot.

There may be other reasons, but at this point I would deep soak the plant, making sure the water soaks the root zone thoroughly. You may need to build a berm around the plant to keep the water in the root zone.
Then, remembering that the current roots are not spreading much wider or deeper than the original can, allow that area to get somewhat dry, but not too dry between watering.

Leaf color change may be related to sun/shade. Most of the colored leaf barberries will develop the richest color in the full sun, and some are temperature dependent, growing redder in the cold, greener in the mild weather.

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Apr 23, 2013

I have looked up the variety 'Red Rocket' and it is not supposed to be green at any time. The red leaves get brighter in the fall, but it is red all summer.
Maybe you have a mis-labeled plant?

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kinym Carmichael, CA(Zone 9b) Apr 26, 2013

Thank you both! I actually moved it, still full sun, but a little less severe and started watering everyday. It is back to almost all red and it growing new leaves. Thank you for the advice. The man at the nursery also was suprised it was going green, and told me that they are watering theirs everyday.

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