Elfin Thyme Dying 2 days after planting!

Please help! We are replacing our approx. 500 square foot lawn with Elfin Thyme. We live in zone 10a in Orange County, CA.

We killed the grass last fall and then amended our clay soil with compost, bone meal, gypsum and some fertilizer. It sat fallow for the whole winter and we are now planting the Elfin Thyme. Before planting last weekend, we tilled (the ground was rock hard again) and added a bunch more compost (about 1 cubic yard).

It's a lot of work and it is taking us several days to plant. We planted the first batch last Sunday, (today is Tuesday). We came out this morning to continue with the third batch, and noticed that the first batch seems to already be dying. We have watered somewhat lightly each evening, but it did dry out during the day yesterday and even though we had watered the night before, and last night, it was dry most of the day yesterday. I am not sure if the problem is too much water or not enough. I have read that they can get root rot if they get too much water, but also that they need more water the first year until they are established. They are getting plenty of sun.

I have read on several websites that people have had success with this plant in SoCal and in clay soils, so I am not sure what is going wrong. Please help! This is a very expensive and thyme-consuming (pun intended, lol) project and I don't want it to fail!

Any advice would be much appreciated. Pictures are attached.

I don't like the look of your "soil". Looks like it is impossible to hold water.

CountryGardens, so that would mean that they aren't getting enough water? We plan to continue applying compost on the surface to hopefully improve the soil over time, but this area had grass growing in it for a long time, so I know that plants can grow there. What tends to happen is that when we water in the evening, the soil is still moist in the morning, but then it dries up pretty quickly in the sun, while the shady areas stay moist (it even starts growing algae in the shade, which we noticed after it rained over the winter).

Should we water during the day to keep it moist, at least on the parts that get the most sun?

Are you planting straight out of 4" pots? Are you loosening up the root ball, or cutting it apart (to end up with more plants), prior to planting? Either of these could help. What is the soil like in the pots the plants come in? Is it very peaty?

Small pots in which vigorous plants are grown, e.g. Elfin thyme, tend to get quite root bound. Additionally, if the soil in the pot is peaty, this allows the rootball to dry out very quickly. If this happens, roots can't grow out from the rootball successfully (though in the short period of time you describe, new roots wouldn't likely be forming yet anyway).

Just by looking at your soil, and reading about how it's been prepped, I find it very hard to believe there's anything fatally wrong with it. (That said, just so you know, a cubic yard of compost over 500 square feet is not much.)

The only thing that makes sense in the short time you're describing is that they are indeed drying out.

They come in flats and we are cutting them up and loosening the roots. The soil they came in is dark with a lot of perlite and some larger pieces of wood and a few pebbles. It does seem like this would not have much to do with my soil because it has been such a short time, I don't think they've grown into the soil much.

I know I should put more compost down, and I was planning on just spreading some on the surface between the plants. I couldn't buy more last Saturday like I wanted because the place closed early and I had to make several trips, and we began planting on Sunday. I guess I'll try watering during the day. I was just afraid of overwatering because I know they are susceptible to root rot, and clay soil doesn't drain very well. So since they are so new, do they need to be kept moist all the time?

Do you tend to get a lot of breeze and wind where you live? That will dry out the top few inches of soil really fast. You might try watering early morning and again in the evening if you can do it well in advance of the sunset.

I don't think the thin application of compost really has anything to do with it either... I was just saying that it's not really so much organic matter as you might imagine. On the other hand, these common thymes are not delicate, fussy plants that need soil to be particularly fine-tuned in any way.

Yes, keep them moist by watering each plant daily... I'd suggest a watering can directly over each plant, not a sprinkler. (Sprinklers are deceptive... people tend to think spraying water around is much more effective than it really is at actually soaking into the ground to any appreciable depth.) I've bought, cut up and planted many pots of 'Elfin' thyme in order to get it going between our stepping stones. Most eventually take, a few fail. They must be kept moist to survive until they are able to put out roots into the native soil.

Daily or more, as per what Terry just said...

In Checking the growing requirements, it doesn't seem to like a lot of water and you mentioned that algae was growing in the shady areas.

Since a lot of plants don't like being watered at night because of mold issues, maybe just try watering in the morning, then early afternoon (if the soil is not damp), giving the plants themselves time to dry off before the sun goes down.

Another thought, albeit ugly for a front yard, is to lightly spread some straw over the plants, to shade them from the sun and to help keep some moisture in, just until they are established.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2015 5:44 PM

Very slightly off topic but you know, that thing about not watering plants at night is a gardening "old wive's tale"... have you ever woken in the morning, after it's rained in the night, to find your plants covered in mold?

Alta, Sure, mold doesn't grow overnight but within a few days, if you water at night here in my area, plants that are susceptible will start to succumb to black spot and powdery mildew and other fungal diseases, and mold does grow.

My ground outside is currently covered with green mold because its been raining so much with very little sun to dry the ground out. I also have clay soil which doesn't drain well.

Ditto here...if I made a habit of always watering after dark, we have so little wind here that I would soon have mildew and mold problems. But the occasional overnight shower is always awesome :-)

No matter how drought tolerant the plant will eventually become, you need to visualize the size of the roots right now. Not bigger than a cube about 2" x 2" x 2".

That zone must be kept moist. Yes, Elfin Thyme prefer's drier conditions when it is established. It will grow fairly deep roots so you do not need to irrigate very often. But that is next year.

Shade is a good idea, if possible.

1 cubic yard of soil conditioner is not enough. For 500 sf you need at least 3 cubic yards, then till that much with about 6" of the original soil. Net result will be fluffed up to about 8" of good soil. Then it will settle when you water it.

Add mulch on the soil surface. You can use the same compost if you want, or something just a bit coarser. Soil conditioner is more likely to blow away in the wind. Ground bark mulch is good, too. It will mesh together and hold better than the fine, almost dust-like compost.

Thank you everyone for all the great advice!

I think I will definitely have to water twice a day. We don't get much wind here, except for when there's a storm or the infamous Santa Ana winds, which are hot winds that blow from the desert towards the coast (those are the worst for allergies!). But right now we are not having significant wind. We are in a 4-year drought, however, so the ground in general is probably pretty thirsty, and when the hot sun beats on the hard clay soil, it dries up pretty quickly (we've been having unusually hot weather a lot this winter and spring).

I think watering in the morning and again in the afternoon might be a good idea for now. I have sprinklers there, but I haven't turned them on yet, I have been hand watering with a hose. I could try the straw idea, too, because it is actually in my back yard (I have no lawn in front, believe it or not, just a horseshoe driveway with a hill in the center covered in a small-leaf ice plant and a melaleuca tree). But for now I think we'll try increasing the water and I'll spread some more compost on top and in-between the plants I've already planted, and see how that goes. We had added some compost late last fall as well, but not much, so it's probably been a little more than a cubic yard (maybe 1.5), but still not enough.

I'll keep posting the progress. Thank you again, all your advice has been most helpful!

Good luck - and definitely post pictures! We're uhhh, "rooting" for you and your plants (pun intended.)

These plants like ALL European type Herbs or the family off. They need well drained soil (we say poor soil conditions, I add small grave and a little sand to my mix to give the drainage required, although when I say poor soil, when looking at your soil, I cant say it's great.
The first picture looks like half the roots are on show above soil (right hand side of plant) the top soil or mulch looks like it's been added after planting and it has gone all over the green area of the plants smothering half of it, When dry conditions are required, that doesn't mean a trickle of water, and when giving water to plants NOT yet established, add the water onto the soil and NOT wetting the top growth, it kind of looks like you have used a hose and it's way to harsh a flow, I would use a lighter spray so the force of water cant spash all the mulch up and over the plants,

I whole heartedly agree that rainfall at night does not equate to Mould growing on our plants BUT water from a hosepipe (Domestic water, normally has additives added) also the air conditions for rain are SOMETIMES different from watering plants in a still or already humus condition,

I would NOT add any more feeds to the soil, they dont like fertilised soil, Bonemeal is a slow release feed and is better than a fast response pick-me-up, I dont know what type of fertilisers you used BUT, you could cause root burn IF you over feed.
All you need for a long while is to get the roots to grow more, don't worry about no extra top growth as these plants will NOT use energy or top growth AND root growth, you want the latter for survival and the tops growth will happen once the roots are happy.

The best way to know IF they plants need water or in-fact able to take water up into the plant IS, stick your finger into the soil beside the root area, if dry, water, after watering, stick finger into the soil again and this will tell you IF the roots are actually receiving the water OR is it just running off the compacted soil, in your heat / conditions, that could well be a problem for the roots.

I hope everything picks up for you as I agree, this is a hard work task BUT well worth the effort when it all goes to plan.

Good luck and Kind Regards.
WeeNel.