What might be making my potted Brug's leaves yellow....not all of the leaves just a few here and there.
I water them daily, and fert about every 10 days with compost and alfalfa tea...with a bit of fish emulsion thrown in to help round out the 'smell' LOL
I have good bud formation, and the overall look of the plants is good.
Should I be worried about these yellow leaves or is this normal behavior?
Yellowing leaves
A few here & there is normal. A few extra with the HOT weather we just had is also normal. I pick off yellow leaves daily.
Great! Thanks sewcrazy....I was hoping it was just the hot weather. You've set my mind at ease :-)
Do you grow yours in the ground or in pots?
Mine are all in pots. I experimented with leaving a few in the ground two winters ago. I cut them down to about 6 inches & coverd them with huge upside down pots of dead leaves. They all came up in the spring but very slowly. The slugs chewed them off just about as fast as they grew. (A 6 inch wide band of egg shells didn't even slow down our giant NW slugs.) None ever bloomed. This past winter I didn't even cover them & none came back up. I don't think it's so much the cold here as the 40 degrees & rain for 5 or 6 months. I put my really big driveway plants into a barely heated (I try to keep it over 40 but occasionally it dipped into the high 30's) room off our garage. I prune them well first so I can put the pots close together. I did not water them at all last winter and only occasionally turned on the lights in the room for a few minutes. In late March when I started to see leaves they went back outside. A few 27 degree mornings did not bother them at all. They are all beautiful now. Younger plants, special plants, plants with pods I want (as opposed to the ones the bees made),seedlings, new cuttings, etc. go into greenhouses that I try to keep above 50 degrees. Since we get so little light in the winter up here, they don't grow much. I only water an individual plant if it is wilting. That seems to keep the fungus gnats away.
Good to know....thanks for sharing sewcrazy. :-)
Rikerbear, I've had more yellowing of leaves lately as well, both on the brugs and the hibiscus. The only thing that has changed, is the heat we've been having, so that's what I blamed it on as well. I've even had a bunch of buds and flowers dropping off of the CDW brug, I know it doesn't like the high temps we've been having.
Hoping for a bit of cooler weather, and dare I say it, a bit of rain
Linda
This message was edited Jul 26, 2004 11:24 PM
Oh yeah Linda you dare say it................. RAIN PLEASE!
I haven't had any buds drop off 'yet', but than I have been trying to keep them out of any direct afternoon sun.
They get a bout 5 hours of morning sun, and a couple hours of filtered afternoon sun.
I have brugs in pots and in the ground. Only the ones in pots are losing some leaves. It is strange. We are now having excellent weather. I'm hearing the heat is coming back though.
You know, now that you mentioned it only the ones in pots are the ones yellowing. The three in the ground are staying all nice and green. Cooler roots maybe??? hmmmmmmm
Probably rikerbear. I'm just north of you and we've been having the unusually high temps too. It's been WAY too hot for us and our plants. As soon as the temps come back to normal your plants will perk up.
Thanks Liz :-)
Marc, ur area can not be any hotter than the desert 103ºF today, with real feel of nearly 108!
i do get yellowing of the leaves both on ground and potted plants. the sad thing about the potted plants are the leaves dry so bad in hardly no time at all.
i have applied some Epsom salt of late to aid in strong root grown and hopefully preventing yellowing of the leaves. now i do have less yellow leaves and plants are growing vigorously.
I used to use epsom salts too Mavie, I think it was a big help.
And I had some in the ground when I was living in Vancouver, and yes, the slugs loved them, although, I think the earwigs loved them more. aarggghhhh
Now I have some in pots, and one in the ground, but I do believe its too hot. I have a spider mite infestation, and I keep stripping the leaves.
All mine are in pots, but only some are having the lower leaves go yellow.
I think brugs leaves only last so long and then they yellow and fall off and new growth takes it place. I do not think they are meant to last for that long!
Letting them dry out quickens the process and they drop quicker. However they are also so quick to refoliate when they are happy.
I have noticed the pots drop and yellow quicker then the ones I have planted.
I'm with Root, the ones I have in pots yellow, drop off quicker than the ones in the ground...mine have been severely stressed this year. First, the majority are new and were taken outta the ground, rooted, and sent to me. Then I potted them, then I decided they should be in the ground. After a while, I decided several weren't planted in what I thought was the right place, so I dug them up and planted them again. Then I had to dig up more and re-style the beds because of the unrelenting rain, wind, hail, and tiny sticks in the leaves. The bugs gave me a good go too and a crop duster defoliated my largest, original brug and there were several weeks they were not fed because of the rain. Its a wonder I've had any blooms at all, but, despite the yellow leaves dropping and the elements, just about all plants have bloomed once, and most have bloomed several times, with more to come; however, even with the stress I've put on them, they are all doing nicely and I expect future flushes to be more lush, as they continue to bloom...I personally do not know any other plant that could have taken what mine have been through...