Greetings fellow gardeners! I recently put in flowerbeds for our new house, and I planted a Mexican Orange. Unfortunately, it always looks like it's starved for water, even though I do water (by hand, no auto sprinklers yet!) regularly. I have very nice soil that is a bit on the sandy side, but no clay. I have given it fertilizer (Miracle-Gro) but nothing seems to help it perk up. The plant does get full sun as well. Does anyone have any tips? Thanks! - J.
Gosh, that is a sad looking Choisya. It may have gone too far or maybe the rootball is too dry. Have you heavily soaked it? I'm thinking it may have been root-bound and the soil in the centre is perfectly dry. I'd build a bit of a moat, fill it a few times and see if that makes a difference. you don't want to overwater it either. Everything you've done is right. Give it a foliage spray-down at night and see if that perks it up. That is the look of a broken stem after a day. Are the leaves crispy or soft?
A plant starving for water in Oregon, surely you jest! In another month we will be laughing at this post!
Wow, that is a sad looking baby. Although Mexican orange is not really susceptible to many pests, I would also check the roots to make sure nothing is chewing on them, or that they are actually rotting. Not likely, but the look of root rot is the same as the look of not enough water. And have you checked for spider mites? This is the time of year they are really bad, and it's hard to see them sometimes. I think I would remove the soil from around the roots a bit and take a look at them. How long has this been in the ground?
I agree with Pixydish, spider mites are common on Choisya. A foliage water spray would reduce this. It looks like the main stem was broken on install.
Wow, thanks all for the feedback! Baolvera, I hope you are right about laughing about plants being water starved...as a native Oregonian, I am starting to MISS the rain!!!! LOL
Growin - yes, I soaked it heavily upon transplanting, and we always try to make sure that our new plants have no damage either before purchase or planting. I have moats around all of my plants - even my trees - to make watering more efficient. The plant was VERY root-bound when we bought it, and my husband did "massage" the outside of the rootball, although he said he did not loosen the ball itself, as I normally do to my plants that are root-bound coming out of the store container. This is the first time we have put together our own landscaping and flower beds so I am extremely nervous ( and protective!) about my babies.
Pixydish - It's been in the ground for 2 months, but this is the worst it has looked. You can bet I will be out tomorrow morning with my trusty tools, goin' on a spider mite hunt! If I should find any, what's the best method for correcting that problem?
Thanks again to all, I really appreciate the advice!
I think you'd better check the roots first, and also look for breakage on the main stem. If the plant was extremely rootbound, I'll bet that's your problem. Somehow, I'm thinking even if it has spider mites, it would have to have a lot of them for it to look like that. Plus, you'd see more really yellow leaves, giving the plant more different colors of green/yellow.
Remove some soil around the base of the plant and gently tug on the shrub, holding on to several stems so that you don't break one, to see if the plant is actually putting out new roots into the soil. If it pulls out easily, look carefully at the rootball. If the roots were wound around the inside of the pot, you may need to dig the plant up and very gently tease these away from the rootball and loosen up the entire thing, then replant. A very good tool to use for this is to take an old fork and bend the tines at 90 degrees, making a little rake. This small tool can separate out bound up roots without ruining them. I've bought some shrubs at the big box stores on clearance that have had rootballs that feel as hard as rock. They can't grow like this and the roots have to be messed with a lot. This puts the plant into shock, but it will generally recover , especially this time of year when the growth has slowed down anyway.
Definitely check your rootball. If you have to loosen it up don't worry. These are tough shrubs. When you replant, it might drop its leaves in protest to the rough treatment, but it should recover and grow new ones next year, if not this year. If it drops the leaves, just leave it be and wait.
When you replant, water the plant in with vitamin B1 in the water. You'd get this in the plant chemicals department of HD or Lowes or the like. It helps plants cope with stress.
There is not much you can do that will hurt these tough, but fragile looking plants, except overwater. Do spread out the roots before you replant then water with a sprinkler (to get rid of spider mites) for an hour (if your soil does not retain water) once a week only. Choisya (Mexican Orange) is a xeriscape shrub that will need very little water after the first year, but always water overhead. Lots of frequent water will simply cause root rot and quick death which might be what you are experiencing now. I know it's not currently acceptable, but I always use planting mix, we have sandy soil, and add a timed release fertilizer to planting holes. I also use pelleted Alaska Fish Fertilizer throughout my Salem, OR garden and have only lost about one plant a year until this past winter when a lot of them bit the dust from the extended dry cold. Good luck with your plant.
