Lavender Issues

Hi,
I have been trying to grow lavender this past summer. I have bought two plants of it, and neither are doing very well. I am rather new to gardening so I realize that I am probably doing something wrong, but just can't quite put my finger on what it is. Unfortunately, I do not have ground space to garden in the yard so I am relegated to containers. I live in Sac CA, zone 9A according to the USDA. Supposedly a good climate for lavender to thrive. Both lavenders that I am growing were planted in containers with holes, rocks in the bottom of the pot, and used an organic potting mix

My first lavender plant was a Spanish lavender I got at a grocery store. It was pretty much full grown. It had blooms on it, stood about a foot and a half tall.
It actually is still alive but it just looks really unhealthy. It has buds on it but they don't really open up. At first, I thought it might be pH so I checked to see if maybe the soil was too acidic, but the pH was 7.5 My theory on what happened here is that I waited too long to replant it into a bigger container, and it was constantly wilting from lack of water. Also, before I actually planted it in the container I put it still in the pot it was in, within the container I was going to plant it in. By doing this I was hoping to circumvent the need to water it so often until I could get the time to replant it. Unfortunately, I think I managed to only cause the area covered in the pot to get yellow. It since hasn't recovered. I was thinking that maybe I should go on ahead a prune it down thereby encouraging new growth.

The second lavender was an english lavender that I got at a nursery. It was pretty young, before blooming. It started off fine and then all of the sudden, it started to wilt and die, and it still is.

In both cases, I watered them almost everyday, and used a liquid fertilizer called Earth Juice grow every time I watered, well in the morning that is. The fertilizer said to use it with every watering for container plants, but my theory is that I over fertilized, at least in the case of the english lavender. Of course, maybe I overwatered too thereby causing root rot.

Well, that's my dilemma, any help from the experts out there would be greatly appreciated...

Chances are it was too much water--lavenders can be tricky to keep in pots because it's hard to give them enough water to keep them alive without overwatering them. When they say this is a good area of the country to grow lavenders, they really mean for growing them in the ground (our heat and lack of summer rain is what they enjoy), growing them in containers can be tricky no matter where you live. So I would definitely cut back on the watering, make sure you stick your finger down a few inches into the soil to check if it's dry or not before you water.

Also, lavenders don't really need much fertilizer--I grow mine in the ground and never fertilize them, in a container it may be fine to fertilize them occasionally but they absolutely don't need fertilizer every time you water (even if you water them less frequently than you have been)

And lastly, I would get rid of the rocks in the bottom of the container--it seems sort of counterintuitive, but putting a "drainage" layer in the bottom of a pot actually hurts rather than helps when you're growing plants like lavenders that need good drainage. For an explanation, please read tapla's two sticky threads on water movement in containers in the container gardening forum, he explains this really well. http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/containers/all/

Probably too much water. I would not water until I see them begin to wilt. You can also prune down to a leaf bud low on the plant. Do it randomly so the plant does not look like it got a bad haircut. Also, when you do water, try using superthrive. It can really revive weak plants.

Hi There,

In a frantic effort to find out more about my lavender trees I have come across your post!!!

I bought two lovely lavender trees/shrubs last year, they are in big pots & were doing great until the last couple of weeks. The inside (the stem) as it were turned a different colour...not brown, but not green either...just a different shade from the rest of the tree. I don't overwater them as was told not to...just don't let them get too dry..which I haven't done as it has been raining constantly here in Dublin the last couple of months.

From the outside the leaves look fine & healthy, but when I peel back some layers...the inside has dead leaves which I can just pull away....I'm worried it's a problem with the root of the tree...& don't know what to do....I have not pruned the leaves, which I know I need to do ...but at the moment I'm just concerned about keeping the alive...

Please advise?
Many thanks,

Bellskees

It would really help if you can post a picture, it's hard to say from your description what's going on. The most likely problem with lavenders in pots is overwatering, it's tricky to get the watering just right when they're in containers.

A pic would be great however, based on your description, the loss of leaves lower on the plant is a common occurence that may not reflect a root problem. You may want to prune back at this time to encourage new growth.

The problem with all the lavenders seem to be the wrong growing conditions, Lavenders actually thrive on almost neglect as they are plants that thrive in the driest of places ie Europe where they are grown for perfumes, herbs and medicines, with the wrong pruning, they will only last about 2/3 years, however, where the are grown by farmers who earn their living from their harvest, they only use the plants for a short time and restart the crop every 5/7 years as they are a short lived plant, to grow them in pots, you need to up size the pots every year, after pruning all the faded flower stems away, re-pot them, never cut the plants/stems into the hard wood, that is the lower part of the stem that looks like wood/twigs as the new shoots for flowering wont regrow from that, also the center of lavenders do go a bit dead looking as it ain't getting enough light, so when you do buy a Lavender, soon as the flowers fade, you should cut off the stem to just above the grey woody part, always leave about an inch or two of the proper growing leaves so it can send up new bushier stems for next years flowering stems, it's like giving it a light haircut all over, they like a well drained soil, pos part sand or grit to give proper drainage and as you increase the size of the pots, you allow the roots to spread out, they do grow a wide root ball and need room to do so, Spanish, French and English Lavenders have different flower types from each other, English and French have narrow about 2/3 inch of flower heads where as most Spanish has short fatter flower heads, English and French have the stronger perfume when you brush against them or run your hands up the stems, give them room to develop the roots and don't feed them at all till the new growth starts in spring, only give them a half liquid feed then as they thrive in poor soil with hardly any water at all, in pots, keep out of real hot all day sun till the tender new growth has grown well. hope this helps, good luck. WeeNel.

Hi,

I do apologise about the dramatic delay on this thread, but I still need help/advise.

The trees were doing ok over winter,....but now have grown much bigger, the inside has gotten browner & I am really concerend about them. Should I repot to bigger pot? Is this difficult...? I really need advice please?

Please see picutre, you can see inside of tree has gotten brown & some of the leaves are turning a light brown/yellow colour...still lots of green but I'm worried. I am only watering when the soil appears to be dried out......Of all the things in my garden these are the ones I care about most.... please help!

Thanks,

Bellskees

I would doublecheck your watering, when you say you only water when the soil appears dry that could be misleading, the top of the soil will look dry a while before the plant actually needs water. The best thing to do is stick your finger down a few inches into the soil and when that feels dry then it's time to water. I usually plant mine in the ground, but the couple of times I've had them in containers I found that they definitely do a lot better if you let them dry out quite a bit, then give them a good thorough soaking (vs "topping off" the container with a little bit of water when you think it's getting dry) But even if you're watering it properly, older foliage in the middle of the plant will start to look a little ratty so it could be normal, and often if you cut the plant back to get new growth it won't be as noticeable. If you cut back though, don't cut back into any areas that are looking brown, better to stay in the green area.

Thanks so much for your advice.....I don't stick my finger in soil, once the top appears dry I give it a good watering....so I will try as you say.

In terms of cutting back......how far should you cut back & how often.....?

Also, would you recommend repotting?

Thanks again,

Bellskees

If you're watering every time the top looks dry I bet it's getting way more water than it really needs (or likes), I'd definitely start doing the finger test. If you don't like sticking your finger in the dirt, you can also learn to tell by weight when the pot's getting dry, but it helps to do the finger test along with that for a little while until you get the hang of how light it is when it's dry. As far as cutting back, I cut mine back once a year in late winter/early spring, and I never cut back into the browner/woodier areas, I always stay in the green area but give them a decent haircut. I typically prune in late winter/early spring just before they start their new growth. As far as repotting, if your potting mix has gotten really wet then it may help to dump that out and get it some fresh soil. Otherwise, it's hard to tell just from looking at the picture whether it's time for a new pot or not--best way to tell is to gently pop it out of the pot and see how the roots look, if they're all growing around in circles then it's time to repot, but otherwise it's fine in the pot it's in.

Thanks for the reply........so is it kind of normal then for the brown type of area to appear? I thought i was killing them!!!!
It wouldn't really be practical for me to take out of the pot......they are huge & quite heavy. I need to do a serious haircut but don't know if this is the right time of year to do it.....
I did the finger test yesterday & they felt dry so I gave them a watering...but will def. keep an eye on that more closely...

Thank again

It can be normal, or it can be a sign of a problem. If you've had it since last summer there will be some older stuff that can die out in the middle, but it could still be a watering issue, hard to say without being there to look at things more closely. Also you are going to need to repot it sometime, it's hard to say whether it's necessary now or not, but it will get to that point. I'd keep doing the finger test regularly--my first suspect with something like lavender is usually overwatering, but particularly if it's rootbound or close to it, underwatering is possible as well and can cause symptoms like yours too. When there are a ton of roots, there's not really enough soil to hold water so the roots take up what little is there very quickly and then it's dry again. So if you find that it's getting dry really quickly, then you might want to consider figuring out how to repot it, maybe get someone to help you if it's really heavy. If it gets really rootbound and you don't repot it, the plant will continue to decline. If you can post a picture that shows the plant and the pot so we can see the size of plant relative to the pot, someone might be able to guess whether it's likely it needs to be repotted.

Thanks so much, I will take another picture as soon as I can & post it....
Thank you!!