in MI we call it winter damage..

if you track beck.. its the old leaves ... they dont hang on forever...

if i felt so inclined.. i would take the time to snip them out.. and be done with it ...

i would NOT fert.. or add chems.. or anything else ....

ken

Well, the sawdust appears to be sticking on spider mite webbing. Has it been dry in your parts?

tj

That doesn't look nearly as bad as what you described!

Did y'all look at the second picture? It looks pretty awful IMO. Granted you can see new growth coming in, and I've a flower bud, but the leaves are not real pretty nor healthy looking.

I've no idea about spider mites. There are webs of a sort on the plant but it looks like normal spiders living in them.

blewb,
It has spider mites.
Take a small amount of regular dish soap and mix it in water in a spray bottle. Spray the bush down, wait about 5 days then spray it one more time.
See if it looks a lot better after the soapy water spray.
When a gardenia rots from the roots, it starts at the bottom of the shrub and works it way up with brown leaves. Looking at the pics, it is not rotting at all, just spider mites.
I would also consider planting it in the ground as soon as possible, after you get the mites off.
Mound it up if you have clay soil, using your natural soil and composted cow manure from HD, and water well.
Then apply pine mulch on the top of it.
It is hardy where you live, it will do better in the ground, try to give it shade in afternoon tho.

I'd love to plant it in the ground but that's not an option as I'm currently renting. The shade thing is covered though. Actually had to move it from my front porch to my back as the front porch was frying it during the day.

I'll do the soapy water thing tomorrow when I get a spray bottle. Thanks for the suggestion, I hope it works! I hate the plant looking so sickly.

This post was edited by blewb on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 0:42

I hate the plant looking so sickly.

==>>> deal with the mites if they are there ...

but you need to understand.. that no plant holds its leaves forever.. OLD LEAVES TURN UGLY.. AND FALL OFF ...

your plants NEW GROWTH.. looks great ... inside a few weeks.. it will hide the ugly parts.. and by late summer.. those will fall off ...

you are focusing on the wrong part of the plant .... that is great new healthy growth.. quit looking at last years leaves ... once you insure the problem.. IF ANY ... is solved ...

if the recommended solution was anything other than some soap [as in chemical recommendations] .. i would tell you to get a full ID ... before you did anything..

the damage was done months.. if not a year ago .. there may not BE anything there.. to 'fix' ...

if butterfly can see the mites.. beyond a web or two.. she has superhuman eyeballs ... she may well be right.. but those pix do not enlarge... and though i see the one spot of web .... which i presume she sees.. i would not jump to the ID on these pix ...

BTW ... at your photo site.. copy the HTML code.. and paste it right here where you type.. and when you hit preview... the photo will be right in your post ... if you see it.. we will see it ...

good luck

ken

I can't see any evidence of spider mites, but the plant looks like it's been struggling in what might be a crummy potting medium. Unless you can actually locate a mite infestation...and they aren't THAT hard to find....I'd avoid spraying with a dish soap solution.

The second picture reminds me of the damage that something caustic can do to leaves. Would someone spit tobacco in the container when you aren't looking? :-)

any male dogs visiting your plant lately? if one leaves his mark on the plant, others will surely follow. the damage looks to me like what rhizo mentions in that some caustic substance (i.e. dog urine) has damaged the foliage.
also, you can discourage spider mites by applying a good overall spray of water from the hose for 3-4 days consecutively. they like hot and dry and the moisture can break their breeding cycle. at least, that is what i have been told and it seems to work on houseplants during the winter.

Nothing caustic I can think of. We've got dogs but they're female, and no one smokes nor chews. I'm not applying anything special aside form adding vinegar to my water (since our municipal's water has a pH of 8) but that's a recent thing, and the blotches were there long before I started doing that.

Did you splash some vinegar on the leaves? I don't know about adjusting the PH but if you do a search for vinegar as herbicide, there'll be a lot to read. Caustic to the plant might be something as benign a splash of hot coffee, iced tea, or something like a bit of lighter fluid on your way to your grill or citronella oil for a torch, a cleaning product you might have been using around the plant.

How long has this plant been in the same soil? My first reaction to the pics was about the soil looking thick, mucky/muddy, airless. Doesn't look too unhappy or unhealthy to me, but if you think it is, that's what I'd look at first.

If there are spider mites, they can be sprayed with plain water. If I needed an insecticidal soap, I'd get one. Dish soap is not insecticidal soap although many can be safely used that way on some plants. I'd want a specific brand someone used on this specific species before trying that. Also, after you soap a plant, it can make suds for quite a few subsequent waterings.

Almost every yard has at least one around here in full sun. I wonder if your plant needs more light, not less. If that's the case, that would also help with the mite problem, if the plant has one.

The next time you post, if you type 8b in the "Zone (optional):" box, it should stick. It's disappeared sometime between Tues and today, should be attached to every one of your posts. Wish that Gremlin would go away!