Endless trouble with Endless Summer Hydrangeas

16 years ago

This is my second year gardening so I am still very much a novice. However, this year I was bitten by the hydrangea bug so I decided to buy some and try them out.

The first ones I bought were the Endless Summer varieties. I purchased a Twist N Shout, Blushing Bride, and an Original Endless Summer to go on my screened porch. A few weeks later, I saw a darling, Forever and Ever hydrangea at Lowe's and scooped that up as well.

All hydrangeas were doing fairly well until I started noticing some pesky holes in their leaves. I had this same problem on my roses so I bought some Ortho Ecosense 3-in-1 Rose and Flower Care and sprayed it on all of the plants that had been affected.

Simultaneously, I was debating moving my Twist N Shout and Original Endless Summer hydrangeas to a partially sunny shade just outside of my screened in porch. The morning after the great "spray down" with the Ortho Ecosense I placed the Twist N Shout and Original outside to give them a trial run in their new spot. Big Mistake. A few hours later it looked as if someone had scorched these two plants with a blow torch. I was devastated but thought that perhaps removing the spent leaves and cutting back the damage would revive my babies. I even replenished their soil with Miracle Grow Water Control Potting Mix and added some 10-10-10 fertilizer the next weekend.

The Twist N Shout and Original hydrangeas look like they belong in an ICU unit now. They are barely hanging on with a minimal amount of new growth. The Twist N Shout was hit the hardest. It seems that any new growth turns brown and dries up.

The Forever and Ever Hydrangea is fine, but I cut back the dead flowers, fertilized it and the Blushing Bride as well, and it won't rebloom.

What am I doing wrong? Please help me save my hydrangeas. Do I need to put them all in the ground. Right now the Twist N Shout and Original are under the porch because I don't know what to do with them. I want them to live, and I have searched and searched for a problem like mine on the internet, but I can't find one that seems similar. I live in SC, and we are having a heat stroke summer so far this year.

If anyone can help me, I would be eternally or "endlessly" grateful. :)

Yours truly,

Erica

Novice gardener with a not so endless hydrangea

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Comments (4)

miclino
16 years ago
In my limited experience, a few hours of sun should not have killed the plant. Watering well and shading the plant would probably be enough for it to recover. The fertilizer was probably not a good idea when all the plant needed was water. No idea about the original problem though.
sue36
16 years ago
Water well, move them to shade or dappled sun/shade, if it is a real scorcher put them in the garage for the day, DO NOT FERTILIZE (they come with a ton of it in the pot). Trim off the leaves that are 1/3 or more crispy.

When in pots they can dry out quick, I bet that is what happened. They will likely recover but may not look great this year.

Before spraying with a pest control spray I would find out what was eating them first. Nothing bothers mine, but I do have roses and hibiscus that get totally munched on.
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dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
16 years ago
Hi Erica, I'm thinking it was a combination of more fertilizer (which they don't need the first year), the insecticide spray, and the sun! Is it possible that he tender leaves did not like the spray on them and burned in the sun! You may have to cut them back and wait for new growth, but no more bug spray and limit the sun until they get used to it. New plants in pots look great when you buy them but they don't acclimate themselves to the elements for a while. I have a bed of 6 hydrangeas in shade most of the day but they get 2/3 hours of sun in early afternoon and this year we added 3 new plants to the planter and the flowers burned to a crisp on the new ones and the older ones that had been in the ground for a year or so sailed through the heat and sun with no problems! The temps went up to low to mid 90's for several days, and all the hydrangeas in my yard wilted from the heat but the flowers perked up in the evening. Don't be afraid to prune them back if necessary, it will thicken the plant for you and you should still get some blooms later on the remontant types. Good Luck!

Donna
captainobvious
16 years ago
My recently planted Hydrangeas have had similar problems to yours Erica. I had them in the pots they came in for about 3 weeks before settling on places to plant them. They all were doing fairly well up until that point (some better than others).
Once planted, the locations had a LOT of sun exposure and leaf ends started getting crispy, flowers started browning. I was watering nearly every day to replenish them, but the sun has just been too much. What I ended up doing was making some temporary shade for the Hydrangeas while they get a chance to acclimate and grow some root structure. I dead headed and clipped burnt leaves to help them out. (link below on what I did)
They've only been up a week, but I see slight improvement already. Might be worth considering as its a very cheap and easy do-it-yourself fix. Best of luck to you !

-Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Temporary shade I whipped up...