Over-pruned?

Hack job?

No new growth

This is the newest one, about 2-3 weeks since purchased. Was super healthy looking with bright blooms when I bought it. Now look =(

This guy looks greener. But still not as healthy as I'd expect

Too much shade?

Forgot to mention, I live in San Diego, zone 10

The amount of sunlight seems adequate. Bright shade is fine and I have several in that type of condition.

Unstable soil moitsure can yield ugly leaves as the plant gets insufficient moisture, reacts to that by browning out the leaves & blooms and then you react by watering (maybe too much as you said) so the plant recovers and starts the cycle all over again. I think they all will be with you when Spring returns but they may look, eh, not as nice as before so you need to address the soil moisture problem so the soil is as evenly moist as you can make it. Adding mulch and keeping the pots away from the harsh summer sun and windy spots (think: Santa Ana winds) will help. An electronic reminder from your computer every "x" days or whatever might prevent you from forgetting to water. Electronic watering units that turn on-off like a sprinkler system are available at places like HD and Lowes.

I would be careful pruning these now since the new flower buds in H macrophylla mopheads and lacecaps develop in July so I try to stop pruning by the end of June. The ones that you pruned may not develop blooms on those stems (unless they are remontant).

This year, I forgot to prune one that is getting large thanks to the poor location chosen by the prev homeowner so, sigh, I left it alone and set up a reminder for early June 2015 using Microsoft Outlook. I hope I notice it tomorrow.

Hydrangeas usually do not need pruning though so, unless they are overgrowing and causing a safety hazard or unless they have dead wood that has not leafed out in May, I leave them alone.

So add some mulch to the pots, stabilize the watering process so the plants do not go thru periods of drought, too much water, drought again, etc. By the way, make sure the pots have holes at the bottom that drain well so if you water, at least a lot of the excess will drain out.

Thanks for the great info. I just ordered myself a moisture meter so hopefully this will help. Is there a particular mulch that is recommended preferably one that is readily available at Home Depot? Thanks again

Also, is Bayer Tree and Shrub a good option. Or should I hold off?

Your plants are going dormant which is normal at this time of year. So, no treatments needed.

The color change sequence of the blooms was normal, also. Complete bloom time will likely be longer when established in your garden.

That said, San Diego offers several challenges for hydrangeas.
The biggies:
1. Your soil pH is a tad high for hydrangea. (Instead of planting in the ground, you might plant them in larger pots filled with azalea-camellia potting mix.)
2. Winter chill may be insufficient. (Setting the pots in full shade during the winter may help, or not.)

Not really, just some organic mulch. I use pine needles, cedar, hardwood mulch, etc Others use even hay. I generally use 1/2 to 1 cup of organic compost on newly planted hydrangeas or 1/2 to 1 cup of cottonseed meal. Osmocote 10-10-10 is a nice slow release fertilizer too; anything similar will be fine. Hydrangeas will not respond to ferts like roses do so do not overfeed them with high nitrogen fertilizers or you might get nice lush green dark leaves and no blooms. This time of the year (fall-winter), I use low nitrogen fertilizers in pots or Osmocote 10-10-10.

Eventually, they will turn in and go dormant like Jean says but they are still wide awake and very green in my neck of the woods Z8. In your zone, they should stay green like they do in Florida, thru January or so, weather permitting. Enjoy!

This post was edited by luis_pr on Fri, Nov 7, 14 at 7:08

Actually, hydrangeas do very well in SoCal and typically have a very long bloom season.

At first glance, I'd suggest you do some work on your potting medium. It looks a little too finely textured. You should have access to Kellogg Soil products down there so look at a local independent nursery for either their Master Nursery or Gardner & Bloome Acid Planting mix. This is an ideal potting soil for these plants - very barky and textural and properly pH adjusted.

The container soil should remain evenly moist. Do not let then dry out between waterings. The barky mix may require more frequent watering than you are used to but it also drains very well. Moisture meters are not known for their accuracy. You'll get better results if you just lift the pots to test weight - lighter pots tell you to water; heavy suggests skipping a day - or test by inserting your finger down the side as far as you can.

Plants in containers generally don't require mulching and it can even impeded good water flow, so skip that step. You can fertilize during the growing season but want to back off in late fall to allow the plants to enter dormancy (or as close as they get in zone 10). Miracle Gro for Acid Lovers is a good water soluble fert for these plants and will offset the affects of your naturally alkaline water supply. You can use it at half strength once a week from April through the end of September. No fertilizer is necessary or recommended in winter.

Bright, indirect light is fine or you can place them so they get some direct sun in morning but then afternoon shade. You may want to remove any dried foliage now to tidy them up but other than considering repotting with better soil and keeping them adequately (but not over) watered is all they need right now. In spring they should respond with lots of new lush growth..

My thoughts run along the same line as GG - your potting medium is the issue. Do what she says.

Thank you again for the great info. I do have one question. WHen I do go to change the potting medium, do I remove some of the one that's already there, or do I simply add to the top of the existing? Also I am getting mixed advise as far as using any type of fertilizer in addition to new/different potting soil. Thanks again!

You want to loosen as much of the existing soil off the roots before planting in new soil. You can even rinse off the roots with your hose. And empty out the soil that's in the pots -- just dump on one of your inground flower beds -- before refilling with the new, better quality soil.

It is never advised to fertilize in winter....this is when deciduous plants like hydrangeas shut down for the season. You can start again in late March-early April.

So almost 6 months later this is what the first plant looks like. Although there is obviously new growth the leaves seem "weak." They are very soft and don't look healthy.

Unlike the leaves on this guy.

Any thoughts???

Here is the third one

I forgot to mention that I went Kellog's Shade Mix and removed approx the top 6 inches on each pot and replaced. I recently mulched it with grass clippingsto try to retain some moisture and maybe get some nutrients from the grass, but not sure if that helped or hindered any progress. Other than that I have been reluctant to add any kind of fertilizer.

I think "that guy" needs a bigger pot. Some leaf wilting due to any mix of winds, warm/hot San Diego temperatures and low soil moisture can cause the leaves to look sad. It would be considered normal for hydrangeas to react like that which is why I increase the amount of water I give them in late April to mid-May (my temps start hitting the 90s by then). Add a little layer of mulch so the water does not evaporate too quickly. Lastly, make sure you water when needed as too much watering -even in pots- could make the roots rot. And the symptoms are the same as those of not getting enough water.

They may be suffering from iron deficiency. The soil ph may be too high or the soil may not have enough iron to begin with. I think miracle grow makes a fertilizer for this specific problem.

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/weeklypics/5-10-10.html

Thank you so much for the responses. I'd really like to avoid changing pot since surely I would cause some damage when swapping them out especially since the plant itself seems weak. I can def try to add iron in the mix. I have a bag of Ironite, would this be OK? Also, was I OK to add the grass clippings as a layer of mulch? Thanks in advance!

Yeah, I have used Ironite before although I normally go with aluminum sulfate when potted. However, I do not think the leaves need it yet. They do not look chlorotic, which means yellowish except for the leaf veins. The opening blooms have a touch of yellow and this is normal in some macs when they do the broccoli stage. I even saw a very nice arrangement in all yellows that included some hydrangea blooms just starting to open (I bet they also add some yellow coloring via the water); that was very well done.

I understand not wanting to move it into another pot. Messing with the roots can abort some of the flower buds that arein the brtoccoli stage so just keep it mind, maybe when it goes dormant again perhaps in December2015-February2016?

As the high temperature season arrives, you need to keep an eye on the leaves for indication of stress. They will wilt when the plant looses moisture faster via the leaves than it can absorb it thru the roots. A less windy location can help. So can more water. But there are times when it is just plain hot. In the worst of the summer here, I have to hand water because my drip is not effective and yet, sometimes I get home and they look sad. But as long as the soil itself feels moist to the touch (insert a finger to a depth of 1-2"), they recover on their own by nightfall or by the morning.

Thanks for the great advise and shared knowledge! I love reading long responses! =)

So I think I will just wait this out a couple of weeks without doing much other than making sure soil is moist. I will report back here with updated photos. Thanks again!

Ok so I took some photos of my progress today. The one that was in question looks like it is doing better. The leaves are now more "sturdy" and don't look wilted, as you might be able to tell on the first pic. I think they just needed water. However....when i look at the new blooms that are coming in, they don't look quite right. If you look at the second picture I posted you might be able to see what I'm referring to. Compared to the third. I bought a $7 one from Homedepot that had some small blooms coming in, and I planted it next to one of my other smaller ones I have in a terra cota pot since it had plenty of room (you might be able to tell between the two by the leaves and obviously the blooms). The homedepot plant's blooms are coming in beautifully! I only wish I could repeat this on all my Hydranea pots! Anyway, I am just wondering what your thoughts are?

by the way I tried and tried but I could not get the second two to show straight =/

sorry

I cannot prove this is going on but. remember that plants that look nice sell fast and at high prices so it is possible that the wholesaler over-fertilized it or gave it ideal/perfect conditions no-where to be found outside if the wholesaler's facilities. That would make the new shrub "look better" compared to plants grown in the real world.

Then again, the lack of water that you mentioned on the not-so-good-looking hydrangea could have made the plant abort some of the flower buds and that would make it not so good-looking...

Try to maintain the soil moist without periods of dry-then-moist-then-dry. And monitor the minerals in the potting mix to make sure you do not have too much nitrogen for example (which causes few blooms). Get a soil kit that checks the main NPK minerals and use it to know when to add more fertilizer or use it to know when not to add more.

Thanks for the response. You may very well be right about the store-bought one. Of course they want a good display in order to sell. Only thing I'm thinking is why can't I make my one at home look the same? =) So I had already ordered a nice test-kit from ebay and I am just waiting for it to arrive. I will run a test on the soil and let you know the results.

Just a quick update. I did a soil test this weekend on the particular pot that I have been questioning. Results were soil was "neutral." That brings the question, should I leave it the way it is, or do I need to add anything? Thanks in advance

G

It does not need more amending per se, unless you are trying to do something with the bloom's colors. Add aluminum sulfate to get blues (or a more vibrant blue). Add lime to get pink (or to get a stronger shade of pink).

When the potting mix starts becoming alkaline, you will not notice anything because hydrangeas will tolerate some alkalinity and not show symptoms at first. But once you exceed the threshold, the leaves will turn light green or yellow but the leaf veins remain dark green. As soon as you notice this, give them a shot of aluminum sulfate or iron chelated liquid compounds.

Write down on a calendar that today the potting mix was neutral so you can compare and tell how long it took for it to become alkaline enough to need amending. Gives you an idea how much the chemical's effect lasted. This also gives you an idea how often to amend (every 2 months, every three months, etc) to keep the pH in a good range.

Latest update:

So yesterday I went to add a little ozmocote that I picked up over the weekend. When I noticed several brownish spots on the leaves of the same plant I've been discussing. Can anyone tell me what they might be about?

Another shot

Whole plant as of yesterday

Brownish spots are common hydrangea leaf spots, a fungal infection. Watering the leaves promotes this so watering the soil as best as you can should help. You can throw away into the trash bad looking leaves. When the shrub eventually goes dormant, throw away all leaves into the trash.

Gotcha! I will def be more careful how I water. I had heard that they don't like getting their leaves wet and I do try to water directly on dirt but maybe not as careful as I should be. So should I just cut off the leaves with more spots? Also is there any kind of spray or anything I can do to kill off whatever fungus might remain? Thanks for the response!

Well, the fungicides can be quite expensive so you may want to first try watering the soil early in the mornings, disposing of plant debris as soon as you notice it, throw away the infected leaves when the plant goes dormant & the leaves start to dry out, you know, good housekeeping if you want to call it that. I would evaluate each leaf on a case by case basis, keeping in mind that the longer they stay, the more spores they will produce so if I see affected areas covering 1/4 of a leaf or a little less, I may cut that one out.

Here is more reading information:

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1212/ANR-1212.pdf