Struggling Bottlebrush Buckeye

9 years ago

Hello-

I planted four bottlebrush Buckeye plants about a month and a half ago. They were fairly small when I planted them, and some have grown more than others. I have been watering regularly, about twice a week with a very weak stream at the base of the base of the plant for 15-20 minutes for each plant. I heard watering the roots low and slow like this was the best practice for young shrubs.

I live in south-central Michigan. We've had a pretty hot summer, and I thought some of the browning I was seeing on the leaves were from getting too much hot, direct sun. The plants range from partial to full shade. The first plant in the pictures gets the most sun and is furthest from the large tree that provides most of the canopy above. The last gets pretty much all shade and is 10 ft away from the large tree. There are four planted 10 feet apart (order of the pictures is most sun to least sun and furthest from tree to closest to tree). The soil is fairly clay rich and organic.

I left for two weeks and the person I had watering my garden didn't do a great job. I came back to the plants and they have deteriorated quite a bit. Obviously the one plant looks dead, the leaves fell off.

I'm hoping I can save what's left. These are supposed to grow to be a privacy hedge but at this rate it will be long and painful. Any help and recommendations are apprexiated. Thanks.

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
water when they need water.. insert finger or use a hand trowel.. to FIND OUT how moisture is.. IN the soil ...

here in adrian ... a few miles east of you ... we had 8 weeks of severe drought ... plus heat .. frankly if you had the same.. your plants look fine.. lol ...

the future is no the new buds that are developing .... that is the key ...

you were a bit late on planting ... basically right when i suggest the drought started ... see link about planting time.. watering.. etc ...

there is nothing to do.. no fert.. they are stressed.. not hungry .. dont spray them with anything and further stress the leaves ...

just keep them properly watered .. and understand.. that as nights start cooling in sept .. they wont need so much water.. and that is when you start relying on your finger.. to determine soil moisture ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 years ago
Don't give up on the ones that dropped some or all of their leaves. They may still releaf either this year or next. You can also provide temporary shade with a lawn chair or a couple of stakes topped with a pillowcase to block sun during the hottest part of the day.
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callirhoe123
9 years ago
Also, you can remove some of the older, mostly dead foliage so that the plant has less to maintain. I agree that some shading is a good idea till things cool off.
jdgarrett89
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for all of the tips. I plan to concoct some extra shade for these plants tonight. I'm trying to water them in the morning before work. I don't have time for the deep watering but hoping the water has time to penetrate the soil during the cool mornings.