Help! Hydrangeas are dying.

8 years ago

I recently bought a few hydrangea plants. I have them placed in proper sunlight and water them everyday. However I woke up today to find the leaves and flowers either dying or wilting. What should I do? Place them in different pots? P.S. They are indoors mop head hydrangeas. There is a picture of one of the hydrangeas I have; before and after.

Featured Answer

luis_pr

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Water them if the soil feels dry or almost dry. Make sure the bottom of the package is not plum full of water. Give them bright indirect sun while inside or just a few hrs of morning sun. Keep them away from air vents. The blooms at some point will need to be cut. Plant them outside if that is your eventual goal; they do not do well inside. Winter cold may be a problem in cold zones (6 or less). Put in the compost pile otherwise (if not planting outdoors) when blooms get brown or ugly.

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Comments (6)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
8 years ago
First, take them out of their fancy wrappings - that is just collecting water. And they likely do not need watering on a daily basis. The combination of the those two factors - excessive watering and letting the pots sit in water collecting in the packaging - has very probably started some root rot. And that is difficult, if not impossible, to recover from.

There is no such thing as an "indoor" hydrangea and no hydrangea makes a good long term houseplant. These are just regular hydrangeas forced into bloom out of season and at a very young age by greenhouse growers and are intended to be disposable flowering 'gift' plants. They can be transitioned into the landscape in some areas but generally do not fair well under indoor conditions for more than a few weeks.
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Al
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you. I really have no experience with flowers of any sort so its appreciated. So should I just throw them away or plant them outside?
luis_pr
8 years ago
As you wish. Do you want to plant the shrubs outside and take care of them? Mopheads can be planted outside but they do best there in warmer zones. Where are you? what USDA Zone are you in? Do you have a place where it can be planted outside that gives me morning sun & afternoon/evening shade and can supply water via drip irrigation or a sprinkler?
Al
Original Author
8 years ago
Between zones 5 and 6. However now here in Michigan it’s still pretty cold. I watered the hydrangeas for the second time today and they sprung back to life so I guess they need a lot of water. Anyway thank you again for your help. Really appreciated.
luis_pr
8 years ago
Well, you are in a location where some attention and time needs to be allocated to mopheads grown outside in order to make them bloom reliably. They develop invisible flower buds in late Summer to Fall -depending on where you live- and then these open in the Spring. Zone 5/6 winter can kill the flower buds by killing the stems so either one has to apply winter protection techniques or plant hydrangeas that produce flower buds in late Spring & that bloom in the Summer. (called hydrangea arborescens and hydrangea paniculatas). They are hardy to Zone 3-4. Here is more reading material on hydrangeas:

https://plantaddicts.com/all-about-hydrangeas/