Echium pininana Quickly Drying Up

last year

I have an Echium pininana that appears to be quickly drying up and entering a potential death spiral. The plant gets drip irrigation and has a good mulch layer. The surface of the soil under the mulch feels pleasantly damp, not waterlogged. It is well-drained soil. It does get direct exposure to 85°F to 92°F Summer sun. Does this look like a watering problem or something nutritional?

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

last year

last modified: last year

How long have you had it? It is biennial or a short lived perennial and it does not need a rich diet or much water. Drip irrigation might well be too much for it. It is native to the Balearics and thrives in a hot dry climate. You are possibly killing it with kindness.

If it has flowered it will die anyway.

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Comments (8)

westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
last year
@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK It did not flower yet.

After investigating, it looks like the drip irrigation stopped working. So I need to manually water heavily for a while.
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westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
last year
Unfortunately, this plant continues to head towards death. Maybe it dried out completely at some point so my intervention to water more was too late?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
last modified: last year
Fasciated plants are often weak and short lived ime. And I still think you may have been over-watering in the first place. I'm not surprised it's dying.
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
last year
All the other Echium pininana in that planter were showing water stress and started to grow after I corrected the water problem. But it does look like the fasciated plant was extremely weak.
Elena Zzzz
last year
Could be heat stress more than watering. Echium pininana hates dry hot air and sudden temp spikes. In my garden in Kent, they wilted fast around 30°C even with moist soil. Try shading it a bit during peak hours and mist the foliage early morning.
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked Elena Zzzz
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
@Elena Zzzz It's interesting you said that, because the two plants that appear to have died are the two with the most direct sun exposure. They did perk up if I overwatered them on a hot day, but there was no way I was going to remember to do that often enough.

But to @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK's point, the fasciated plant did seem genetically weaker.

The plant to the left of the fasciated plant has become an enormous monster. It's starting to look like a hedge and hasn't even gone into the flowering phase yet. It might well end up getting to six feet tall before it starts to flower. Next Spring is going to be a big show.
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
last year
@Elena Zzzz I wonder if your observation on wilting in dry heat might be an argument for putting some boulders at the base of a large Echium, on the sun side? That should create much cooler shaded conditions for the roots on the sun side.