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wiguy12

Gardenia transplant help!!!

wiguy12
12 years ago

Hello everyone!

I need your help! I purchased a 3' topiary gardenia over the summer, and it needed transplanting badly ( unfortunately during the hardest time of the year to find materials for al's gritty mix). I was able to get the materials needed, but ended up substituting medium sized bark mulch ( I had to use less than called for, but only by a little, as I could not find enough) instead of repti-bark for the soil medium. Needless to say, the plant is doing terrible, and has dropped all of its leaves except the terminal leaves. There is a lot of twig die-back, and I am worried that I will loose this plant. I will try to upload pictures as soon as possible of it and the soil, but for the time being I will write this. Also the leaves that are falling off are brown at the leaf margins, I thought maybe a deficiency of some sort,and fertilized it with half strength mir-acid as called for by the plant tag. I do not think watering is a problem either, I check it regularly and keep it evenly moist but not wet. Thank you for the help!

Comments (2)

  • meyermike_1micha
    12 years ago

    This is hard.

    I need as much detail as possible about your cultural habits and its environment.

    How much sun does it get?
    What do you keep the temps at?
    How often do you feed it?
    What do you feed it with?
    How do you water? In sips or otherwise? With a cup or can?
    Do you check for pests frequently?
    How fast does the mix drain?
    Why did you transplant now?
    Was the plant ina sate of decline before the transplant?
    Did you slowly graduate into sunlight right after it was transplanted?
    Is it exposed to drafts?
    What is the temp change or departure from night verses day?
    Which roon is it in?
    Do you have dry heat? Do you use tap water or rain water?
    Do you use vinegar?
    What is the pH readings of your tap water?
    Is it in a plastic or clay container?
    Do you have proper drainage holes?
    are you using rocks at the bottom of your pots?
    How do you check for moisture in your pots?
    Have you ever fogotten to water it to the point of wilt?

    If you could provide a pic that would be awesome.

    As for the browing tip and leaf drop off. It sounds like severe 'salt' damage to me and fertilizing it again will just make it worst at this time.
    That roots to that tree needs time to recover and show a positive reaction before you do so depending on how porous your mix is. 'Fine' roots that do the bullwork are always the ones to die off first very easily with 'gardenia' and very hard to recover. Just once under watering can cause severe damage.

    I will help. I just need more onfo and pic please.

    Mike:-)

  • wiguy12
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Mike, I am so sorry for taking so long to reply, I was ill earlier this week, and have had to catch up on a lot of work. Here are the answers to your questions, and also I am trying to attach pictures, I am not sure if it will work.

    How much sun does it get? 7 hours of bright light a day
    What do you keep the temps at? 75 degrees
    How often do you feed it? half the recommended rate every 2 weeks.
    What do you feed it with? Miracid at half a tablespoon per gallon
    How do you water? In sips or otherwise? With a cup or can? I water with a cup with sips
    Do you check for pests frequently? Yes, I also used Imidacloprid to treat it about a month back for fungus gnats.
    How fast does the mix drain? I think relatively fast ; I used Als gritty mix
    Why did you transplant now? I wanted to get it into a larger pot so it would be ready for spring.
    Was the plant ina sate of decline before the transplant? not really, it had grown flower buds, but they got hard and fell off before flowering.
    Did you slowly graduate into sunlight right after it was transplanted? I moved it to a location that received about 5 hours of bright sunlight and planned to move it back, but it declined faster than I could move it.
    Is it exposed to drafts? not overly, the temperature is relatively constant, only 5 degree changes between night and day.
    What is the temp change or departure from night verses day?5 degrees.
    Which roon is it in? It is in my room at school, and has west facing windows only.
    Do you have dry heat? Yes, but I keep a humidifier running to maintain about 65% humidity. Do you use tap water or rain water? Tap water that has been sitting out for at least a day.
    Do you use vinegar? No, is it good for them?
    What is the pH readings of your tap water? I am not sure what the pH of water is, only the soil is 5.5
    Is it in a plastic or clay container? Plastic
    Do you have proper drainage holes? yes, however it never drains water out; I think that my gritty mix may have needed more bark, and now do not know how to change the soil without loosing the plant.
    are you using rocks at the bottom of your pots? yes, large pea gravel
    How do you check for moisture in your pots? yes, with a moisture probe that indicates a 6.5 out of 10 for moisture.
    Have you ever fogotten to water it to the point of wilt? yes, but this was back in the summer.

    Some other notes and pictures:
    when I transplanted it, it lost quite a few tangled white roots. I am trying to get these pictures on here as well, but it is a learning experience.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/76477752@N08/6857112357/in/photostream

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/76477752@N08/6857106125/in/photostream/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/76477752@N08/6857109307/in/photostream/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/76477752@N08/6857115461/in/photostream/