|
| When our house was built last year (June), the builder planted eight boxwoods around the foundation in raised beds, approximately 10" deep, covered with pine straw. One died within a month and was replaced by the builders landscaping contractor. By March this year, 6 more had dried up and died.
We finally ripped them out and replaced them with "soft-touch" hollies from a local nursery . At the same time (first part of May) , I removed some (3-4") of the soil from the top of the beds to lower them down a bit. I put the landscape fabric back and covered them with red cypress mulch. A week or two later, we added the block retaining wall/border. Last week, my wife noticed some of the leaves were starting to turn brown on a couple of them. Then a couple more. I think 5 out of the 8 have some brown leaves on them now. Some are worse than others. Here's a couple pics of the hollies I took today at lunch. One of the good ones:
The worst one:
It has been abnormally dry here for the last month. I think it has rained 3 times since we planted them. My wife has been watering them almost every evening. She was worried she may have been over-watering them and causing root-rot, but the beds are all topsoil that was brought in when the house was built. There is sand and then clay under that, but the clay doesn't start until 4-6" under the bottom of the root ball. Any ideas? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by woodardhsd none (My Page) on Mon, Jun 6, 11 at 14:10
| Sorry, I'm not good at posting pics. Here is one of the healthy ones:
Here is the worst one: |
|
| Are you SURE that your watering is getting through the mulch and through the weed fabric? The fabric, which so many people end up ripping up and removing, really and truly impedes the infiltration of water. You may want to check the soil with your fingers. It's possible, too, that the clay layer is preventing water from draining properly and that the plants are all sitting in a bathtub. Either scenario would cause the symptoms you're seeing. |
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Jun 6, 11 at 15:24
| they need to be DEEPLY watered.. throughout the entire depth of the pot they came out of.. and then allowed to NEARLY dry.. before they are deeply watered again ... as noted ... if you dug a cauldron in clay ... they may never NEARLY dry .. and would root rot ... real catch 22 there .... eh???? a little bit of surface water is useless .. they looked extremely stressed from transplant.. along with severe sunburn due to lack of water ... or lack of viable roots pumping water ... insert finger to second knuckle IN THE SOIL .. to determine if the soil is damp .. no guessing .. ken |
|
- Posted by woodardhsd none (My Page) on Mon, Jun 6, 11 at 16:49
| Thanks for both responses. I know for a fact they don't go all the way down to the clay layer. Most of the holes that I dug were a couple inches too deep to start with and I didn't ever hit the clay. On the advice of my mother-in-law who provided instruction while my wife and I worked, we cut holes out the landscape fabric, probably as wide as the plants themselves. I did realize last night that in the process or putting the retaining wall up, the mulch has gotten piled up a little thicker at the base of the plants. I pulled it away a little bit. I'll actually check the soil tonight for dampness. It woulds like from my readign that if they have root-rot, they're pretty much goners. But if the problem is lack of water, can they be saved? |
|
| How about digging one out and examining the root ball? While you are at it, water the hole and see how long it takes for it to drain. That is pretty strange that the previous plants didn't make it and these are in trouble too. How about a soil test? Maybe the "good" soil is not so good. ANd just because the clay is several inches underneath the plant, doesn't mean that you are in the clear. The water will still collect at the clay level. I suspect overwatering from the description, but the browning suggests underwatering. Overwatering often shows up as yellowing leaves.
|
|
| If the plants are sitting in a bathtub of water, the roots will quickly die, giving the plant every appearance of being completely without water. Which, in fact, they are...considering that the feeder roots are gone. No root hairs, no water uptake. Artificial layering of soil, even in a raised bed, can often cause problems like this. |
|
- Posted by woodardhsd none (My Page) on Tue, Jun 7, 11 at 8:40
| I checked he soil last evening, it was damp at least 3 inches down right around the base of the plant. That was approximately 18 hours or so after the last time we watered them. If I dig one of them up to inspect the root ball, what do I need to look for? If I fill the empty hole with water, how long should it take to drain out? As far as the topsoil, I'm not sure about it. I'm starting to think is not very good quality. The subdivision we are in was old farmland. I have an old soil study at work that lists our area's soil type as "leaf silt loam" or "fine sandy loam". The builder brought in 4 or 5 loads of sand, then maybe 3 loads of this topsoil to build the lot up a bit. I do know the topsoil of full of weeds based on how my "lawn" looks right now. I wanted to do a soil test anyways to figure out what to do about the grass. |
|
| Here's a great reference for the hole drainage test. THey say it better than I could. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/misc/soilbasics.html ANd here's a great reference for watering new shrubs. http://www.westonnurseries.com/Watering If it isn't a drainage problem, I would be suspicious of something weird about the soil, but then again, everything would be dying if that was the case. If it is poor drainage the rootball will have soggy dark roots. It will be smaller than what it was when you planted it. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Shrubs Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.