euonymous during drought

12 years ago

Hi all, I am a new member. My wife and I love to garden and have enjoyed planting lots of new trees / shrubs / flowers at our new home the past 4 years. One species we planted is euonymous, 5 shrubs at the top of a short rocky slope next to a road for color. They have not grown nearly as fast as I had hoped and are only about 2 or 2 1/2 tall and wide. I think I might have the dwarf variety by mistake.

My question: does anyone has experience with euonymous surviving a drought like we are now experiencing? I don't ever remember seeing 105 to 108 degrees in central PA during the 17 years we have lived here. I watered them a few times in June / July before the drought, and have watered 3 or 4 times in the past 10 days (a couple of gallons slowly on each bush each time). In the past week especially, almost all of the leaves turned pale tan or pink and fell off. The stems are still striped green and brown, so I am just wondering if this means they will likely survive? Is it necessary to continue watering if there are no leaves?

Thanks for any tips!

Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
insert finger 2 inches into the soil.. AFTER you water.. and find out if any of it is actually getting into the root zone ...

w/o a picture.. i cant help you define whether they are dead ...

look for scale or aphids on the plants...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: get rid of them if they have it
forestedstreams123
Original Author
12 years ago
I water deeply when I water, it's definitely 2 inches. No scale or aphids. Can I upload a photo in a forum? If not I can email.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
check out the link ... no emails to me with pix.. thx ...

describe .. in some detail.. how you went about planting them .... including your soil type... what you did to them as they came out of the pot.. did you amend the soil .. any fert in the hole... etc ...

expectations of growth rate.. are problematic .. it can take a transplant 2 to 3 years.. to develop a fully mature root mass to be able to grow at the expected rate.. and that is w/o problems... so it might be a bit premature... in saying they are not growing to your expectations [aside from any problems there might be] ... all i expect for 2 years.. after planting.. is that they live.. i do not worry that a live plant is performing below some preconceived notion of growth rate ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
i see you already mailed me a file ..

sorry .. wont open it .. paranoia and all ...

get it posted here

ken
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
12 years ago
Hi Forest. I have some Euonymous Manhattan. They survive drought very well, but they are much older than yours-15 years at least. You may be watering too much, but that is just a guess from what you said. If you have watered 2 inches worth three or four times in 10 days, that is six to eight inches. That is a lot. One deep watering per week should be plenty and is best done early in the day.

Hope they bounce back and welcome to the forum!

Cynthia
forestedstreams123
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the welcome Cynthia! PSU Ag Ext answered my question. They confirmed classic drought symptoms from the photo I emailed and that they should survive. Since then it has rained several times so no need to water at the present. :-)