can anyone help with rose of sharon

9 years ago

I have a rose of sharon in full sun. It has grown as tall as me, and is so wide I can't wrap my arms around it.
Unfortunately, it has become so heavy it has fallen completely over.

I got a metal stake and tried to stake it up, but still.. it's so heavy it has bent the stake because it fell over again.

Is right now not a good time to give it a bit of a prune??

Is there anything I can do for it?

Featured Answer

cadillactaste

9 years ago

That is one unhappy shrub. I think it honestly detests the iron rebar. Lol but no seriously...having it tied up as it is...won't make it happy for long.

These can take heavy pruning as Ken mentioned. If you tried the reducing the branches by half...and no luck. Then prune harder I would say.

I also would not expect all those trunks to be held by one iron bar. I would take a few poles...stagger around the tree...and tie so many trunks to each tree. Not binding the tree as you had...but a few branches to the bars. Allowing it to try and keep it's structure without being bound. If you are against pruning.

Comments (12)

Iris GW
9 years ago
I think not; start over.
Tim
9 years ago
If it is as big as you describe but has fallen over then there is probably something wrong with its roots. Were the leaves wilting or turning yellow before it tipped over? If there is a disease in its roots then, like esh-ga said, remove it and start over.
If the roots are fine and it was my plant, I would simply try re-planting it and see what happens.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
get rid of it ...

BUT!!!!! ... for the heck of it.. reduce every branch by half .. until it can stand up ... and lets see what happens ... really.. whats to lose???.. it gets so ugly.. you get rid of it?? .. lol.. see above ...

and to finish that equation.. plant another.. so that if this one fails ... you are set to go ...

any chance you fertilized this one on planting????

i would never fert a shrub ... they are all monsters ...

you post lots of pix around the GW... why not one of this thing??? ... might change our minds ...

ken

ps: and in the mean time.. you can learn about pruning ....
oldfixer
9 years ago
Start chopping. Never heard of one wide enough to make firewood! Mine is 15' tall bushy tree, but skinny trunk. Hate those seedlings every spring.
Desirai
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't mean the trunk itself is that big.. its branches are just everywhere!

It's loaded with blooms..

I got this as a cutting off of someone else's bush about 4 years ago. it does not make seeds. I'll take pix later
Desirai
Original Author
9 years ago

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
oh geez ... plant over iron bar ... lol ...

i would cut it to 6 inches... and watch what happens... it would be an interesting education ....

i doubt it will die ...

and who cares if it doenst bloom next year ...

and i wouldnt worry about the trunks.. it either grows up wind proof and straight .. or it doesnt.. again.. who cares ...

and you seem to have the space ... plant some others.. if you insist ... and buy them small, bare root and cheap in the proper planting season.. mail order ... this really isnt a plant worth paying money for size ... and plant them in native soil ... and put a foot or two mulch ring around them ...

do you mow the lawn??? ... i wonder if someone backed over this thing in the last two or three years .... i have an 8 foot pine the neighbors grandson was nice enough to back the zero turn up too ... looks just like this... not unlike i suggested above.. its a new experiment .. [dont ask me how you backup a zero turn into a tree... crikey .. lol.. its my theory and i am sticking to it ... and i am not bothering the neighbor about it.. but if he did it.. he would have driven straight over and explained]

gotta go cook dinner... no time to edit to make sense.. lol ... hope it does...

ken
Lynn McCarron
9 years ago
I am curious what part of the country you live in. Here in RI, we have had a lot of wind with Hurricane Arthur, Sandy, Irene, and winter storm Nemo, not to mention plenty of 50 mph windy days. Two of my four Rose of Sharon are leaning over too and Sandy caused my 30 year old rhotodendrum (sp?) to uproot and later die when it broke being uprighted for the 2nd time. Could it be that your ROS is in a spot that receives a lot of wind? I would upright it and step on the ground to set it right. Maybe you could stake it down with string evenly in a circumference as you might with a young tree until the roots take hold?
Desirai
Original Author
9 years ago
Lol!! it's very possible someone backed over it with the lawn mower and just hasn't admitted it...

I guess I'll give it a go with the heavy pruning and try to tie it better lol! That's the only iron bar I had.
Tim
9 years ago
Well, that doesn't look as big as you led us to believe. I agree with the others that you should cut back by 1/3 to 1/2. And lose the rebar, or what you are calling an iron bar. I would still dig it up and re-seat it in the planting hole. Then water it in really well. It won't kill it. Rose of Sharon are tough plants.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
I guess I'll give it a go with the heavy pruning and try to tie it better

==>>> no.. cut it to around one foot.. and quit tying it up.. its not a rabid dog ... i mean literally.. just leave bare stumps ...

yeah.. well.. at least the lawn was mowed... lol ..

dad had a burning bush.. of which this is no better .. invasive weed plants that grow like heck ...

the was over the ranch house gutters.. and blocking the driveway .. we literally cut it down to about 8 inches.. just a bare 4 inch wide stump ..

within two years.. it was back up to the gutter... with no insult to the root mass... they have great regenerative potential ... and even if it was backed over.. your plant is not lacking for vigor ... so there cant be all that much root damage ...

of course.. dont ask me.. why he planted it 8 inches from the foundation .. wonder where i learned about that... lol

you are hemming and hawing.. just cut this thing down ...

and you might want to add another stake or 3 ..... and get some crime scene tape.. to insure your master mower .. doesnt run it over completely .. lol

ken

This post was edited by ken_adrian on Sat, Jul 12, 14 at 11:35