A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 ailing rhodie

i live in oregon. my once lush, flowering larger rhodie is now spindly, sad, and has brown leaves. i pruned it yesterday per this site's instructions. any insight & remedies?

hi,
Did your rhodi's leaves start to turn brown and then the full leaf would turn brown and then fall off.......... coz i am having the same problem with mine and i sprayed it with an oil spray that i got from home depot and i think it has helped. even i wanted to trim my plan so that it would look a little better, but when do u think is a good time to trim it now or after it flowers, it only has 3-4 buds that i think will bloom this year.
thanks,
sabaa

Have you tested your soil? We have several two-year-old rhodies that first exhibited leaf curl, then the leaves turned brown and the entire plant eventually died. We were worried that it was root rot, which would have been awful since we'd read that the responsible fungus is almost impossible to eradicate from the soil and any future rhodies planted in that spot would likely contract it. We described the problem to our county extension officer who diagnosed it as a soil pH problem. Sure enough, when we tested the soil it was around pH 7. We just treated it with garden sulfur in an attempt to bring it down below pH 6 before we try replanting in the fall.

BTW, our county extension officer has helped us with with lots of issues we had with new landscape plants. If you have such a service in Oregon, I'd recommend taking a cutting of the affected plants to them for analysis.

hi,
i had the same problem last year, just before fall all my rhody leaves stared turning brown then curling up and eventually falling off, so i pruned it a bit.
this year i planted another rhody far away from this one and the same problem. so i wen to home depot with a sample of the brown leaf and the fellow there was very helpful and gave me an oil spray it comes in a white can, so i sprated that and thank god i see that my rhody has actually become a little better it had alos started growing again so i would recommen that u go out and buy this oil spray its around $ 10 and its really good.
hpoe this helps,
sabaa

OK...I am the Rhodo Queen...lol

They hate our climate! I am in the East...Toronto Canada! Winter is horrendous on them! My mom is in Vancouver and are as large as a house. So zoning is important.

But, I love them so much and have tried everything to get them to work out here. First off I think everyone knows the are acid lovers,,,so a shot of viniger dilluted every month or so is a good thing.

Secondly, they are shallow root based and LOVE to be picked out of the dirt and treat the dirt with pine chips or mulch and peat moss and MOUND them up...every 2-3 years.

Thirdly, Make sure that during the winter they are well protected from the snow and cold whipping wind, I moved mine to a back shaddy corner of my garden,,, and I can't believe how good it is doing!!

Anyway, Hope my tips can help someone...trial and error for me! lol...Have a great day!