Spring Trouble with Camelia bushes

[tankersm]

My camelias are very healthy and bloom beautifully in the Fall. However, in the Spring, I notice many of the leaves turn dark brown on the distal ends (tips). It's about half of the leaf that turns brown. I have not been able to find anything online that addresses this problem. It doesn't seem to affect the rest of the plant or affect it's blooming. I have 3 camelias and they all do this in the spring. Not EVERY leaf turns, but about 50% of them turn solid brown on the ends. Any advice is appreciated -

[WildcatNurseryman]

Does this occure over the entire plant, or is it more noticeable on one location on the plant?

What time of the year (exactly) does this begin?
...and is there a noticeable timeframe?

Is it only affecting the newest growth, or is it affecting the older leafs equally?

[tankersm]

I always notice it in the Spring (now) and it seems to be variable all over the plant - not just one side/location. Not every leaf is affected, but many.

[WildcatNurseryman]

Sounds an awful lot like a water problem. I would suspect that the Spring rains are the culprit. Are you in an area with clay subsoil? It sounds like that could be the problem, that the plants are getting more water than they need in the rainiest part of the year. Overhead watering or rain in general can transfer leaf fungus diseases, although I don't think you necessarily have a disease or fungus with these plants.

[tankersm]

we haven't had too much rain this spring - no more than usual I'd say. Curious. We DO have clay soil - very bad - must always amend the soil when I plant anything. Last year, it occurred to me that perhaps it was "burn" from the fertilizer I put on it, but then this year, I noticed the brown leaves before I had put any fertilizer on them so...not that!

[WildcatNurseryman]

A lot of times when things are planted in clay soil it doesn't take much rain to fill the planting basin and stay wet. I have a friend how planted his entire foundation planting in clay soil and only watered it one time, ever. The hole that the plant is in collects all the water from the near-by area like a sump would and with the cooler spring temps the water doesn't evaporate off like it would the rest of the year. I have a customer that has trouble growing anything evergreen because of this same problem. Fortunately you can fix the problem by trenching a narrow drainage ditch away from the plants. Good luck, and the good news is you know your soil and can prepare for it in the future. Planting higher than normal and berming up to the plants help a lot too. In this case extra water in the very hottest part of the year may be required.