Rhododendrons dying!

[aliyajade]

Hello!

Total newbie here!

I am having a problem with my 3 rhododendrons.

I planted them last April and they flowered and wintered well.

I don't have acid soil, but I planted them with ericaceous compost and have fed them with the correct feed. They are a slightly lighter green than they should be, but seemed to be ok.
A few weeks ago, the leaves started to turn a mottled brown colour-I have attached a picture. They seem to be dying now, but suddenly and for no reason as they did so well before and were fine over the winter.

Is there anything I can do to save them or is it just because they are in the wrong kind of soil?
Thanks so much-I am very new to gardening and so need all the help I can get!

[applestar]

What kind of sun exposure do they get where you planted them? Rhododendrons are understory plants and prefer filtered sun or morning direct sun only.

[rainbowgardener]

The leaves look burned. It looks a lot like pictures I have seen of rhododendrons with winter burn. But if you say they were fine through the winter and only started looking like that well into spring, probably not that. But rhododendrons can also get sunburned with too much direct sun. AND they can get fertilizer burned.

"Rhododendron roots are very fine and close to the surface, if you apply any kind of fertiliser on top of these fine roots the effect can be drastic. The first sign is that the leaves will go brown and crusty and look like they have been sunburnt. Once the leaves have been damaged they will not recover, however if the plant has not suffered too severe damage you will hopefully get a new crop of healthy leaves and you can either leave the damaged leaves to fall off by themselves or take them off yourself."
https://www.rhododirect.co.nz/Advice/fe ... drons.html

Here's the picture they put with that:


When was it you "fed" them? Were the leaves already brown then?

Good news is in any of these conditions, the plant is not dying. When the condition is corrected, the new leaves should be fine. If news leaves emerge and also turn brown, that will be a sign that it is a disease, not an environmental problem.