ksanchez
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:43 pm
Location: Gonzales,Louisiana

Hydrangea flower pods are wilting

Hello everyone I'm am brand new to this site just registered today. I have a question for any who knows the anwser!! I did some bed work(tilled up and planted all new stuff in one bed and made her a bed) for my neighbor about a week ago. Her blue leaf hydrangea is beautiful but some of the leafs on the flower pods are wilting. I went over yesterday to take a look at everything and noticed this problem. We had a pretty big rain storm roll thru the other day and she said the run off from the roof was landing rite in the middle of the plant! Is the wilted leaves from the water coming down on them or is there another problem? I very up to speed on lawn maintenance and bed work an keeping everything pruned an such. I did all that for about 12 years for a couple companies just not that familiar with hydrangeas. Any suggestions?

luis_pr
Greener Thumb
Posts: 824
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a

I am not familiar with a blue leaf hydrangea. I assume you meant a blue flowering hydrangea, no? The leaves are always green.

Wilting on hydrangeas indicates that the leaves are loosing moisture faster than the roots can absorb water. It happens on windy days. It also occurs when the plant roots are in water for too long of time and develop a fungal infections that causes root rot. In a few cases, the leaf or the stem leading to the leaf is bent and the vascular system of the plant cannot send minerals, food and water to the leaves. Water falling to the plant or windy conditions could cause this.

It sounds like the plant needs to be transplanted to a location where the shrub will not be stressed out as it is now. Keep it well mulched, evenly moist and inspect it regularly for a month or so to see if things improve or not.

If the roots have been in standing water long enough to develop root rot, the plant may need to be replaced. Other than extracting a plant and inspecting the root system, I am not aware of any other way to check for this problem (if the damage is somewhat advanced, the affected roots may be smelly when you extract the plant and inspect the roots).



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