Buds turning black/dying
Until recently my plant looked fairly healthy with green/pink buds. Now the buds look like they are dying as they are turning black. Can anybody identify a problem?Thank you
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luis_pr
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- Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a
This time of the year, many open flowers display a progression of color changes ending in browns. And other open flowers turn brown due to the intense heat and lack of moisture. Is this what you are talking about, davymc? To clarify, you had open flowers or unopened flower buds? Ny the way, where are you located? a hot placwe like I or a place suffering from this year drought?
These were unopened flower buds. Until recently they were green/pink leading me to think the plant was healthy and I would have blooms one day. Now the buds look like they are dying/dead. Leaves have a bit of redness. We had a coolish Spring and start to Summer. I havn't really watered the plant much until recently when I noticed the buds and it is warmer now as well. Thx
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luis_pr
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- Posts: 824
- Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
- Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a
Late frosts can damage flower buds when they are in the broccoli stage. The same can happen if the plant does not get enough moisture while the buds are in the broccoli stage. Since flower buds are the first thing that the shrub aborts when stressed and it is too late for frost damage to show up, I would assume that the problem was soil moisture related. Try maintaining 3-4" all year around up to the drip line and keep the soil evenly moist with few dry-moist-dry again soil episodes. To tell if the soil is drying out, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" and then determine if the soil feels dry, moist or wet. Water if it feels dry or almost dry. Check the water with the finger method for 2-3 weeks and write down a note on a calendar every time that you watered. After 2-3 weeks, determine how often you had to water. Then set the sprinkler to water on that same frequency. For a newly planted shrub, give it 1 gallon of water per watering. For older shrubs, use more water. Repeat the finger method when the temperatures have changed around 15 degrees F and stayed there.