Eagerangel
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 6:00 am

Dark brown coloration around nodes of hydrangea

Hi, I am pretty new to gardening and I live here in the Philippines. We bought a hydrangea plant with one blooming head to be grown indoors. It is ok for a few weeks then the blooms starts to dry, and the remaining leaves started to dry out as well.

I noticed that there are buds of new leaves growing so I removed the dried blooms and leaves. After a few days, the new leaves started to turn brown and dry as well.

Now, there are dark brown coloration around the nodes where the old leaves were located. Also, there are white powdery substance on the node where the old leaves were from.

I did some research, and I thought that it is root rot. I checked the roots, and it seemed okay. I even found an earthworm in the soil (which I think is a good thing). But, I still repotted the plant with a new batch of potting soil.

Now, I am left with a single stem of hydrangea with very small buds of leaves, and seems like, a rotting tip.

Is there something that I can do to save this plant? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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luis_pr
Greener Thumb
Posts: 824
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a

Hello, Alvin. Since you were concerned about too much soil moisture, enough to think it was root rot, I would keep the soil moisture under observation but, maybe it is not root rot.

Help me determine your winter time; is it winter?... If it is perhaps the hydrangea (aka, milfores and hortensias) may have normally shut down for winter thus drying/dropping the blooms, drying/browning out leaves and having some stem color changes.

During a typical US winter shutdown, some color changes occur on the stem as it hardens. These stem color changes go from green to darker greens to sand-like colors and on to shades of brown; note that the exact sequence varies from one hydrangea variety to another.

Considering there are no native hydrangeas but that they are grown in the cooler regions of the Philippines, I wonder if moving the plant outdoors for more sun will help the plant, allow it to speed the stem color change and allow it to heal the white areas where leaves used to be.

I am thinking that, due to the lack of sun in the location where you took the picture, the stem color change is progressing much slower and healing -where you cut the leaves- is doing things slowly. Healing seems "stuck" in this white-ish color phase. So, try to give the plant a few hours (2-3) of cool morning sunlight in a location that is not windy (wind dries out pots and also dries out large leaf plants like hydrangeas).

Other things to consider: adding (or was it replacing?) the new potting soil may have disturbed some of the tiny roots in the topmost 3-4". These provide moisture so try to disturb them as little as possible. Let the plant leaf out if it wants. If new leaves continue to develop, they will need sunlight to do photosynthesis; cutting off leaves sometimes interrupts dormancy periods and may have cause new leaves to sprout.

If you plant the shrub on the ground eventually, you can fertilize it once in Spring and again in the Fall. I only fertilize once in Spring because my winter is very mild but colder than yours so the plants go dormant in November/December (but some are still actively growing this year!!! Lord!). In the ground, I give them a cup of cottonseed meal or composted manure. During the growing season -between Spring and Fall-, give it some weak fertilizers like liquid seaweed, liquid fish or coffee grounds but quit all fertilizers by mid-to-late summer. Again, that is if you plant it in the ground. If kept potted, remember to fertilize with some regularity as the water that you use will tend to leech the nutrients out through the watering holes at the bottom of the pot. Which by the way, the pot should have "a" or several holes at the bottom so water will drain out; make some holes if there are none.

To control moisture issues, use the finger method: insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 2-3" and see if it feels dry, moist or wet. The water only if it feels almost dry or dry. Do this early in the morning, daily, for 2-3 weeks and make a note on a wall calendar every time that you water. After 2-3 weeks, review the notes in the wall calendar and determine how often you had to water. From that point forward, water on that same frequency (every day, every 2 days, etc) and re-check using the finger method if you move the pot elsewhere or if the temperatures change markedly and stay warmer or colder.

Luis

ButterflyLady29
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Posts: 1030
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
Location: central Ohio

It looks to me like it was allowed to dry out too much. I nearly lost one when it got too dry and it looked just like that. Did you repot it into a larger pot just after you bought it? Is the pot it's in now the original one? Did the root ball fill the pot with roots circling around inside the pot? It looks like it really needs a larger pot. And being in the Philippines you should be able to keep the hydrangea outdoors. I would cut the brown part off and monitor the water situation more frequently. Don't let the soil dry out but don't let the pot sit in water. Give the plant a lot more light. I hesitate to say repot in a larger pot since you've already repotted it once just recently and every time you disturb the roots you damage them.



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