Erin.arnold25
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Hydrangea Wilted - Was it Frost or Too Much Water?

Hello everyone! I am seeking your knowledge and expertise as a novice gardener trying to learn as I go. I have what I call an ICU bed. It is where I have gone around my property and taken any damaged, diseased or nearly dead plants and put them in this raised bed for intensive care. They get watered and fertilized and babied to the extreme in order to bring them back from the brink of disaster. I have found a hydrangea on my property that looked like it was dead. I dug it up and put it in my ICU (raised) bed and it is showing signs of life and promise. It does get more sun than it probably should, but up until yesterday it has seemed to relish the extra spring sun. I went out this morning and it looked like wilted lettuce. Like when you find fresh spinach or lettuce in your fridge that has been there for a little too long. It's bright, brand new lime green leaves that were very fresh and perky, is now a very dark green, wilted and fragile. We had temps of about 34* F last night and I did not cover them. Was it the frost? Is there such a thing as too much water for a hydrangea (We just got 4 inches in 9 days, but the raised bed is well draining)? Too much sun? I appreciate all of your help!

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Hi,
"What happened?" is not a descriptive title. Someone seeing that title will not get an idea of what the discussion is about.

I made your title more descriptive for your benefit as it will hopefully better describe what your discussion is about than the original title.

Let me know if you believe you want to change it to something even more descriptive.

Good luck!
:)

Roger
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Erin.arnold25
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Thank you so much! Great point and I appreciate the new title!

luis_pr
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Hello, Erin.arnold25. Hmm, not sure where are you located or what your zone or the kind of hydrangea we are talking about but yes, it could have been frost... especially with Hydrangea macrophyllas (aka, mopheads and lacecaps). The cold weather tends to zap the leaves and can also kill the early Spring flower buds that mopheads, lacecaps and oakleaf"s develop around August (for you). Usually when they get zapped, the leaves slowly turn a darker shade of green. Almost black even in some cases but the shade depends on how much damage was done. This type of damage cannot be reversed so you just have to wait for the plant to leaf out again. If this happens, maintain the soil moist as best as you can, add the usual Spring fertilizers/amendments and just wait. It will not be overnight so wait for the leaf buds to develop and open. Or wait for new stems from the base. This type of damage can be prevented by using winter protection.

Could it be something else? Well, yes. In windy areas, the large leaves loose water faster than the roots can absorb moisture from the soil. In those cases, the leaves wilt but, only temporarily... if the soil is not dry. Once the sun goes down or by the next morning, the leaves perk up on their own... provided the soil has moisture. Mulch helps prevent this; watering he night before a windy day helps prevent this; adding a plant or feature that blocks the winds also helps prevent this; and maintaining the soil evenly moist -as best as you can- also helps too.

Could it be too much sun? Well... A little of too much sun can enhance the wilting issue discussed above. But after a few days of too much sun, the leaves getting too much sun and in direct contact with the sun will develop sunscorch and turn all yellow (or off white), including the leaf veins. In the Spring, and in the northern half of the country, the sun is usually not too strong yet and should not cause sunscorch. But down here, ugh, we have hit the 90s several times already so, sunscorch can probably happen -maybe- by the end of the month. Interestingly, sunscorch symptoms only affect those leaves in direct contact with the sun. The other leaves (the ones underneath) remain "normal green".

Since you think that the soil is well draining, I will not consider that option but root rot can cause wilting too because it rots the roots, the plants then cannot absorb water for the leaves and the leaves then remain always wilted, 24/7.

Erin.arnold25
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luis_pr-
Thank you so much for your insight. I wish I could attach a photo, but it keeps giving me an error message. I am in Ohio (west central...zone 5b) I am leaning toward frost bite from your wonderful, educational info. I will keep an eye on it, as we are going to get down to 33* tonight. I made sure to cover it this time. It didn't have any buds yet. It is very tiny because I found it looking completely brown and looking dead and it is just now starting to grow. Its only about 4 inches tall so far. And I have no idea what kind it is...not an oak leaf though. I randomly came across it on our property. Thank you again for your knowledge!

luis_pr
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This link might help you identify what type of hydrangea you have:

https://hydrangeashydrangeas.com/identify.html

The link also has very useful information so grab a cup of coffee to read the website when you have time.

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And you can also browse the thousands of photos of Hydrangeas that are on the Helpful Gardener, too.



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