compugin
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Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:14 am
Location: South Georgia

Help for drowned lavender???

I planted some lavender in my front flower bed about 6 weeks ago, and the it rained almost every day for 4 weeks! Now the plants look very droopy and yellow. What can I do to save them?

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

If you really suspect that the lavender roots are being affected from too much moisture, here's one idea: If there is any slope in the bed at all, I would dig a shallow (about 6"?) trench about a foot away on the downslope side of the lavender. This will drain the water away from the lavender. You can fill the trench with sand/gravel mixture if you don't want to leave it open, then cover with same mulch as the rest of the bed. At the same time, I would mulch the lavender with 1"~2" of sand around the stems. It will help keep the stems dry(er) and possibly allow adventitious roots to form to support the plant in the event that lower-most roots have been moisture-damaged.

emerald7
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Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:13 am
Location: Houston, TX

I'm not sure what you can do, but lavender, in general, likes to live in dry soil. So getting lots and lots of rain, is definitely bad. If you end up having to replant it or get another plant, you might want to put it somewhere that it won't get a deluge of water on it.

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Sage Hermit
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Location: Finlaysen, MN Coniferous Forest

Or you could book mark the weather update sites and be proactive provinging some type o' cover from rain. Do what applestar said and dig it up a bit and add some sand and a drainage trench. Give it a few good snips where you find the plant is loosing energy. Check over the leaves after a couple hours or 24 hours and repeat the process of making your soil more suitable.

The plant lives in that you have to realize or think of the soil as the plant's stomach.



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