Rose of Sharon issues

[obbligato]

I have 2 ROS on my property and they are Located in about the same general area separted by a few other bushes. The issue I am having with the one is that it takes forever for the leaves to start emerging from it and is a very late bloomer. This all started last year. There was one set of branches that never had leaves emerge let alone the flowers. I cut those problem branches off and now the whole plant seems to be affected. My other bush currently is covered in leaves while there are only a few spare leaves on the other plant. Can anyone tell me what is going on?

[opabinia51]

How long have you had the plants, it could be that one is just a later bloomer than the other. You could also be having a nitrogen deficiency problem or there may be an allelopathic interaction between a neighbouring plant and the stunted plant. Though, I'm doubtful of this because their is only one plant in between the two plants.

Though the one plant could be enough to buffer per se.

What do others think?

[obbligato]

Both bushes as well as all the bushes planted out there have been there over 9 years. This plant has never been this late at producing leaves. There is new growth around the base that has had leaves for quite sometime now and the old section just hardly has any at all.

[doccat5]

Could you provide some pictures? Sounds like maybe it's a nutritional issue, but it's really hard to tell from just a description, as least it is for me.

[obbligato]

I will if I can figure it out.

[obbligato]

[img]https://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Sallie25/100_1592.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Sallie25/100_1593.jpg[/img]
These are the pics of the unhealthy plant that did actually get leaves on it. It wasn't until recently that it got leaves.
Here is the healthy plant.
[img]https://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Sallie25/100_1594.jpg[/img]

[Eliza Jo]

I'd recommend removing the suckers that are growing up from the bottom. They ruin the look of the plant and "suck" nutrients from the rest of it. If the plant continues to green up (just doing it later than normal) you might consider pruning it earlier next year and seeing if that (and additional nutrients to the soil) help. For sure, prune anything that does not green up this year (cut the dead wood out). fertilize, cut the suckers, and see what it does next year. It sounds like something is in the soil, but those suckers are pretty healthy looking, so I'd start with that this year. (And you can prune suckers anytime since you are trying to kill them.)

[kasimac]

When I first looked at the pictures, I thought of Soil Compaction, you have both a sidewalk, and what looks like a driveway on either side of this strip of ground. The compacted soil could be damaging the roots.

Other then that I have nothing else to contribute : /

[MagnoliaMan]

I see you are in Pennsylvania. Do you ever use ice melter (calcium chloride, potassium chloride, or salt, sodium chloride) on the drives/walks? If so, you might do a soil test at your area extension service. I have seen Rose of Sharon act like this where ice melter has been concentrated in the runoff moisture. Just a guess...good luck!