Leaves mostly maroon for no apparent reason

[Ptcrow]

Hi, I read the earlier post about another person's leaves turnign red. I understand that certain species will turn red come Fall, however, mine seem unhealthy in addition to the coloration.

These 3 plants were purchased from 2 different nurseries earlier this summer and all 3 are planted in a row, with decent drainage and mostly sun. The broad leaves are almost completely maroon in color, the flowers seemed to last for a very short period of time before they withered, and the interior of the plant appears stalky, woody and unhealthy. Some of the leaves have brown crunchy sides or areas as well. The plants were sprayed with a fungicide at the end of June after we had nearly a whole month of rain.

Any thoughts? Should I hit them with a fungicide again?

[luis_pr]

It sounds like the leaves are turning as some do this time of the year but to confirm, it would help to see a picture. If you can locate a picture that displays the "true" colors that you see, that would help a lot.

Oakleaf hydrangeas display various tones of yellows and/or reds during the Fall and what you call maroon, others call red and so forth. Thus, a picture that shows the colors that you see now would help a lot.

Another possibility is that you are noticing fungi and different fungi exhibit different colors. This would begin as leaf spot that grow in size. Again, a picture would help identify the type of fungus because applying fungicides without knowing the causal agent could result in applications that have no effect on the fungus.

The brown crunchy sides might be due to watering issues or reactions to the fungicide used. To make sure that it is safe to use on hydrangeas, read the label instructions. Since these are new plants and the problem happened at the end of the summer, there is a good chance that this was moisture related.

Luis

[luis_pr]

I thought I would post a link that I ran into. It shows a hydrangea whose leaves are starting to turn Fall Colors. It is the first picture on the web page:

http://www.hydrangea.com/Catalog.php