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Unhealthy looking heather and skimmia

image

help please! I diagnose people with health problems for a living but am not so good with plants. 

I have a skimmia in a pot which is sat against an east facing fence. The top leaves are going yellow. Are they getting too much sun or something? It is growing fine but it's just the yellow leaves.

Secondly, I seem to have achieved the impossible and half-killed a heather. It's in a pot in ericaceous compost against a south facing wall. Bits of it have gone brown and dead looking. But the rest of it is fine. Is it ok? Too little water? Too little something else? too much sun?

Thank you! 

Posts

  • janer2janer2 Posts: 59

    imageimage

    It says my photos have attached but Im not sure if you can see them. 

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

    No.  Just use the camera icon in the top corner and, if it fails, resize your photos to make them smaller.

    Sounds to me like thirst for the heather so try dunking the pot in a bucket of water till no further air bubbles appear and then let it drain.  Plants in pots are entirely reliant on you for food and water.  Rain is not enough for pots and planting composts only have enough food for 90 to 100 days so you need to top dress every spring with something like blood, fish and bone.  Heathers like sun but maybe not the heat of being against a south facing fence.

    The skimmia sounds like it's got chlorosis.  Like heather, it is ericaceous so cannot take up iron or magnesium when there is calcium in the soil or water.  You can fix this by watering with a product containing sequestered iron but you must use rain water, not tap.  Epsom salts will cure magnesium deficiency.  Dissolve 15ml of slats in 5 litres of water and pour over the leaves using the spray rose on your watering can.   You can also work a teaspoon or so into the compost it's planted in.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • janer2janer2 Posts: 59

    imageimageimage

  • janer2janer2 Posts: 59

    Skimmia:

    https://ibb.co/nhnKoF

    Last edited: 26 May 2017 09:51:43

  • janer2janer2 Posts: 59

    https://ibb.co/fhts8F

    Ive uploaded the photos to ImgBB as even when I downsize the photos to 22kb they still don't seem to upload to this site. 

    Thank you. I will give them both some Epsom salts and maybe move the heather to somewhere a little more sheltered. Not sure we are due rain soon but I will leave the watering can out just in case! 

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

    Read again - you have to water regularly and never rely on rain.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • janer2janer2 Posts: 59

    Yes, sorry, I have been watering them every day but with tap water. I will need to wait for it to rain before I can water them with rain water.

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

    Or distilled water you by for ironing?   Think about a water butt for a year round supply, especially when they need it most.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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