Dying Plant advice

[Matt42]

Hi,

My plant out front is dying. It lived there quite happily for a few years growing and has not been moved so not sure why it's so sickly, thinning out and brown leaves. Any advice would be appreciated before I give up and replace it?

Matthew

Untitled

• Matt42
• 19 Jun 2014
• 1

 

[Diyisfun]

Pot bound or could have an infestation of insect in the root ball

 

[r896neo]

Very hard to see what your referring to as the photo just shows a general view and no close ups on affected areas. Very dry weather would cause leaf drop.

It looks like a hebe 'heartbreaker' and first thing to do is lift it out and leave it in a bucket of water for half an hour each day for a c ouple of days to check its not just too dry.

Also check to see whats happening at the roots. It could be pot bound as mentioned.

They don't really prune very well other than a very light haircut annually so to be honest for the sake of a fiver a new one might be a better bet.

 

[Matt42]

Thanks for the advice, excuse my ignorance but what's 'pot bound'?

 

[r896neo]

When a plant gets too big for its pot the roots hit the sides of the pot and start to go round in circles creating an often quite dense and soil mass which restricts air around the roots and makes it less effective at taking in water along with other more sciencey reasons.

The remedy is to transplant it or 'pot it on' into a slightly larger pot.

Even if its not pot bound renewing the compost its in would help

If plants get seriously pot bound they will often never recover or can not be salvaged, depends on their size and type

Check this out for classic pot bound roots
http://www.lemis.com/grog/Photos/20091204/big/Hibiscus-2.jpeg