My little tree isn’t looking too good, what can I do?

Thank you for the photo. This is the Chinese Hibiscus that Candy bought from the Bushel Stop on Atlantic.

Not looking good. My suggestions are :

1) Trim off the tips right away where the brown leaves and flowers are drooping, (seems like ALL OVER) Would trim back a few inches on each branch.

2) Check to make sure when the irrigation comes on that the sprinklers are reaching the tree with water.

3) If using any weed spray, DO NOT spray around the base of the tree, or the leaves or directly beneath ANY of the plants.

4) I would take the hose and root water just as an added measure to help.

How to Root water : Turn on the garden hose at least medium strength flow of water or better and stick the hose into the ground around the base of the tree about a foot into the dirt.

Hose placement about 1 1/2 feet to 2 feet away from the trunk of the tree. I would do this until you see water starting to surface above ground.

Note : If water comes up immediately, as soon as the hose goes into the soil, give it 30 seconds or so to have a chance to work into the soil.

If the water is STILL NOT going into the soil, try another spot around the tree. Keep trying to root water if possible with new spots around the tree.

What root watering does is work to help saturate the roots below ground directly – AND – if there are any air pockets below the ground, it helps to pull the soil down to fill those cavities as the water fills up and then pulls down soil.

5) I would dig a hole to the side of the tree – about 2′ feet away from the stalk / trunk of the tree and make that hole 1 regular shovel wide and about 1 to 1 1/2′ feet deep. I would suggest filling the hole with 1 to 2 shovels of Milorganite (available at Home Depot in 40 lb. bags for about $20).

The Milorganite is a straight organic fertilizer and the hotter the weather, the more the organics are broken down to provide a boost release of nutrients into the soil.

6) Water the tree daily by hose or sprinklers for a few minutes for the next few weeks. Making sure to saturate the ground & the trunk and all branches and any leaves til “dripping wet”. Water the ground, the base around the tree until the ground is saturated, may take a couple of minutes.

The weather has been hot this summer and when we’ve gone a number of days without rain, weakly rooted lawns and plants are easily showing the stress from the heat. I hope you find these tips and information helpful. If you would like for myself or Vinnie to stop by and go over any part of the these tips or any questions with the yard, would be glad to.

Just let me know.

Thanks again for the heads up and hope you’ll keep me posted with photos and hope it makes it. Needs some TLC for sure.

I don’t like the way the leaves are dying off. Hope they drop off quickly and to help with that would trim off as mentioned in next day or 2.

Look forward to your thoughts or any questions you might have,

An Introduction to your Landscape

The following instructions are those we have used for over 20 years to help people establish healthy landscapes from the time of installation, and guiding through a strong landscape maturity. These instructions cover the details of how to water and fertilize from the time of installation - guiding through the stages of your landscapes maturity. Different professionals may use different fertilizer types and different methods - but the framework of how much and when to water and fertilize is general knowledge - and the foundational guide should remain generally the same - no matter the slight difference in details. More…

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