Rubella Japonica/Japonica Skimmia Question..

I bought one of these plants (Not sure which type it is) from a 'savers' shop where I live and kept it in it's pot for a few weeks and then recently repotted it into a slightly bigger pot with some new compost and I also separated the plant into two separate plants as there seemed to be two separate stems in the pot. Before I repotted the plant(s), it was really growing really well and putting out loads of new healthy looking shoots. But since it has been repotted and separated, both of the plants' new growth is coming out very pale green and not dark green like the older leaves.

Also, as they are going to go outside permanently soon, I put both plants outside today, because it was quite mild (About 8c) to start to acclimatise them to being outside. But when I went to bring them back inside earlier, the top new growth leaves on one of the plants had gone all limp like the plant needed a good water though the older darker green leaves seemed ok. But it was nice and upright this morning when I put it out!

Surely it couldn't have been too cold? The soil in the pots is very damp, so even though it was 'quite' sunny today, they had plenty of moisture in their soil, so shouldn't have gone limp like this.

Unfortunately, I can't take any photos at the minute because I don't have any means. Both are about 5 or 6 inches tall, but don't have many leaves at the moment, not healthy ones anyway!

 

Well, pretty much if they had been growing outside they wouldn't have had any new growth on them at the moment.
Secondly, how much damage did you do to the roots when separating the two plants?

I tend to think you have a plant that has been forced into early growth and as such dividing it while it was making new growth was not a good idea.

 

Sally, your plants have suffered being outside straight from being indoors. A huge cultural shock. they need to be hardened off first. Hardening off means taking the plants outside for a few hours in the day and brought back indoors overnight. It's not just about "cold", it is about the wind too, the atmosphere; everything about being outdoors. your plants have been cossetted by being indoors.
It was a tad premature to divide your plants.......best done in spring, April to May.
Dont water again for a while. I would cover with a fleece too during cold times.
I think your plants will recover but avoid trying to push them into growth right now.

 

My partner actually did the repotting and he is sure he didn't damage the roots!

Maybe we shouldn't have divided the plant, but it's done now. Hopefully it will be ok, the one with the wilting leaves does seem to have picked up!

 

This is the first day that I put the plants outside and I brought them back in at around 5pm, I wouldn't just leave them out all night as well, straight away, without slowly aclimatising them first. But still, maybe they just didn't like being out there all day.

Yes it probably was a bit premature to divide them so early on, but it's a bit late now.

Thanks both for the replies.