Hydrangea Pale Leaves

Some of the lower leaves on my Hydrangea plant are going very pale, a kind of yellowy white. I've read this could be due to a nitrogen deficiency. How do I rectify this??

My soil is very, very quick draining and sandy, so with all this hot weather and the Hydrangea being in the full sun until around early afternoon, I have been watering it daily because it has been wilting. So, I'm guessing this has depleted any nitrogen there was in the soil, which has resulted in the paling of the leaves?

Should I add something to boost the nitrogen??

 

No Sally....do more to get more water holding capacity there. Give it a good drench followed by a 3" mulch ...anything will do

Daily watering is prob too little at a time. Better a good soak once or twice a week

More as a tonic than anything but does help plants build up chlorophyl I would apply epsom salts. A spray or use watering can.

 

How well established is it?
Was it planted this year?

 

Do give it a good watering daily Verdun, but the sun just dries it out very quickly.

Yes, bought some epsom salts recently and have treated ALL of the garden to a watering with it and will do so again in a few days because I think my soil is quite nutrient depleted!

 

Planted last summer around this kind of time, so not too established I suppose.

 

Sally, mulching is the main thing......to try to conserve as much moisture in the soil as poss. Mulching helps do this.
I remember you saying how dry and poor your soil is.
You need to be careful about overfeeding plants in poor dry soil too....a liquid feed if you want to as opposed to a granular one at this time of year......but getting the soil in better condition rather than feeding is the main thing. Or simply, and the best option, grow plants that enjoy your soil like lavendars, hebes, osteospermums, choisyas, euyops and loads more. These will thrive there

 

Apologies @Sally Parker for semi Hijacking your thread but I'm sure there is some relevance in this question also....again sorry.
Thank you @Verdun for quality info on the Hydrangea..I usually get a great display but with the recent scorching weather conditions I have a little leaf end curl browning and the blooms dont look as vibrant...I do water but being over clay (about 2ft down) I feel the nutrient reserves have been used up so I will mulch with compost and soluble feed/Epsom Salts...Any particular type of compost I have both Ericaceous and Normal Westland in stock. I have both Pinks and Blues and I had heard that Ericaceous might be better for the Blues...Truth or Myth?

 

Thing is Verdun, I don't have anything to mulch with.

I have bagged bought compost and epsom salts, also been using seaweed on everything. Just low on mulching material.

 

I don't think my big Hebe bush is doing well at the moment, because it is full of dead flower spikes and hardly any new ones are coming through! It is in full sun almost all the time and I don't know how often to water it. It's about 7-8ft tall and about 8 ft wide (ish) and been here a long time, but I do remember it having a lot more purple flower heads on it last year.

 

Sally, your hebe will look a little tatty after flowering but easily improved.

So, cut off the dead flowers and any other brown and tatty foliage. You can use shears to make it more compact and shapely. After you have "pruned" it back like this new shoots will emerge and it will look fresh and attractive again in a few weeks. It will flower better next year too

Don't worry about watering. If it is 7' tall and been in place for several years it will cope very well without watering.

 

Thanks Verdun, will do.

 

Verdun,

Looks like something is terribly wrong with my big Hebe bush. I've just been out to deadhead the flower spikes that have gone over and there are so many of them, it's crazy! I've noticed that all the young flower spikes are coming out with brown bits on them too and then dying and that's why there are so many brown flower spikes and no new purple ones.

I'm thinking it must be all this extreme heat we're having and maybe I haven't been watering it enough! The leaves look kind of a bit limp too.
It hasn't looked that healthy this year at all actually, there's been a lot of dead branches in the middle, which I've had to cut out and it's suffered a lot with yellow leaves (Think it's a fungus) too.

I hope it isn't on it's way out as the birds love it and it's such a pretty bush too when it's in full (Healthy) flower!

 

Sally, can you post a picture?
Its possible your hebe was damaged during the very cold weather in early spring. Many palms, for example, were damaged down here but only recently noticed....I myself have a variegated variety that has been slow to recover.
However, it still seems to me that you are talking about dead flower spikes....they ARE unsightly and lots of them. This year's flowers may be later than usual too....most shrubs I think. You did right in cutting out dead wood etc.
When you say the leaves are yellow....do you mean yellow leaves with green veins?
It may be drying out too much; yes, it has been hot...it is hot....and I know your soil is poor and lacking moisture. I cant think of any fungal problem associated with hebes.
Maybe be a little patient, water and see how your hebe is by September. .??