Hydrangea Problems

I bought a dwarf hydrangea called Little White in April and since then it the leaves have wilted, turned brown and died, the flower heads have also done the same. It has been in a pot in the front garden but I moved it into a new pot with fresh new compost thinking there might be something wrong with the soil in the pot in the front garden but the plant is still wilting and appears to be dying. I haven't overwatered as I have another hydrangea in a pot and it's flowering quite happily. I have sprayed with an all round bug killer in case something has been having a go at it but the spray hasn't stopped the wilting and leaf change colour, I've also removed the affected leaves just in case. I'm at a loss to know what's going on with this hydrangea and any help would be appreciated.

 

Where it is in the front garden how much sun and wind is it exposed to?
Is the "happy" hydrangea also in the front garden?
When you repotted it was the original rootball dry and full of roots?
What compost did you originally use and what was the fresh compost you repotted with?

 

Plants like hydrangeas are often grown in greenhouses to advance their growth to make them more attractive for sale. It might just be that the recent cold weather has persuaded the plant that it's already autumn.

 

It's an easterly facing front garden and was in a large planter but since I noticed there was something wrong with the plant I've moved it into another pot and it's now in the back garden (west facing) temporarily. The front garden gets the morning sun until about 12.00pm/1.00pm and, admittedly, it's very exposed to any winds that blow the "happy" hydrangea is thriving and flowering. When I took the plant out it came out of the pot without much resistance and I didn't notice any new white roots but that's probably because I wasn't looking for them. On both occasions I planted the hydrangea in John Innes No 3 compost which I think is the new peat free composts that are now on sale. I also used some Richard Jackson Root Boost when I replanted it to give it a fighting chance.

 

Sometimes if you have a plant that's dried out in a pot it fails to rehydrate on replant if it hasn't been left for a few minutes in a bucket of water until bubbles stop coming up. Can't imagine a hydrangea would mind the fairly low temperatures we had for a few nights. It has been as low as 9°C here but maybe it has been colder where you are.

 

Can I ask where it was bought? GC, supermarket or other?

 

I bought it from a company called One Click Plants. I've never bought from them before so I have no idea what their reputation is like but based on how this plant has behaved I don't think I'll buy from them any time in the future.

 

When you water the plant does water come out of the bottom of the pot within a few seconds?
If it doesn't then the drainage isn't right and the roots may be waterlogged.
If it does then you can ignore the rest of this post...

I know you didn't look for fresh new white roots, but a lack of them indicates the roots are not growing.
Usually they're not difficult plants to grow and it may be that yours has something wrong with it, but I do wonder if it may be a drainage problem
The pot should be on pot feet (or equivalent) too to ensure good drainage.

I have always found JI3 without something with fibre in it will drain very poorly.
I'd use a mix of 50% multi purpose compost, 30% JI3 and 20% horticultural grit.

 

I haven't put the pot on pot feet as the winds we get sometimes would sent the plant pot into the road and as I have no garden wall I don't want to risk an accident outside my house. I haven't dared water the plant and as we've had a lot of rain I don't want to risk soaking it anymore than it already is so I don't know if water is running out the bottom of the pot. I'm going to give it another week or so and if it hasn't improved it's going in the garden waste bin.

 

Hydrangea's love water, even when it rains, unless the pot is big enough for the rain to get to the soil, it is often not enough. As long as the pot had drainage holes in it, you can give the plant a really goodly amount of water, safely.

 

Generally hydrangeas prefer morning sun to afternoon, but wind can be a problem. I wouldn't ditch it just yet. Put it in a pot about 1 inch bigger than its current rootball size, place it in a sheltered shady position, eg by a house wall, water daily regardless of rain (pots by walls tend to be in a rain shadow) till the autumn. Then patiently wait and see what happens next spring.

 

it's currently sitting on the garden bench where it will get the sun from about 12.00 pm until sundown so is it possibly getting "too much" sun and protesting? Wouldn't watering daily just make the roots rot as well. I will try and attach a picture of it later because right now it's a mess.

 

Hydrangeas in pots do tend to need watering daily during the growth season. I guess if yours has shut-down temporarily, that could be too much for it.

Can you put it in the ground? Even though hydrangeas are shallow rooted, they do prefer that to pots, in my experience. It would also need less attention.

 

I don't want to put it in the ground as it was bought specifically for the pot in the front garden. I normally grow fuchsias in the pot but I keep losing them year after year so thought I would go for something I knew would be happy in the pot but in this case, it seems, the hydrangea is having a hissy fit and refusing to play ball. I know I have ants living in the pot in the front garden as I see them coming out of the pot when I move it to mow the grass but surely they wouldn't attack the hydrangea and kill it or would they?

 

Ants do manage to make plants seem miserable, but I'm not sure why this is. You could put the hydrangea in the ground to see if it recovers. If next spring there is growth, you could then transplant it back to the pot. They don't mind being moved as long as you do it just as the leaves are beginning to open up.