Wilting Buddleia (1 Viewer)

[scubapauly]

I put two Buddleia plants in the garden this year, both Dwarf variety. They have really taken off and are about 3ft high now. Both are starting to show buds ready for flowering. They are both planted in about 5 inches of compost on top of very heavy clay soil. I dug some sand into the clay before planting them to help with drainage.

One of the plants is starting to wilt at the top 2 or 3 inches. I have read that Buddleia is very drout tollerant, but as this is their first year and with all the sun of late I have been watering them quite well.

Does it sound like I am watering too much or not enough?

I know thats possibly a difficult question but I am getting different responses from different people. I'm really new to gardening and have no idea.

Paul

 

[Gill Osborne]

Not sure if the clay soil would be having any effect other than the water not draining away and, instead, sitting around the Buddleja's roots and drowning the plant.

Usually when you plant a shrub or tree in the garden they tell you to NOT let it dry out in it's first year until it is established so I would not have thought you are watering it too much. How often are you watering? Every day? Once every two/three days? It's hard to gauge these things unless you have the plant in front of you LOL Possibly water once or twice a week, depending on how hot/dry it is.

Another thing which I always do with new plants ( perennials & shrubs ) is nip off any flower buds and not let it flower in it's first year in my garden! I know it sounds drastic ( and defeating the object of growing a butterfly bush for it's insect-attracting flowers) but by doing this the plant can then concentrate on producing strong root growth instead of 'wasting energy' by producing flowers. Next year prune it down to about four INCHES around about March and you will get fabulous flowers in the summer! Buddleja ARE pretty tough plants so don't worry about killing it by pruning too hard.

I must admit I've never grown the dwarf variety but I'm sure they are not THAT far removed from the normal big shrub!

If anybody else on BF knows better please let me know :t: - it's only by sharing and swopping experiences that you learn.

 

[scubapauly]

Thanks for the reply Gill. I was watering it every other day. I think I must be over doing it. I was putting quite a bit of water on it.
Hopefully a few dry days won't hurt it too much and might make it perk up a bit. I'll stop watering it for a couple of days and see how it looks. If the drooping gets worse then add more water I guess.

 

[daphnerose]

I'd cut back on the watering. Butterfly bush doesn't need that much water. Try once a week and see what happens also, have you fertilized?
daphnerose

 

[scubapauly]

I'd cut back on the watering. Butterfly bush doesn't need that much water. Try once a week and see what happens also, have you fertilized?
daphnerose

Yeah, easing off on the water definately seems to have helped. Thanks for all the help.

Paul