Re: Rhododendron mucronulatum not doing well

On May 18, Marge Talt wrote:
> Well, Chris, this one wants  moist, cool, acidic, well-drained,
> organic soil and is subject to phytophthora root rot on wet, heavy
> soils.

Thanks, Marge.  I was afraid that it might be something like Phytophthora,
but was hoping others would come to different conclusions.  :)  

I did some poking around on the Web and found a good page that discusses
the disease in detail:

   http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/CASDEPT/PLANT/ext/phytoph.html

Unfortunately, it sounds like there's no cure if the plant is already
infected.

> I have a feeling your soil may not be naturally acid enough, given
> where you are.  I can't remember if it's clay or not, but if it is,
> did you plant this child high when you planted it?

The soil does have a lot of clay, but it was also a heavily amended 
bed.  But there's also been a lot of rain lately.

> If it were mine, I'd probably dig it up to check out the root system
> and then, if it has any living roots, replant it in a raised
> situation in a light mix composed of pine bark fines and/or peat and
> sand; mulch with pine bark mulch and talk to it nicely and see if it
> recovers.

I'll check out the plant and see if I can find further signs of infection.
If not, I'll replant in amended soil and see if it does any better.  
Otherwise, it looks like it's curtains for that guy.  :(

Someone else suggested via personal email that I cut off the fruit to 
help save the plant's energy, so I'm going to do that as well.

Chris

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