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dale2_gw

sickly azaleas

dale2
14 years ago

I sure do need help! I have 8 azaleas planted across the front of my house outside of Phila. When we moved in 17 years ago,they were full, tall, and healthy,providing beauty and privacy. Now, they all are less healthy, with the ones on one side of the house particularly sickly. Whole branches, from the bottom cluster up, are dying. Now we can look at the wide cluster of branches and see only one to three still thriving. Other branches are dead and, after a couple of years, the stumps break off easily. The bark on the broken off stumps has lines/cracks going around the branch. I am so sad about this! In the past years, a couple of things have happened that could be factors (?). (1) We had leaf gall for about three years. We carefully broke off all affected areas and we have not seen them in about three years. (2)They were sprayed for aphids and fed by a landscaping pro for about three years, stopping about 5 years ago (3) We cut down a tall oak that probably provided shade. They all now have almost full sun but it is notable that the side that had been shaded the most with the oak is the healthier side now- so if if was too much sun, this would not make sense. (4) My husband puts the Christmas tree and wreaths under the azaleas in Jan. In May, he typically cuts off the metal parts to the wreathes and cut s the branches to spread as mulch. Then, sometimes, we put about an inch more mulch on top early in the summer. ...We are contemplating digging them up but we would love to learn of some way to save them- and we fear that if the problem is bacteria or something in the soil we would get the same problem with any new planting. BTW perennials planted in the same bed are doing fine. Thank you for any help you can give me! Dale

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