I had the identical problem once with a K Supreme plant. It is a five gal camellia. I did not disturb the soil. In my case, it is not too hard to figure out the problem. Some nurseries use very poor potting soil and they use plenty of fertilizer and water to keep plant in lush condition. If the growing condition and environment changes, dehydration might happen( that was my case)by dropping lots of leaves.

One of my camellia friends always wash off the original soil from nursery and use his own potting mix during the dormant time.

Ron,
Fear not, hope is in the buds. Take a look at a cross section of the plant to see if it is green and white. If it shows color in the stem, then the plant is likely alive. Somehow it was shocked. I had that happen to me last year where a new Camellia planting lost all its leaves on the left half of the plant. It has come back just fine.

Steve

Hello, Ron. I live near Northeast Mall and my Kramer Supremes are doing fine. They always get a few brown leaves this time of the year (usually the edges but I do loose a handful of leaves thru the summer). I have always tracked the problem to temps in the 100's and lack of moisture.

My suggestion is to make sure you have gobs of acidic mulch around them, at least 3" thick. Originally I put the mulch thru the drip line but, I have noticed that windy weather during the summer was able to get under my heavy mulch. So, to compensate, I now mulch way past the drip line. From what I can recall, I extend the mulch approx 6" past the drip line... Try doing the same if you can.

Note: since flower buds are set this time of the year, it pays to keep them as moist -not wet- as possible.

Good luck!
Luis

I live in NC and I'm having the same problem with my KS now (Jan.). The leaves and a few buds are turning brown and dropping off.

I purchased my plant from a nursey in mid Nov. It looked healthy when I got it. It was 4 ft. tall, with buds all over it. I repotted it to a larger container (plastic) and added about 1 1\2 inches of pine bark mulch around the plant. I keep it on my back patio; which gets moderate sun from 7am-11:30am. The patio is shaded the remainder of the day. I water the plant once a week, and bring it indoors if the temperature drops below 40 degrees.

This is my first experience with this plant, so I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Shelly

I had similar problem 4 years ago. It was kept in its original pot. The original potting media was too sandy and poor. Without extra watering, the plant might be very easy to suffer serious dehydartion.
Obviously the plant is also possible less drought resistant. It has been recovering from the trauma, but still not that healthy.

I'll take your advice and water it more often. Is once a week o.k.? Also, I have two vines growing in the container as well, and they are growing just fine. If the soil was bad, wouldn't the other two plants be suffering?

Depends on your potting mix. During winter, I let Mother Nature do the watering but, if there is no rain in a week's time, I go check the soil: insert a finger to a depth of four inches and water if it feels dry or almost dry.

If you find yourself watering every five days then make a habit of watering every five days (or set a drip irrigation to do this for you). If temperatures fluctuate more than 10 or 15 degrees and stay there then manually re-check and reset the drip irrigation if required.

Maintain about 3-4 inches of acidic mulch (or as much as you can in the pot) in order to maximize moisture. Check moisture on hot days. Check also on windy days. Move the plant elsewhere if the current location is very windy.

Luis

Hello all,

Based on everyone's great advice, here's what I did to salvage my KS. I sprayed what was left of the plant with Neem Oil to kill the tea scales, brought the plant in the house where the temperature is a consistent 68 degrees, placed it in a room where it can receive sufficient filtered light, added more pine bark mulch, and started the plant on a watering schedule that keeps the soil moist (not wet), in a pot with proper drainage. I haven't lost one leaf or bud since, and I actually have two blooms.

I wish I could post a photo of my plant. The blooms are beautiful and are well worth the efforts I've taken to salvage them. Thanks again, everyone for your help!

Shelly

Thanks for all this great advice. I transplanted six camellias 2 weeks ago and we have since had a heat wave here in Sydney. They are looking really sick - drooping leaves, leaf drop etc. and my husband says they're dead! He also said I've killed his favourite one! LOL
Anyway I'll feed them once a week and will keep watering them, the nurseryman said morning and night. I haven't yet got drip watering around to the new section where they are but I'll do that ASAP. I'm relieved to hear that even if they lose all their leaves, they can still be alive.
PS Last week DH said his favourite tree was the cedar. It seems everything is his favourite...:-)