Coccineas dieing from nursery soil help?

14 years ago

I have purchased a couple of Coccinea's, one a moonlight the other a Summer Peach. After trying to save the moonlight for almost 2 years it finally died. It died one branch at a time. When I unpotted it I noticed it was heavy sand, some compost and green pellets - time release food. I thought they shouldn't be feed and can't figure any other reason this happened. Please advise. Thank you.

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Comments (5)

hybridsage
14 years ago
phoebe51:
Sorry to hear of your problem. If compost is not properly
heated it does not kill certain "Bad Bacteria"(Pathogens)
but this would mean death sooner than 2 years later.Are
you sure they are S.coccinea? I have had rosemary and
Salvia greggii have a fungal attack were branches die
but here again in a very short amount of time.That
is in my climate. Where are you in the U.S.A ? Maybe some
other things at work.
Art
rich_dufresne
14 years ago
Your plants sound like forms of Salvia greggii. Do you have images of them at some link we can go to?
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phoebe51
Original Author
14 years ago
So sorry, have been trying to find a photo of Salvia coccinea blk & rouge so it is on my brain. Yes, it is greggii, in raised bed.Originally I potted it up from 1 gln to 5 gln.Started having problems so after a season moved to bed.Seems like the core soil? didn't get enough water possibly. Nothing really in the way of root growth either. It did flower and I got a seed from it and have started a new plant from it this past winter (winter sown).
hybridsage
14 years ago
First the S.coccinea "Forest Fire" has plenty of images.
I have never seen Black & Rouge in person sounds like the same plant as "Forest Fire".S.greggii 'Moonlight' I have in
clay it took a few years to get established(that was 8 Years ago). I have had it die in pots pretty easy nothing
like what your describing .When we are in fog or prolonged periods of rain I have to use a fungicide on some orange forms to keep them alive. I no longer grow them because of that problem. You may have a root rot problem caused by
the compost not being composted properly.If there is to much compost & not enough coarse sand.Drainage may have caused your problem.
Art
rich_dufresne
14 years ago
phoebe51, are you related (by marriage or otherwise) to John Sorenson formerly of Fair Oaks, CA?

I was confused by the invitation to see photos on Tagged. I am very wary of being invited to give my email and other information out to web services I am not familiar with, so I did not proceed beyond the subscription page.

I finally figured it out by searching my Salvia enthusiast data base, and made some connections.