Help with Lily Pilly drooping and dying

Drooping lily Pilly.jpg

Hi garden Guru's,

I have 9 Lily Pilly's Backyard Bliss. 5 of them have started to droop starting from the bottom then the top and the plant dies. This takes about 3 months from planting. The other 4, perfectly fine. The soil is a mix of well drained sandy clay and the soil is at about 6 pH. Planted here before was a bottle brush.

When planting I mixed through mushroom compost and good quality potting mix. Water logging is not an issue, neither is water stress. It is a partially shaded spot along a fence line. I have replaced 4 of them and the issue has come back after a few months. Any suggestions as to how I may proceed?

Community manager's note: Check out How to diagnose and revive a sick lilly pilly for expert advice.

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Comments

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Surelyitsnotme. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about Lilly Pilly issues.

The most common causes of a plant dying are too little or too much water, lack of light, lack of nutrients, insect attack and disease. Lack of light doesn't seem to be the issue, so take a look at the leaves to see if there are signs of insects or disease. You might like to post some images here for our experts to take a look at.

I note you've said that you have well-draining sandy clay soil. Is there a solid clay bottom under this sandy clay? I wonder whether the soil drains well, but the plant's roots sit just above a clay layer and remain wet. Alternatively, the plants might be drying out if your soil is draining too well. They do like a fair bit of water, so if you feel the soil is drying out too quickly, you could add a soil wetting agent. How often do you water?

Have you added any fertiliser like Osmocote for Natives, or was it just the mushroom compost?

Let me mention a couple of our horticultural experts, @Noelle and @Adam_W, to see if they have any thoughts.

Mitchell

Noelle

Hi @Surelyitsnotme

It's very hard to see what might be happening from such a small image. As Mitchell has suggested, some more detailed and close up photos would be helpful.

Mushroom compost in combo with a sandy clay soil could mean you have inadvertently created sumps whereby the roots of the trees are sitting just above or in the clay subsoil. Moisture accumulates in these sumps and the roots stay too wet for too long. Everything looks OK on top, but is far from it under the soil, out of sight.

However, as I've said, it's a bit hard to tell from the photo you have posted.

Adam_W

Hi @Surelyitsnotme I am inclined to lean towards the same conclusions already made - the soil is just staying too damp.
If it is and there's been lots of compost added this material can start rotting, not in a good way, underground.
Sometimes, with mystery problems like this, I have found that a broad-spectrum fungicide based on phos-acid can be very effective.

Is there a possibility that here is a lot of radiant heat from that metal fence? That is, does the sun hit it's other side and heat it up?

Also, just as a p.s. - I'd never recommend adding potting mix to soil. If you need to bulk the soil up add a bagged garden mix instead.

Surelyitsnotme

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/23436#Comment_23436

Thanks for your help @Adam_W

Unfortunately this plant did not survive as the remaining of the leaves dropped 2 days later and the plant died. The days so far have not been warm enough to produce much heat on the fence behind and the other side is protected under a carport.

I am a little mystified as you can see in the pic, the other plants (that have survived) were given the same treatment and survived but the 4 on the far end did not fare so well.

I will perhaps try again using your fungicide suggestion (and trying to mix in some free draining garden mix rather than potting soil), but failing this may need to try a different plant all together to provide the screen we are trying to achieve.

The soil is quite wet in this pic below as I took it just after rain.

IMG_2816 (1).jpg

Jules237

I took my photo of my newly planted lili pilly and it looked a lot like it did in another post here!
it is just going white and dry like it’s dying

any thoughts ?
have given it sea sole just put mushroom fertiliser today and mulch

is in clay but built the bed up with garden soil as recommended at Bunnings

In 24 hours there is a lot more than this photo

looking for some help

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/74531#Comment_74531

So sorry to hear that your plants finally succumbed to their issues @Surelyitsnotme.

I'd encourage you to wait until the weather clears up and dig a couple of 10cm wide holes down to 30cm deep. Dig one hole down the far end where the plants have died off and one up the end where the plants have survived. Check to see if the bottom of the hole down the far end is still saturated with water. This might lead you to diagnose a drainage issue at the end of that garden bed.

Please keep us updated and reach out again if you need further assistance.

Mitchell

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/23786#Comment_23786

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Jules237. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for the question about your sick Lilly Pilly.

What's the weather like near you, and how long and how often are you watering the plant?

When you say it's in clay, is it clay-based soil, a solid clay layer under the soil, or is the ground purely clay? The roots could dry out too rapidly if the mound is all the plant has to grow in. Did you dig down into the clay soil to open it up before planting? The mound looks quite dry in the photos but could be moist under the surface.

It's hard to tell whether the plant is suffering from wet roots due to the clay layer or if the roots are drying out within your mound. Given the browning off of leaves, I would tend to think it's more of a drying-out issue, and I am keen to hear more about your watering regime.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Jules237

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/74538#Comment_74538

Hi Michael

I dug down into to clay the size of the root system

i filled it with gardening soil and gypsum from Bunnings half the placed the plant in and created a mound.
the leaves are going white then brown, I brought 2 but only one is doing this.

last night I gave them a big soak, the lady at Gosford Bunnings said do that every few days while establishing.
I have since speaking on hear brought mushroom fertiliser and dug in along with putting lucerne on top. On advice.
the plant in getting full sun all day, I’m thinking it isn’t liking the intense sun?

EricL

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/100868#Comment_100868

Hello @Jules237

At this point in time, I suggest transferring your Lilly Pilly to another spot. The possibility of the fungal infection in the soil at that spot is very high and probably has not dissipated. It might be necessary to treat the soil in order to get rid of the fungus. Poor water drainage, fungal infection and radiant heat from your fence are the only things that come to mind that could be affecting your plant's health.

In the meantime, I suggest leaving that particular spot alone and treating it with Yates 500ml Anti Rot Fungicide. It could also be a combination of factors such as the shock from being transplanted to the intense heat in your garden. All I can suggest is to observe and wait until the fungicide has done its job and try again.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

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