my broom plant is dying. Why?

I bought a cytisus racemosus (broom) a few weeks ago at Columbia Road flower market in London. It came in a pot and was blooming.

Now it looks like its dying, 3 weeks after buying it... What have I done? I kept it in its pot It's not cold, outside, it got oodles of sunshine outside on my balcony etc etc. Did I overwater? The leaves seem dry and dead.

I'm a little frustrated because a lot of plants I've bought at this flower market have fizzled out in the past... is this a trend?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

p.s. see photos.

Mat

 

Got a strange feeling it just might have been grown in the ground and dug up and potted.

Might be wrong, give it a tug and see if it is well rooted in the pot.

 

Hi Pete,

It seemed fine when I re-potted it. Maybe I did it wrong... The roots were molded into the shape of the pot so it looked like it was in there for a while.

 

Welcome to GC Boutetm.

It was obviously pot bound, meaning the pot was to small for it roots. Did you tease the roots apart before re-potting? I also think it's hungry and needs to go in the ground. Cytisus do like to spread their roots.

 

Thanks for the welcome Sheal,

I didn't tease the roots, probably should have now that I think about it. I'm 25 and live in a tall building with a huge balcony with good sun so I bought a few plants. New to gardening and this is all proving a tad disheartening!

My next question should be, does this plant look salvageable? If so, what do I do?

 

If the roots are left in a ball it will suffer because it can't take up any nutrients, that goes for all plants. What size pot do you have it in, the diameter will be enough?

 

Broom hates root disturbance, especially when its in full flower.

But it could just be that the rootball has dried right out.

The new compost would be wet, but the old rootball could be bone dry

 

Mine didn't have an issue with being moved twice Pete but it wasn't in flower at the time.

 

Maybe not, but this is a plant that had a compacted rootball, so it was needing constant watering, take it out of that pot and put it in a new one with more compost and the rootball will just dry out.
Any watering will just run through the new compost until it makes new roots.

I'd take it out of the new pot and immerse the rootball in a bucket of water for an hour.
But I think it might be too far gone.

 

I bought a polygala at the same time from the same stall and that one too looks like it's on its way out. Never again!

At least I know to tease the roots next time I repot something... what a waste. I hate seeing things die.

I'm going to leave it and see what happens. I already gave it a big drink yesterday.

Mat

 

Personally I never tease the roots when repotting something.

I do however look for new white roots forming, if there arn't any then it goes straight back into the old pot.
I've always found potting on plants when the root ball is not active a bit dodgy, you then end up either over watering, or watering, and not penetrating the old root ball.
Repotting needs to be done when the roots can move into the new compost quickly.

Planting out into the garden is slightly different, if done during the dormant period.

 

Were they both standards? I wonder if they have been raised by the massive Dutch industrialised growers who grow them on hard and fast in an artificial environment. They may have used ericaceous (slightly acidic) compost too. So outdoors several floors up (even in London) may have come as a shock especially after repotting.
I water all my pot plants the sane way - sit them in a bucket of water for up to a few hours depending on how dry they are. This allows the roots to absorb water as Pete alluded to.

Haha! I'm not new to gardening and stuff still dies on me! Just part of the challenge, that's all. "Simply" rectified by working out what went wrong and not repeating it. Which brings me on to....................

Maybe a smart move.

 

I've got a large Broom in a planter which has been there for years. It's been potted on a couple of times. They're tough plants but don't like too much water. How often have you been watering it?