Camelia in a Pot...

Hello Sally Parker, mine come out the colour you've stated and go a lovely green and also my leaves shine a lot.

 

Hi @Sally Parker I took a pic of my camellia just of the colour of new leaves which are light to help you

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Thanks @Gail_68 yours looks lovely and healthy! Mine doesn't look quite as healthy as that though, I noticed earlier there were some really tiny bits of growth which were coming through brown and crispy and fell off easily. The soil isn't dry at all, so I'm hoping it will be ok, as some of the other slightly bigger new growth leaves look quite healthy. I'll probably post a pic too a bit later.

 

Hi Sally Parker if you can add a good couple of pictures of it for us to see it really would help, as new growth doesn't come through brown...well if it does it's a new one on me

 

Thanks Gail_68, but since posting that comment about the brown growth, I've noticed all the growth is actually fine and healthy! Maybe it was just tiny new buds that had formed before I bought the plant a couple of weeks ago and that had died off due to lack of nutrients in the compost they were in, or something.

Morrisons staff don't look after their plants very well.

 

My hubby as brought plants from morrisons but they're never well watered and the flowers they sell are half dead and they're cheeky really for the price they charge.

Glad to hear your plants ok

 

I'm a bit worried! My camelia's in a large plastic pot outside and because I know rain water is better for them than tap and it hasn't rained much here lately to collect any. Last night I left the camelia under shelter in case it rained really heavily, but this morning I put it back outside as it had stopped raining and then left the pot on top of an outside plastic table, which had collected a lot of rain water and now the soil in the pot is soaked a good few inches down and I just read on a site that you should never stand the camelia pot in water and I don't know how to get the soil to dry out as it's very cloudy with no sun or much warmth today! I don't think there's going to be much sun tomorrow either, so it's going to rot!!

What should I do??

 

Sally....relax

It will be fine. Plenty of warm, even hot, drying weather to come.......it doesn't require hot direct sun at this time of year for compost to dry out. It will not "rot"

There is misinformation about camellias....they dont need acid soil; ok, they prefer it but are fine in neutral soils. I grow them here and water from the hosepipe and they thrive. If the foliage is dark green all is well. If its starts to yellow there are treatments ranging from epsom salts to sequesterene iron. Tap water, unless you live in a hard water area, is fine. Yes, rain water is better as it is for most plants but not critical.

 

Ok, if you're sure Verdun? It's quite damp and cool outside today and tomorrow's meant to be too and I suppose that's the right conditions for fungus to grow, especially as the camellia's in a pot and not in the ground. Hopefully it will dry out quicker than I think though, as you say, even without hot sunshine!

Everything I've read about camellias does say that it needs 'quite' acidic soil, though maybe not as much as azaleas etc. Anyway, to be on the safe side as it's not in that erricacious (Blast, I can never spell that word correctly!!! ) compost, I added some tea from some used tea bags as I read that can increase acidity.

The water here does seem to be very hard as it leaves white marks on all the taps ALL the time!!! So, maybe adding the tea regularly will help balance out the hard tap water I will have to use most of the time.

One more thing regarding 'epsom salts' if the leaves start turning yellow. I use magnesium flakes and make an spray 'oil' out of them for personal health benefits (As most of us are also magnesium deficient nowadays, as well as plants!). So I wonder if I could use them instead of epsom salts? Will have to look into it!

 

Totally sure.
Besides, you dont want it to "dry out" "Damp and cool" is good
Acidity? Tea...negligible effect. If you have used a john innes based compost, preferably ericaceous, your camellia will be fine. You can top dress with ericaceous compost annually or use sulphur chips if necessary but plants are usually better for not being fussed over too much.
Ok, use rainwater if your tap water is alkaline........use a receptacle to save it.
Epsom salts is mainly for magnesium deficiency and the symptoms of it are clear; check online for clarity. Iron deficiency will show in yellowing leaves.
Online there is so much misinformation or conflicting information. Scary what disease or pest is cautioned about!!!
As I said Sally, relax

 

@Verdun who does Sally sound like

 

She only wants to get things right! All good

 

@Sally Parker take Verd

Sally you sound like me mate ...I was worried stiff all through this winter thinking my camellia was going to die on me with the bad temps but Verdun talked me through how to help it, like he's doing with you

 

Aww, Verdun's such a good guy!!!

I definitely would have been the same as you Gail_68 if I'd had my camellia last winter! Glad it survived.