Azalea rhododendron leaves falling off

Moosleyh

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I've been worried about the health of my Azalea for a while now. During the summer, it was super hot in Netherlands, some of the leaves started to turn brown. This while I was watering every day (sometimes even 2x, on the 33+ celcius days). That brown color was explainable then, but the tree is now almost completely brown and quite some leaves are falling off as well. This started happening recently. I now water every 2/3 days and have stopped fertilizing for a while. Can anyone advise me on what to do now? Is it normal for the rhododendron to have leaves fall off at the end of autmn?

Thank you very much!
 

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penumbra

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Sorry to say that your plant could not be more dead.
 

penumbra

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Could you perhaps explain why?
Sorry I cannot unless I have it in hand, but it looks like lack of water. Lack of water can happen for the obvious reason but it can also happen to an over watered plant that develops root rot and can not take up water. No one can tell you definitively why your plant died unless they can inspect the entire plant roots and all. There are of course other reasons a plant can die too.
 

Rivian

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Thats the color of death, not of autumn. Whether its drought or overwatering, who knows.
Why not take it out of the pot and assess the roots? Also scrape the barkin various areas a bit with your fingernail to see if there is green cambium.
There seems to be a little green left at the top but since you dont even know how it got this bad, its probably entirely dead soon.
 

Moosleyh

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Thats the color of death, not of autumn. Whether its drought or overwatering, who knows.
Why not take it out of the pot and assess the roots? Also scrape the barkin various areas a bit with your fingernail to see if there is green cambium.
There seems to be a little green left at the top but since you dont even know how it got this bad, its probably entirely dead soon.
I just did a check and the base trunk is still green after I scraped the surfuce just a bit. I also cut a small piece at the end of a branch and that's green as well. Just based on that it doesn't look dead. I've no idea why it's in the state it is right now. I'll a have to assess the roots, that's a great tip. Thank you
 

rockm

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My guess, from the appearance of the soil surface along with the history of high heat this summer, is that the soil is compacted and the roots didn't get enough water. Moss like that says to me that the soil isn't draining much, probably draining off around the sides, instead of through the root mass. It's a guess, though. You won't know unless you pull it up and examine the root mass--Unfortunately, now is not the greatest time for root work in the Northern hemisphere.
 

Underdog

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I would wait till spring and hope for the best. You could use a chop stick to airiate the soil surface and also check for moisture in the core If dry you can soak the entire pot. I don't think it's dead yet. Rake off the moss and top dress.
 

Moosleyh

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I would wait till spring and hope for the best. You could use a chop stick to airiate the soil surface and also check for moisture in the core If dry you can soak the entire pot. I don't think it's dead yet. Rake off the moss and top dress.
Thank you so much! I'll asses the soil and take some needed action.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I had a rhodondendron azalea for about a year, and it died like this about 6 times because it was in a window sill right above the heating.
It bounced back 5 times.
So I wouldn't give up hope, but in all fairness it's safe to expect the worst.
 

Moosleyh

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I had a rhodondendron azalea for about a year, and it died like this about 6 times because it was in a window sill right above the heating.
It bounced back 5 times.
So I wouldn't give up hope, but in all fairness it's safe to expect the worst.
I've always kept mine outside. I'm definitely not giving up. I'll try to take some action and hopefully it'll bounce back. If it doesn't it'll definitely be a huge lesson. Thanks a lot!
 

Mikecheck123

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My guess, from the appearance of the soil surface along with the history of high heat this summer, is that the soil is compacted and the roots didn't get enough water. Moss like that says to me that the soil isn't draining much, probably draining off around the sides, instead of through the root mass. It's a guess, though. You won't know unless you pull it up and examine the root mass--Unfortunately, now is not the greatest time for root work in the Northern hemisphere.
Yes, it is quite possible to water every day and still have a tree die of thirst.

OP, what do you do when you water? It's important to get water flowing out the bottom.
 

eugenev2

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I've always kept mine outside. I'm definitely not giving up. I'll try to take some action and hopefully it'll bounce back. If it doesn't it'll definitely be a huge lesson. Thanks a lot!
There is a trick some people do when they think the tree is too compacted with roots and do not want to risk a repot at the wrong time of year, although this is not a magic bullet or guaranteed to work it's less invasive than a full repot. They drill a number of holes in the soil to assist with letting the water soak the root ball. I know Azalea and Rhododendron terms are used interchangeable by nurseries, but Rhododendron tends to be evergreen and azaleas deciduous. Not sure which variety this is, but it looks similar (although this is not saying much) to my Rhododendron and dropping leaves like this is definitely not normal. I would check the root ball first as others suggested and check for root rot before doing this, as adding more water will not resolve this issue
 

eugenev2

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Nope. There are all kinds of azaleas.
Ok, probably true. There are thousands of variants.
Would be a good starting point to figure out whether it is evergreen, deciduous or one of the semi variants, to see how much trouble this tree is in.
 

Rivian

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Ok, probably true. There are thousands of variants.
Would be a good starting point to figure out whether it is evergreen, deciduous or one of the semi variants, to see how much trouble this tree is in.
You can tell just by the color and deformation of the leaves. No azalea should ever look like that
 
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