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Lithodora Diffusa

Lithodora Diffusa

Question from Shoot User
1785 1
I have been growing this alpine for the first time this year. It's planted in a container using John Innes 2. It produced a flush of beautiful blue gentian coloured flowers. These are now finishing and the leaves which were a healthy looking green are turning black and dying. There are some new green shoots arising in a few places including some new flower buds, so I know the plant is still alive. But should the old leaves that came with the first flush have died so quickly or is that normal for this plant?
Posted: Sunday 20th of May 2012 06:17 PM

  • Re: Lithodora Diffusa

    Kathy N
    Hi, Paul,
    I can think of two things that might cause the dieback you see -either the soil/compost is to alkaline (Lithodora diffusa does best in acid soil) so you might want to try an ericaceous soil. Other thing that might cause problems is if the soil has dried out too much. It cant tolerate being dry for too long (not drought tolerant). Could it be either of these things?
    Kathy C
    Replied: Sunday 20th of May 2012 10:45 PM

    • Re: Re: Lithodora Diffusa

      Shoot User
      Hi Kathy,

      Thanks for your response.

      I'm aware that LD is an acid loving plant. Unfortunately there's not much I can do about that. I live in the SE, which is a hard water area, and the only way I can water the plant is mainly by using tap water or exposing the container to rainfall when it comes. I also planted LD in a container previously used for other plants, so the soil within had already been watered with tap water for at least a year.

      My problem started recently 2 weeks after planting out so I'm not sure lime would have caused the issue in such short a time. So for the moment I'm going with the dryness of the soil being the cause. . I've cut back hard in some places and watered thoroughly (with tap water) and there are signs of a revival by the plant (click on photo and see background as well as foreground). But it could be the final struggle before a relapse.:-(

      https://d30qmn300ic0sk.cloudfront.net/assets/users/user_44875/forum_11573_114_20120521225551.jpg
      Replied: Monday 21st of May 2012 09:55 PM
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