New gardener: Buford, GA: Tea Olive plant losing leaves, clay

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Hi,

I'm a new homeowner and this is my first attempt at gardening. The goal was to begin a living fence on the perimeter of my yard. I bought and planted back in October and followed whatever instructions I could find online and from the worker at the nursery. As you can see from the pics, 1 plant has lost most it's leaves, and a few others have some browning. I planted 8 total plants, they vary in terms of how they look, leaf color and leaf loss.


- Dug the hole 2-3 times size of plant

-mixed 1/2 soil conditioner and 1/2 native soil (clay)

-if rain didn't come, watered once a week (seems like more than anything, people warned of root rot)

-covered with mulch for protection

-most the plants are in full sun


I picked Tea Olive plant because all indications were that it was very resilient and I figured beginner friendly. I asked some more experienced friends and family about my concerns, and they told me not to worry as it's most likely transfer shock, but I just wanted to make sure I was doing everything possible to give them the best chance. It's now been about 5 months since planting, and there has been steady rain since planting here in NE Georgia.


Thanks for any guidance/advice you can provide!
 
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some pics of the plants attached
 

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Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

The description of the preparation and care you gave sounds reasonable for a new planting, but if the soil is heavy and the rainfall is heavy it might not always be enough. So will the stressed plants begin to recover with warm weather or suffer more in the heat. This Spring will give the answer. As the plants become more established ease back on the irrigation.

Some plants look more stressed than others. The more stressed shrubs might benefit from being replanted. That is a stressor as well, so you do need to weight the pros and cons, but if the plant seems to be going downhill anyway, there is nothing to lose but the added labor.

If any replanting is required (with either the same shrubs or new shrubs), considered adding mounding to the bed preparation. A gradual mound, with a slope of 30º or less, can help excess soil moisture drain away from the root crown.

Overall, Tea-olive or Sweet-olive (Osmanthus fragrans), in the Olive family (Oleaceae), is a durable evergreen shrub that is tolerant of clay soils. If the plant get over the establishment phase they will likely do very well.
 
Joined
Feb 14, 2022
Messages
3
Reaction score
3
Location
Georgia
Country
United States
Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

The description of the preparation and care you gave sounds reasonable for a new planting, but if the soil is heavy and the rainfall is heavy it might not always be enough. So will the stressed plants begin to recover with warm weather or suffer more in the heat. This Spring will give the answer. As the plants become more established ease back on the irrigation.

Some plants look more stressed than others. The more stressed shrubs might benefit from being replanted. That is a stressor as well, so you do need to weight the pros and cons, but if the plant seems to be going downhill anyway, there is nothing to lose but the added labor.

If any replanting is required (with either the same shrubs or new shrubs), considered adding mounding to the bed preparation. A gradual mound, with a slope of 30º or less, can help excess soil moisture drain away from the root crown.

Overall, Tea-olive or Sweet-olive (Osmanthus fragrans), in the Olive family (Oleaceae), is a durable evergreen shrub that is tolerant of clay soils. If the plant get over the establishment phase they will likely do very well.
thank you for the feedback and advice
 

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