EasyBloom Forum

Help!!! I have been away for 3 weeks looking after my father. My family neglected to water my beautiful Gardinia. All the leaves are crispy but these is still some flex in the stalks - do I cut it back, leave it, bury it or fertalise. We are in the middle of summer here in Australia. Temps last week of over 105 degrees. Any assistance appreciated J xx

Hey Jac...I'm sorry to read this about your Gardenia. Right now your Gardenia is in a weakened state and you will have to be fairly careful to resuscitate it back to health. Assuming that it has not been completely killed off by the heat wave and drought, I'm sure you can help it come back to life. First off, I would not prune quite yet. I would wait a wee bit longer to see if any of the buds on the stems are still alive. The buds may come out of dormancy and produce new shoots. If that never happens, I would expect the base of the plant to be the last part that would have died off from the heat/water stress. If you don't see new leaves forming at the base of the stem, there is probably no hope for reviving your Gardenia.

As for fertilizing, you should be fertilizing your Gardenia on a monthly basis when the plant is in its growing season. Your case is a bit different though. When you fertilize a plant, the plant needs storage for those newly absorbed nutrients. Your Gardenia has lost a lot of its storage (leaves and stems). On the other hand, if your Gardenia is still alive, it will need nutrients to build new leaves and stems. My recommendation would be to fertilize on a bimonthly schedule, but use a dilute solution of fertilizer. Also, you should be using a fertilizer that is meant for plants that thrive in acidic soils. Gardenias do best in soils that are acidic.

Probably the most important aspect of your Gardenia's recovery will be soil moisture. You might think that it's a good idea to continuously provide water to the soil to help it recover, but that may actually be the nail in the coffin for your Gardenia. Of course your plant will need water, but the soil needs to drain very well and the soil should not be completely soaked at all times. Plants' roots need oxygen to grow. Chances are your Gardenia's roots have had some die-back and are on the verge of growing once again. If you completely soak the soil at all times, the roots will rarely have access to oxygen to help them grow and recover. Your Gardenia would do best with deep soaking when you irrigate, but then you should definitely allow time for the soil to dry out just a bit before watering again. The time between waterings may have changed from before your Gardenia suffered the heat/water stress. Now that your Gardenia has lots some/all of its leaves it will not be pulling as much water from the soil as it was before. This means that the soil may stay wet for longer periods of time, and thus you should avoid watering again before it is time.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Let me know if you have any further questions as I am always happy to help out. Cheers...Dr. Robby