A buddy of mine does landscaping and removed a couple of andromedas from a client site, the roots were severely damaged in the process. One had a little bit of root mass left and was planted and seems to be doing ok, the other had basically no root mass, was put in the ground and despite watering 3x a day is clearly on its way out
I was thinking about putting the one that’s dying in a bucket with water and kelp as a last ditch effort to get it to take up nutrients and also maybe grow some roots. I could also prune it back a lot so it stops transpiring as much. Maybe try both? Idk
Needs potassium for roots. Might help to make sure the soil isn't too tightly packed. Kelp sounds good. Pacific/California kelp has more than Atlantic. I'm a little bit worried about availability though because organic fertilizers usually require a period to breakdown into the actual nutrients. They also need something to break them down like bacteria in soil. Your plant might die before the potash becomes bio-available.
Alright I did it… plant ICU
I cut the thing off at the stem, scored the base, dunked the whole thing in a bucket full of water with 1-0.5-1 hydroponic nutrient mix and an aerator and stuck it outside in the sun. Based on your feedback I decided to go with something a little more bioavailable just to start to give the thing the best chance of survival
Basically like a giant weed clone
Wish me luck
Yeah that’s why I’m thinking just a pure liquid solution as a last ditch effort
Definitely prune it back if its lost roots. Pruning a bit is always a good idea after a transplant.
Thanks good tip, I think for now since it’s basically got a fully open vascular system I’ll let it ride. If I had pruned it first it probably wouldn’t have gotten to this point… we’ll see how it does
