Wilting rhododendron

zoelday

hi my rhododendron is wilting and I don’t know why. It’s in a large pot and has been happy for the past 18 months but I don’t know whAts wrong. I keep it watered and have fed it with shrub food but it’s just not happy! Please help! 

The only place I can plant it in the ground is nearly always in the shade maybe gets a slither of sun for an hour would it be happy there if I moved it? I really want to keep it in a pit where it is! 

zoelday

Nanny Beach

Take it out of the pot, check for vine wevil grubs that's what happened in a couple of mine

zoelday

I will do! What do they look like and how do I get rid if it is them? 

Obelixx

The most likely causes are either you are under watering or it has been attacked by vine weevils eating thru the roots.   The only way you can check is to remove it from the pot and check the roots for being dry or eaten.

I would think that pot is too small anyway and it looks like it's terracotta which absorbs a huge amount of water itself so I think it really would be happier in the ground or a much bigger pot.  They are happy in dappled shade but do need moisture, especially in late summer when they're forming next year's flower buds.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/rhododendron/growing-guide 

Nanny Beach

The grubs are white with a brown head about an inch long and slightly shaped, Don't compost them.  Council bin or out for the birds to eat. If you find any,you have to make sure you remove every be single one. Hubby removed all the compost,the rhododendrons never recovered. If you don't find any and it was lack of water last year, unlikely they will recover unfortunately. They need a huge amount of water for the next year's buds

Nanny Beach

Slightly C shaped, phone removed the C