Sick/dying Camelia :(

[MichelleB]

My brother purchased a house 10 years ago and there was a beautiful red camellia in the front yard. It used to be as tall as the eaves and about 6' wide. Two years ago his roommate removed a bush that was next to it and put a couple of dwarf purple sage in its place. The past couple of winters we have had some snow-one snowfall was about 12" last winter and the snow stayed around for about 3-5 days.(we live in Arlington, TX-D/FW area) In january a few of the flowers bloomed but most of them shrivelled and dried on the branches. This summer the camellia started to look sad. The leaves were turning brown, some got spots, the rest were pale green to yellow with spots. We went to a garden shop and got some camellia food and fed it following thier instructions, but it is still getting worse. Now there are only a few greenish leaves left and most of the branches are brittle. Can I save it? Should I cut it down to the ground and see what happens? Thanks.

[Glutton4...]

Hello, and welcome to the Madhouse!

I don't now anything about Texas, I'm afraid, but I know Camellias can suffer if they have root damage. You could try digging down to see if anything is eating the roots, or has tunnelled underneath it, causing damage. They also do not like prolonged periods of either drought, or very hot weather. You could also check for Spider Mite on the leaves. I hope you manage to save it.

[MichelleB]

Thanks. I am familiar with spider mites and there aren't any. And when we put the fertilizer on I checked and didn't see bugs in the soil. We were having a pretty bad drought this summer and maybe it got too dry. That combined with the colder than usual winter may be the cause. Do you think cutting it back will help? Also, the bush that was removed used to shade the Camellia some. Do they like a lot of shade?

[Glutton4...]

I'm not an expert, and can't grow them here, as we have the wrong soil, but I know they don't like extremes, so I guess the added exposure, caused by removing the neighbouring plant, may have upset it.

Round here we've lost a lot of exposed Bay Trees due to frost and wind. Camellias do need some shelter, I think. Also, they do like plenty of water, especially after flowering. Drought won't have helped.

[MichelleB]

Thanks,
We'll see what Happens.

[Two_Sheds]

I have a very healthy red camellia, and it is indeed in the shade (of the house). It's been here donkey's years, through a few bad winters.

They don't like drought, and won't flower if they go short of water.

If yours is dying, you've got nothing to lose by pruning it back quite hard: I would take each branch back to one pair of leaves, water it really well and see how it does