Can I save my camellia?
QI have a large, fairly old camellia that has yellow leaves. I water and feed it well but am not sure it reaches the roots. What can I do to save it? Hilda Newman (via email)
AAs your camellia has been in the ground some years I doubt whether it is struggling for water. If I tell you its ideal conditions you might be able to identify if something is not quite right.
Camellias are usually best grown in a spot with a westerly or sheltered northerly aspect, either against a wall or under trees that can provide some frost protection. They don’t tolerate wind.
They need a slightly acidic soil and with the wrong pH the leaves will tend to be small and yellow between the veins. However, if your plant has grown large, I would say that this is not a problem.
Camellias like soil that is moist throughout the year. If your soil has a tendency to dry out, mulch your shrub in spring with well-rotted organic material.
The mulch should be spread over the whole root zone (which probably extends as wide as the branch system) but avoid it coming into contact with the stems. Feed camellias with a general fertiliser for trees and shrubs in April, before mulching. Don’t feed after the end of July.
Cutting back will expose more of the soil beneath to rain and nutrients, but it really shouldn’t be necessary. However, it is possible to prune a camellia to regenerate it and this is best done in stages over 2 or 3 years.
Do it in March or April, just as the plant starts back into growth, and cut back up to one third of the stems. The new shoots will come from the point at which the stem was cut.
The following year another third of the stems can be cut back, and the year after the remaining third.