In article .com,
"maestro" wrote:

I purchased a 4ft Rhododendron from Costco for half-price thinking
I might be able to get it healthy..it seems Costco did not water these
plants and they looked it but I picked the best of the lot. I
immeadiately gave it a huge drink then the next day transfered it to a
larger container..after losening up the root ball somewhat,added
quality commercial garden soil..anyway,it seems to be holding it's own
and getting slightly better but am I doing enough,should I be deep
watering it because of its condition..I know rodies don't like too much
watering..is this the exception? My neighbor says to give it a big can
of tomato juice for the acid?

With moist well drained soil, never soppy, it'll probably be just fine. It
might look crappy until next year but I've seen evergreen rhodies loose
all their leaves from maltreatment, & they survived & looked great the
following year after someone started watering them again.

It's not always the best idea to buy stressed plants, however, as they can
bring diseases into the garden. Sometimes a maltreated rhody is failing
because of a root rot fungus that could spread to other shrubs.

Soil is made acidic with compost & larger than average amounts of organic
matter & by rainfall or artificially by a low-nitrogen slow-release
evergreen fertilizer. Not by dumping tomato juice into it.
Acidity/alkalinity regards a pH reading, not an ammendment with acid.

-paghat the ratgirl
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