Stephen,

I put a lot of coffee grounds around these plants all last summer,
hoping that would help acidify the soil. What else would help?

More sun isn't an option here. There are about 4 hours in the afternoon
and that's it.

Any suggestions as to what to do about eliminating those weevils? I'm
assuming they came from the garden center (which grows its own plants)
as none of my 4 other azaleas or 2 yews show any signs of damage. I've
been spraying once a month with a systemic insecticide as directed by
the "expert" at the locally owned Farmers Ag coop. After 2 sprayings,
I'm not seeing much progress. I've also hit them with "rose spray" to
take care of the caterpillars which also showed up this spring.

The rhodos did put out big clumps of leaves this past week, so they're
still alive.

Any detailed suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Stephen Henning wrote:
Jenny wrote:


Location: Western Massachusetts, close to VT/NH border. Zone 5 but barely.
Soil Ph slightly acid. In addition, I mulched with coffee grounds last
year.
Moistu It rained all last summer and fall and we had snow cover all
winter. However, the drainage is very good where these were planted
since it is the foundation and there are curtain drains underneath.


Most rhododendrons including chionoides are acid loving plants. Your
soil may be slightly acidic, but near a foundation it will be alkaline
due to the lime in the foundation. Wet conditions on an unhappy plant
will make it susceptible to most anything. The plant should thrive if
given more sun and acidic soil. When healthy they transplant very
easily. They have very shallow roots.

The bugs were in the soil already, either in the soil from the garden
center or your soil. Weevils live in the ground but come out at night
and chew on the edges of the leaves. This is a very common problem in
many areas.