"may" wrote

My camellia started of in a pot, and flowered for a couple of years ,
then
on the third year it produced a mass of really big buds which all
fell off before they had the chance to flower, i did read that if they
are not watered enough throughout the summer months that this could
happen , so i thought it would be best to plant it in the ground which
i did , it was about 3 feet high by then ,
so i planted it in a really big hole and watered it well for weeks
afterwards, and also gave it camellia food. but now it has black
stuff like soot on its leaves and it has not produced one bud this
year. and the leaves are not as green as they used to be. my
roderdendron seems to do ok in my soil so i am not sure what is
wrong, do you think i should just dig it up and try a new one?


The "Sooty Mould" is growing on the honeydew (nicer than pee) secreted by
Scale Insect. Camellias are prone to scale insect infestation (just like
Citrus). To cure the sooty mould you need to kill the scale insect, there
are some sprays available but they aren't that effective IME so you will
need to spray a number of times. The sooty mould will just wash off in time
unless you want to do it yourself.
Camellias with non green leaves are suffering from chlorosis so a good
watering (2 gals or more) or two of Sequestered Iron now and another every
year in the spring should cure the problem.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden