Camellia gets brown leaves: what to do?

Under optimal conditions, the camellia grows bit by bit into a sizeable shrub. Every year it is covered with numerous rose-like flowers in bright colors. The leaves stay simple and form a rich green, shiny background. However, this ideal image can quickly fade if the foliage suddenly turns brown without much warning. The camellia is a demanding plant and brown leaves are their answer to deficiencies in care.

Brown camellia leaves

Green camellia leaves are the norm, even in winter. While the flowers disappear with the approaching cold, they stay on the bush all year round. Brown foliage is therefore not planned by nature in autumn, but a clear sign that something is wrong. Brown coloring is also to be understood as a warning. If this warning is not heeded, the damage can spread, up to and including the plant perishing.

Can the camellia still be saved?

A brown leaf is seldom left alone. Especially with a large camellia bush, many leaves can quickly be affected by the brown color. Whether the crop can still be saved depends on how quickly you act.
The brown color is always to be understood as a request to immediately review all maintenance measures and the current location. Leaf diseases are more likely to show up with dried-up shoot tips and other symptoms; they will hardly be the trigger for brown leaves.

tip: Do not cut off bare branches immediately. As soon as the plant has recovered, it can easily sprout new leaflets.

Claims of the camellia 

Every owner of a plant wants it to thrive and delight him with its flowers. Therefore, it is unlikely that anyone will harm a camellia and make it sick on purpose. So if care mistakes are made, it is mostly due to ignorance about the optimal care, whereby the camellia with its sensitivity also contributes its part to the problem.
So that you can discover maintenance errors and clearly identify a wrong location, you first need to know the target state. Find out in detail what this plant wants and tolerates in this country. In a nutshell, these are:

• a bright but sun-protected place
• consistently moist soil, without waterlogging
• modestly dosed fertilizer

Possible maintenance errors

Do not wait too long to analyze the cause, because the sooner you discover the fault, the faster you can You can take appropriate corrective action and thereby avoid the plant from continuing brown and sick will. You should clarify the following points:

• the site conditions
• Pouring behavior or Waterlogging
• Supply of fertilizer
• the age of the camellia plant

Each and every one of these points can, by itself, cause brown leaves. However, it is not unusual that this sensitive plant does not like several circumstances. Therefore, do not stop investigating the cause as soon as you have encountered a discrepancy.

Wrong location

The camellia plant comes from Asia, where it is represented with more than 300 species. The tea tree, especially the leaves of the Chinese camellia, turns green and black, among other things tea won. The Japanese camellia, bot. Camellia Japonica, is a wild species that is popular as an ornamental shrub because of its large flowers. This fact has also led the Camellia Japonica in our latitudes, where the climatic conditions are harsher. This is why this plant is rarely cultivated outdoors all the time. However, if it lingers there, direct sunlight can damage it and make it sick.

• Sunburn is a possible cause of the tan
• Plant must not be exposed to direct sunlight
• especially not immediately after wintering
• blazing midday sun is taboo

Measures against sunburn

The helpful measure against sunburn is quite obvious: the affected plant must continue to thrive in a shady place from now on. If it is cultivated in a tub, this measure can be implemented quickly and easily, provided that an optimal location is available. Otherwise, a way must be found to adequately shade the plant:

• for example with a sun sail or parasol
• by placing larger plants in front of them, etc. Ä.

Often the plant is buried together with the pot in the garden in summer. In milder areas, even good experiences have been made with permanent planting. In these cases, the following measures will help:

• shade in the first step
• with awning, a bast mat u. Ä
• in the second step it has to be transplanted
• to a suitable place that is bright but not too sunny

If the plant spends the winter in the garden, the problem with the sun must not be neglected. In particular, the morning sun is not digestible for their leaves. In summer it can withstand a little more sun.

tip: When moving the plant, keep in mind that it needs a lot of light. Otherwise, you may have to come to terms with a more modest flower.

Waterlogging

Hardly any plant can withstand waterlogging over the long term. However, some owners are so generous with the watering, as if they only had swamp plants in front of them. If the soil is too wet, the leaves of this plant will be colored. Check with your finger whether the soil is soaked. If so, you should by no means continue to use the watering can as before:

• Stop pouring for the time being
• the earth should dry out first
• then water less
• only when the upper layer of soil has dried out
• Always pour away the water from the coaster

In this context, you should also check whether the excess irrigation water can run off well at all.

• there must be sufficient drainage holes
• a drainage layer is helpful

When the potting soil is so soaked, it doesn't help to just wait for it to dry. Immediately remove the wet soil by transplanting the plant into new substrate. You can immediately pay attention to permeable soil and a suitable pot.

tip: Waterlogging often also promotes leaf diseases or Pests. Check your plant carefully for aphids and scale insects or for signs of fungal disease.

Oversupply with fertilizer

If you supply your specimen with a commercially available flower fertilizer at regular intervals and follow the manufacturer's instructions, you are sure to be on the safe side. Nevertheless, there may be an overdose. The recommendations for the camellia plant are based on halving the dose recommended on the packaging.

Measures in the event of over-fertilization

If you have taken too good care of your Camilla Japonica over a longer period of time, it may be necessary to completely replace the old substrate with a new one. When repotting, rinse the root ball thoroughly under lukewarm water to remove any residues of fertilizer. After this rescue operation, you should definitely consider the modest nutritional requirements so that no new brown leaves show up:

• only fertilize from March to August
• every 14 days
• Do not fertilize after buds have formed
• Use less fertilizer than recommended on the packaging
• halving the amount is fine
• A nitrogenous rhododendron fertilizer is ideal

Aging and "leaf wear"

Just as humans lose a few hairs with increasing age, the camellia turns part of its leaves brown every 2-3 years and then lets it fall to the ground. Fortunately, some new leaves are sprouting up on her. No herb has grown against the aging of the plant and so the brown leaves on the old plant simply have to be accepted.

• remove leaves that peel off easily
• collect dropped specimens early
• this prevents rot in the root area

If more than 1/3 of the leaf dress is affected and the buds are also drying off, you should also research other possible causes.

Leaf diseases

As soon as a plant shows brown leaves, the obvious assumption of many owners is that there is a leaf disease at work. In fact, the camellia is less susceptible to disease and pests are also rather rare visitors.
However, if the plant is not properly cared for and overwintered incorrectly, it can also become ill. This shows up differently than with the brown color of the leaves. Common symptoms are:

• Leaf spots
• Leaf damage
• sticky coating
• rotting flowers u. A.

If such signs occur, finding the faults in care is not enough. Find out what made the plant sick and take countermeasures promptly.