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[justinsocal]

So about 6 weeks ago I bought nine, five gallon oleander plants. planted them in my backyard. bought them locally at a small nursery. Four of them are doing great the other five appear to be dead. They are very crispy brown leaves, crumbling, shriveled up. My question is, is there a possibility they will come back next year or should I just cut my losses and pull them out and replace them? I live in a very hot dry environment the soil is very Sandy and it is extremely windy every day. I watered them everyday for the first week and then every other day for the next week and then they started dying so I started watering them again everyday. Do they need more water? Any tips? Thanks

[gardencompanion]

Ouch that’s tough nearly half dead… I’d say it’s some kind of transplant shock, you know where they weren’t happy. Were they delivered by the nursery or did you fetch them yourself? Sometimes the way you transport them can dry the tree out or give it a fatal sunburn. As a first step, I’d ask the nursery if a 50% death rate is common or perhaps that batch has some sort of problem.

As for knowing whether you need to pull them out, the only thing I’d recommend is the “scratch test”: scrape a little bit of bark off from a few branches and trunk, not a lot just like a sliver or something: if it’s shiny and greenish in color, then there’s still hope, but if it’s dry then they’re goners already. I don’t think you’ve overwatered them, so perhaps its really just the transplanting into a place that’s too hot for them right now. Normally oleander can really take heat well, but it has to settle in properly first to send its roots down, perhaps that hasn’t happened yet…

[plantito_sotto]

I think they really need more water my friend. I hope you could get this problem solved.

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