Is anyone else having difficulties with not killing their Lemon Verbena plants?

It doesn't seem to matter what I do or don't do, they shrivel up and flop in a matter of days from replanting them.
I'm giving them hardly any water, and at least one of them is in a fairly wind-prove spot.

Any tips on how to keep these lovely plants alive?

Thank you!

Don't know if this will help ?

http://www.herbcompanion.com/Herb-Profiles/LEMON-VERBENA.aspx

Thanks for the link, yes it did help in a way, the suspect is the wind! -

Could you or someone please recommend a website where I can reference 'local' leaves funguses and diseases.
Most online articles in English seem to refer to the US Botanic scene  ... 

The wind here is equally, if not more so, responsible for causing herbaceous plants to wilt.  Many will need daily watering and maybe shade if available.
When you say " 'local' leaves funguses and diseases" I presume you mean Spanish.
To avoid the US sites, select "Pages from the UK" on the left of the listings if you're using Google .co.uk as your browser.  As for info on Spanish growing matters, it's probably just as easy to ask on here.

I was given a lemon verbena plant a couple of years ago and planted it in a large pot.  Since then I have watered every day except during the winter when it only gets what the skies give and during the summer given a once weekly feed of fertilizer and it has grown and thrived although it tends to be a bit straggly.  It is not in a particularly wind-free spot either.

Yes sorry, I meant here as in near Tortosa, and I'm actually using google.es!

Essentially I have noticed that our oleanders leaves  and neighbouring plants have been turning yellow with brown spotting, the spreading seems to be getting worst and worst and very quick.
My online 'research' is pointing at Cercospora leaf spot fungus, however I'm unable to find any advice on 'natural treatments' or even a way to confirm if indeed thats the right fungus.

Any tips are welcome!


Photos attached.

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wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 4:55pm:

I was given a lemon verbena plant a couple of years ago and planted it in a large pot.  Since then I have watered every day except during the winter when it only gets what the skies give and during the summer given a once weekly feed of fertilizer and it has grown and thrived although it tends to be a bit straggly.  It is not in a particularly wind-free spot either.

Thanks Tony
That's reassuring.

I havent given it much water as I have read that the roots prefer a very dry soil. But since that isnt working, I'm going to try the watering.

My Oleanders have had the same symptoms as in the top pic from time to time.  I've just watered and fed them and they've recovered.  Might be a good idea to mulch them as well.  I just use the small stones that result from sifting soil for growing veg in.  The bottom pic doesn't look like Oleander.  Looks more like Pittosporum.

Bigyin wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 6:36pm:

My Oleanders have had the same symptoms as in the top pic from time to time.  I've just watered and fed them and they've recovered.  Might be a good idea to mulch them as well.  I just use the small stones that result from sifting soil for growing veg in.  The bottom pic doesn't look like Oleander.  Looks more like Pittosporum.

Excellent thanks!
I'll try that, and yes the last one wasn't an Oleander, I think it is a Pittosporum. 
Im going to try the same mulch treatment with them too.

I hope its a simple as a bit of T&C ... I've been panicking about a fungus infestation :/

This is my first time ever attempting not too kill vegetation.

I've got part of a hedge that's alternate Oleander and Pittosporum so you can treat them the same.  They are "drought tolerant" but that's probably UK speak.  If they're mulched you'll get away with a good soaking about once a month in the summer and not at all in the winter.
It's a long learning curve.  Conditions are much harsher here than UK in many respects but then you can grow a lot of stuff here that you'd struggle with in UK.

These certainly look like fungal diseases. There is usually no cure for such diseases. If I may offer some advice..

Remove carefully infected leaves/branches and burn them. This will kill the infected parts and kill most of the fungal spores to help reduce it spreading..

I'll pm you an email address of  a work colleagus who is a fungal expert in the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) Plant Health clinic (part of DEFRA). I don't know if they will help as they run a commercial diagnosis clinic for this sort of thing and it is notoriously difficult to make a proper diagnosis from a picture since many symptoms for different diseases look so similar.

Pm coming up.....

Im truly hoping it isn't an untreatable disease as this would mean getting rid of pretty much every tree on this land!
Thanks for the advice tho, I do need to consider the worst case scenario.


Bigyin, if you don't mind me asking, how long did it take for your plants to recover since spotting the yellow and brown marks?

It's hard to say.  Perhaps a few weeks.  Without wishing to encourage complacency, I wouldn't necessarily fear the worst.  They will shed leaves over time and produce new ones.  What's the history ?  Did you plant them or inherit them ?
I'll pm you.

Be careful when burning oleanders as they are very poisonous, shower afterwards do not cook on BBQ's with them.

>:(

wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 11:40pm:

Be careful when burning oleanders as they are very poisonous, shower afterwards do not cook on BBQ's with them. >:(

Noted, thank you!


Its a jungle out there  :-/

A couple of suggestions coming from the Mediterranean Gardening Society members are possibly mineral deficiency or leaf scorch..
http://ag.arizona.edu/plp/plpext/diseases/trees/oleander/oleleaf.htm

They are still investigating, will let you know of any updates.

Nigel

Nigel wrote on May 30^th, 2012 at 5:41pm:

A couple of suggestions coming from the Mediterranean Gardening Society members are possibly mineral deficiency or leaf scorch.. http://ag.arizona.edu/plp/plpext/diseases/trees/oleander/oleleaf.htm They are still investigating, will let you know of any updates. Nigel

Thanks Nigel
Sounds like a horrible disease. The marking Im finding do not quite match those, so Im hoping mine are Xylella fastidios free!