It gives your home garden a Mediterranean touch, keeps mosquitoes and ticks away and is the perfect cut plant: There are many reasons why lavender is so popular. It's all the more annoying when the lavender suddenly turns brown, hangs its head or dries up. As a hobby gardener, you ask yourself what the reason could be. We list 5 common care mistakes that are to blame.
1. Lavender care mistake: Watering incorrectly
Like most plants from the Mediterranean region, lavender is adapted to heat and drought. It forms large, long root balls and can easily reach the lower layers of the earth. This means it can cover its water needs even if the top layer of soil is completely dry. Rainwater is often sufficient in the home garden. The lavender is only watered during longer dry periods and temperatures above 28° Celsius.
The plant turns brown and dries up: too much water
Lavender really only needs water during long heat waves. Even if the finger test shows that the soil is dry, you don't need to water the lavender. Regular watering in summer is the most common cause of brown leaves. The roots become mushy and can no longer absorb water. The plant begins to dry out. First the shoots turn brown, then the flowers fall off and the whole plant dries up.
Lavender turns yellow: water only from above
Lavender is only watered from below. This keeps the leaves, shoots and flowers dry. Incorrect watering in combination with loamy, impermeable soil or poor drainage in the pot often lead to discoloration. The leaves first turn yellow and then brown - a sure sign of waterlogging.
Wet leaves are also entry points for bacteria and viruses. Yellow leaves with brown spots are typical of leaf spot.
2. Care mistake: Fertilizing lavender incorrectly
Lavender is a very robust plant that doesn't actually need any fertilizer. Only potted plants can benefit from fertilization in June. This is because rain and irrigation water wash away the nutrients from the soil. To compensate for the deficiency, you can incorporate some coffee grounds or compost into the substrate at the beginning of summer.
Lavender suddenly dies: nitrogen fertilizer
It is very common for lavender to be supplied with standard garden fertilizer. However, this can have very serious consequences for the Mediterranean plant. Nitrogen fertilizer can be particularly harmful. It provides too many nutrients at once, causing the lavender to grow vigorously. However, the young shoots are not hardy and freeze as soon as the first frost sets in.
3. Wrong soil for lavender
Lavender requires poor, sandy soil to thrive. Conventional potting soil is not suitable for potted plants. You still have to incorporate extra sand. The same applies to clay soil in the garden - it is insufficiently permeable and waterlogging can quickly occur. It is also important that the soil is calcareous.
Lavender makes heads hang: waterlogging
Does your lavender make heads hang? Check the soil for waterlogging. Poor pot drainage and impermeable soil are among the most common causes of wilted shoots. In many cases, waterlogging leads to rot - the entire plant dies. To prevent this, you can work sand into the garden soil or place a drainage layer of gravel on the bottom of the pot. For potted plants, you should also check regularly whether the drainage holes are blocked. Lavender needs space for its roots and needs to be repotted annually. If you missed this important part of care in spring, you can also do it in summer.
4. Missing the annual cut
Lavender needs pruning every year to ensure it develops well. Anyone who misses this pruning can quickly notice in the summer that their plant suddenly looks bare and no longer grows. The result is bare shoots and a lack of flowering. The right time for pruning is at the end of summer. Immediately after flowering, the shoots are cut back to a third. In spring - early to mid-April, the lavender is shortened a second time to 20 cm. This second,strong pruningpromotes growth in spring and flowering in summer.
Lavender doesn't bloom: missed the pruning in spring
If the lavender no longer blooms profusely or does not produce any flowers at all, then a cutting error is usually to blame. The right time for pruning in spring is often missed, sometimes simply postponed until autumn. However, if the shoots become bald, there is nothing you can do to save the plant.
5. Lavender care mistakes: Wrong location
Lavender plants prefer a location in full sun and sheltered from the wind. It is best to place it near a house wall and avoid covered terraces and balconies. If something is wrong with the space on the balcony or in the garden, the first thing the plant will do is stop producing flowers. Then it turns yellow and then dries up.
