Please help me with my rhododendron!

[needsomefuninthesun]

So when I say I'm a novice at gardening, that is giving me too much credit! I know nothing but would really like to learn! I've recently got round to having some plants potted in my garden and two of my rhododendrons are looking abit sad (although one looks lovely!)

I'm wondering if it looks a little overwatered? I've been watering once a day on an evening (the soil is always moist, certainly on the surface, prior to watering). I water until the pot kind of 'fills up' with water (which then drains quickly so it doesn't look like it's drowning). It probably takes around 5 seconds of watering with a watering can (using a full spout not a shower attachment). I make sure I water the soil although my daughter has helped a couple of times with her little watering can and has watered the leaves.

Can anyone advise on whether this looks like overwatering and if so how do I judge whether it needs watering? The guy who sourced and potted them advised I water twice a day!

Thank you xx

They look fine to me however I don’t think you are watering correctly. The water running out means that the soil does not have a chance to get fully wet. Use a much slower flow and for longer.

I think that a good way to test is to lift the pot slightly before watering to check how heavy it is. After watering it should be significantly heavier. As you are doing at the moment it probably is not much heavier

You should remove the dead flowers by twisting them off.

In autumn you and early spring give a feed of sequestrine of it on

@florentina1 thanks so much x

Agree with Florentina. The best way to check if pots need to be watered is to see how much they weigh. A fully watered pot is heavy and a pot with little or no water weighs hardly anything at all.

Plunge the pot into a bucket of water and leave for around an hour. This gives time for the compost to absorb the water and the plant to rejuvenate. After that, allow it to drain and it’s all set. In warm weather you might have to do this every day.

Alternatively after watering put the pot on a saucer which will provide a shallow pool of water to help prevent the compost drying out.

Yes, remove dead flowers and feed with special rhododendron food.

You’ll need to give it a bigger pot or put it in the ground after flowering’s finished.

I have loads of rhododendrons but none are in pots. This year they are later flowering because of the very dry summer last year (when they set their buds) and I leave their flowers to fall off naturally as that's what happens in nature. I tidy up the dead flowers once they are on the ground...

Thank you everyone! @SleepingisanArt they are stunning!

This is a picture of the one that's looking good and I've been watering them in the same way! The only difference I can think of is the one that's looking the best (by far!) gets less sun than the others....