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Surefire Ways To Save Your Lavender That's On Its Last Leg
By AJ ATTIA
Fix Watering
Overwatering and underwatering are both lethal for lavender. Ensure young plants get about a gallon of water weekly, while mature ones are irrigated twice a month.
Check the soil. For an overwatered plant, hold off on hydration; dig up the plant; trim rotten roots, diseased and damaged stems, and leaves; and then repot into fresh soil.
Amend Soil
Lavender needs sandy soil that drains well and is neutral to alkaline. So, add coarse sand to amend clayish soil, and always test the soil's pH before planting.
Make sure the soil's pH is 6.5-7.5; add limestone to raise the pH and sulfur to lower it as necessary. Use compost and organic fertilizer along with zinc, boron, and magnesium.
Remove Pests
Pests of different species and eating habits take an interest in lavender, including rodents, aphids, whiteflies, spittlebugs, or four-lined plant bugs.
Control rodents like moles and voles with traps while washing off aphids and four-lined plant bugs with a garden hose. Use sticky traps and reflective mulch to repel whiteflies.
Treat Diseases
Lavender is prone to fatal diseases: Shab and Xylella, which have no cure; an infection triggered by the alfalfa mosaic virus, carried by aphids; and root rot.
Pull out the infected herbs to prevent the spread of Shab and Xylella. Banish aphids to fight the alfalfa mosaic. For root rot, cut the rotten roots and repot them in healthy soil.
Provide Sunlight
Lavender needs six to eight hours of daily sunlight in spring and summer. To revive an herb growing in the shade of another plant, transplant it to a sunny spot.
Indoors, move the pots to a south-facing window so the plants get longer light hours. Artificial light, like a grow bulb, is also a good alternative if there isn't enough sunlight.