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Besides the random yellowing and dropping off of leaves and buds, the plant is otherwise putting out new buds and flowers pretty well.

What might be causing this?

The plant is in partial shade (3-4 hours of full direct sun, partial otherwise) and is watered every day. I fertilized and added some new soil few weeks ago, but have been noticing this problem since before that event.

The picture showing the 3 flowers was taken a couple weeks ago, and the other one yesterday.

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2 Answers 2

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Two possibilities:

  • too dry, causing bud drop.
  • spider mites. You can check on the underside of the leaves for small dots like grains of salt. If they are found then apply a spray of 5 ml dish soap to 1 litre of water three times at five to seven day intervals.

Edit: by spraying at these intervals you catch the next generation of spider mites as they hatch from eggs.

I suggest increasing your watering as potted outdoor plants dry out easily.

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  • Pretty much what I was going to say. :) Sometimes humidity can be an issue, but I guess that's hard to take care of outdoors.
    – J. Musser
    Commented Jul 29, 2014 at 20:15
  • Thanks. Can you clarify what you mean by "three times at five to seven intervals." ?: )
    – amol
    Commented Jul 29, 2014 at 21:01
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How are you watering? You should water your plant slowly and deeply until water begins to run out of the bottom of the pot. If you water by just sprinkling a little on the top every day, then the root ball will eventually become dry and "case hardened" and the water will not soak in properly. This is especially a problem in hot, dry climates.

If you are concerned that this may be part of the problem, then the way to treat that is to put the pot into a larger tub or a deep tray and keep adding water to the tub or tray until the top of the pot has soaked up enough to become saturated. Afterwards, let the plant drain, and from then on make sure you water it enough to keep the entire root ball moist.

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  • Your answer is excellent, I accepted kevinsky's because that answer also suggested spider mites. Thank you for answering (+1), I wish I could accept both of your answers.
    – amol
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 17:21

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