Rose of Sharon - Baby leaves dropping

[CDaniel]

It's a Strawberry Smoothie Rose of Sharon that I bought online. Upon delivery it was in bad shape. All of its leaves were yellowing and ended up dropping 99% of them. A lot did have spots on it, perhaps due to aphid damage. I don't know how often they were watered by "cottage farms direct", but it was severely rootbound. After about 4 weeks all of the bare limbs started to put out healthy, new, green leaves. However, they may have gotten to be 1/2 inch in length and lot of them are falling off with little to no effort.

I've been very careful about watering, especially over watering. I even bought a moisture meter but I've learned those things are crap. Nonetheless, I started to see the tiny black aphids showing up on the young leaves so I used 1 tablespoon of Dawn for 8oz of water. I used it three days in a row when I saw new aphids. I mention this in case it might have something to do with new leaves falling off. I'm not suggesting using the soap remedy for aphids causes damage, but it was Dawn "4x more grease power, etc." and if a build-up of that could've weekend the stem.

The soil has great drainage

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Have a agent row of them, that I truly do not bother with. they are a rugged plant. If you are seeing aphids, maybe for next year you can order up some lady bugs to help with that, that is a natural remedy. Lady bugs eat them.

 

[Marck]

Some type of irregularity with watering would be my first thought, but it sounds like you are accounting for that. Sometimes the symptoms of overwatering and underwatering can behave remarkably similar.

I'm guessing the plant has not yet fully established in its new location. I would keep it going as best you can until autumn leaf drop, then give it a protective winter mulch and hope for good things in the Spring.

I have heard of many people using Dawn as insecticidal soap, but perhaps that particular formulation has an unwanted ingredient. It is always good to test a new product sparingly, especially for off-label uses.