12/14/25 – The leaf damage has progressed and there are also more leaves affected. I’m not sure if it’s still getting worse but it’s much worse than last week. I will probably water it with plain water only in the next day or two as it’s been over a week now without water.
I’m pretty sure I’ve been over watering and washing out the nutrients, so I’m going to get a tray to put underneath the pot so I can better tell when it’s saturated.
12/6/25 – I added about 4-5 cups of feather meal to the compost layer on top I added a few weeks back. This is a very slow release, high nitrogen, organic fertilizer, but it’s slow acting. Therefore today I also added 1 oz of Fish Emulsion (with kelp) to 1 gallon of water. Yesterday I also added 1 oz of Fulvic Acid to 1 gallon of water. I might hit the plant again with some more fish emulsion in a couple of weeks. Just trying to document what I did to see if it helps. This one could probably use a bigger pot as well, so that might be the next step if the plant does not recover. This is the only manzanita that’s showing issues, and I have several in pots, but this one also went through a massive growth spurt and I might be over watering and washing out nutrients.
12/5/25 – Today I noticed that some leaves are pale green, almost yellow and some of them have red veins showing through them and also some spots starting to appear on some leaves. It’s pretty clear the plant needs some fertilizer. This one has shown no real growth in months and that is after some explosive growth over the summer. I did not any any compost to this soil mix, so I will make sure to add some next time.
11/16/25 – Looks a little greener on this side, what used to be the front. Weather is starting to turn, it’s almost time for flowers, though I don’t see many signs on this one yet. My John Dourley started flowering in early November.
10/2/25 – It’s still doing okay, but does not show the lush, fresh, growth of the others. Fingers crossed it keeps doing well, I love the dark purple bark against the green leaves,
7/10/25 – I’ve rotated the pot to try to get a nice and even shape to the plant. It was starting to lean and had most of the growth on the side that was facing the sun.
5/17/25 – Seems to like it’s new soil very much
11/26/24 Planted into 20 gallon pot with a bag of Foxarm Ocean Forest, along with 1 Gallon of rice hulls and a big tea cup full of glacial rock dust. Finally added some mycorrhizae to the mix. I also added some mulch to the top and then covered that with stones to stop the critters from digging into the pots.
8/13/24 Purchased from Linda Vista Natives
9/28/24 Purchased a second one from Linda Vista and paired it next to the Dark Star, 30″ tall at planting.
7/6/25 – Lots of other natives added into the mix. 2x Mr.s Beard, 1x Coyote Bush (Twin Peaks), 1x Island Black Sage, 1x Celestial Blue Sage, and also a Woolly Blue Curls back behind Holly. It does not get very much sun and looks like it’s already going dormant. The Dark Star should be peaking over the fence in a couple of weeks, it’s really taken off in the last year!
