I have a couple of "Autumn Fire" sedum in outdoor pots which have developed yellowing and curling leaves. The pots have drainage holes and I've put a layer of mulch on the soil, particularly in case of nighttime cold. I have to admit that I'm not certain how much water they should get and whether it's too much or too little water which may be causing this. Or is it that sedum just does this in the winter? Both plants seem to be getting new growth at the base, so should I just trim them back? See photo and thanks for any feedback.

This hylotelephium should be well completely dry with no leaves in winter. I guess you must be leaving in a very hot or at least hot climate that this did not happen, because otherwise it is normal for all leaves to fall off and then for the stem and flowers to skeletonize.

Other than that, problems with leaves in my experience happen when there is something wrong with the roots, either the roots entangled completely because of being grown in a small pot initially, like "plugs" and they strangle themselves and cannot get nutrients or either the roots are rotting.
But I have not grown these plants in such a climate where they do not dry up for the winter with leaves falling off, so I am not quite sure why they aren't skeletons with small buds at the based of the stems at the soil level.

PaleoTemp said:This hylotelephium should be well completely dry with no leaves in winter. I guess you must be leaving in a very hot or at least hot climate that this did not happen, because otherwise it is normal for all leaves to fall off and then for the stem and flowers to skeletonize.

Other than that, problems with leaves in my experience happen when there is something wrong with the roots, either the roots entangled completely because of being grown in a small pot initially, like "plugs" and they strangle themselves and cannot get nutrients or either the roots are rotting.
But I have not grown these plants in such a climate where they do not dry up for the winter with leaves falling off, so I am not quite sure why they aren't skeletons with small buds at the based of the stems at the soil level.

I just got these around summer time, so wouldn't think they've had enough time to become root bound. The pots are in a somewhat sheltered spot that gets afternoon sun, so perhaps combined with the rather mild winter we've had so far here in the mid-Atlantic states, it hasn't been cold enough for the usual die-back to happen. There are definitely the new small buds at the base when I lift up the lower leaves, so hopefully that means they are mostly going through their normal transition.

I can try cutting them back to allow the new buds to get sun, but will first ease them out of the pot to check if the roots are all mushy.

Well I have made some thread before, with some hylotepehiums with weird growth and the roots were balled up because they were placed in a small container sometime when they were propagated, but I have not got them in a small container but in a larger container, so their roots were like a knitting ball at the base but not visible at all until a total soil removal off the longer roots. In that case I regrew most of the plants from leaves planed in substrate and those were excellent plants that grew from the leaves, this was in a spring.


In a cold climate like were I have the plants over the winter the plants look like this, stems dried up with leaves fallen off but with buds at the soil level which remain like that until spring comes.


Not sure how they should be acting in a warm winter climate.

Hi Shawn. I agree with Paleo, they do need a dormant season, all the old foliage dies. If you want to plant to look good this year I would carefully prune all the old stems back to the base, being careful not to damage the new grown. You should be getting enough rain this time of year to take care of water needs as long as the plant has access to the rain?

valleylynn said:Hi Shawn. I agree with Paleo, they do need a dormant season, all the old foliage dies. If you want to plant to look good this year I would carefully prune all the old stems back to the base, being careful not to damage the new grown. You should be getting enough rain this time of year to take care of water needs as long as the plant has access to the rain?

The containers are on a covered porch, so not going to have access to rain. Maybe these weren't the best choice for containers? If they are generally drought tolerant (providing it's not the heat of summer), maybe water them thoroughly (until water comes out the drainage hole in the bottom) every other week?

Yes, that sounds good for watering Shawn. But to do their very best they also need adequate sunlight. If they are to shaded the growth will be week and color of leaves not as good.

valleylynn said:Yes, that sounds good for watering Shawn. But to do their very best they also need adequate sunlight. If they are to shaded the growth will be week and color of leaves not as good.

Gotcha. The porch where they are gets a lot of afternoon sun, and so I had actually positioned them around a corner out of concern that they would get too much. So will move them to where they can get more.

Thanks!

I put this type of hylotelephium in mixed containers all the time. This is one from May. Filled in nicely by mid summer.

Julia that is beautiful. Is that 'Chocolate Drop'?
Now I know what I am going to do with mine when I make the move this summer.

No , I'll look

Tomorrow I am going to put together a large container with 'Chocolate Drop' and not sure what else yet. I'm still cold from working outside so don't think I will go out now.

It's called Dark Magic!
Here's some others.



This is Blue Pearl


I'm not sure on the name of this one tag is gone.

You are making me very excited about doing some large containers to take to the new home.

I shop on Facebook marketplace for containers. Have gotten some good deals from people moving.

I am one of those people moving.
I have many containers, and only a few will be going with me.

that you are! Post them up on market place people are getting that planting feeling!

Have to decide which ones I will keep first.

Shawn C, First of all, I don't know what zone you're in, so that makes giving you advice a little "iffy.: Autumn Fire is supposed to be an improved version of Autumn Joy and while I have neither, I have a number of tall sedums. All of them die to the ground in my area Zone 6 but now most are showing signs of growth at the base--and it's still quite cold here. One of my favorites is Frosty Morn, a variegated tall sedum, which might be the last one SpringColor showed in pictures. All of my tall sedums I cut back early in the growth season so that they don't become too tall and splay. In a sense, they're like chrysanthemums, they need to be cut back so that their growth is curtailed.
Is there a reason you're growing this sedum in a pot?