Help me diagnose why thia Rhododendron is dying
I had it on the balcony on a spot with direct sunlight for most of the day. I bought acidic soil to repot it after some googling and then tried to keep it moist most of the time. I had a moisture meter in it but i started ignoring it after it kept showing dry eben after watering.
I thought it dried from too much sun and i watered more but then after moving it to a place with more shade i noticed water dripping from drainage holes so i feared i overwatered. I digged a bit to feel for moisture and even tho the soil i added was moist, the soil the plant came with was drier and a lot of its roots were thin, brown and kinda dry. They were also close to the surface and hadn't digged into the new soil. That makes me think the plant was thirsty. Im thinking of digging it out to inspect the whole root ball but I'm afraid of ripping it's roots and stressing it so much it will die. Don't know what i should do
ChatGPTs response was the following:
My guess is that the plant got stressed from too much direct sun and the original nursery root ball may have dried out internally and become hydrophobic, so the new soil stayed moist while the core roots stayed dry