Marco Spaccavento wrote:

Hi all,
This is my first post here - not a great surprise seeing as I only own three
plants. Therefore, I am obviously a complete amateur so take it easy if the
following question is utterly dumb

About a week ago I acquired a small Polyanthus in a pot. It had half a
dozen healthy looking leaves of around 5-10cm in length and all up it
probably rose 5cm out of the pot, if that. No flowers or anything else.
This was bought in Sydney and was still looking fine when I put it on my
east-facing kitchen window (where the other two plants live) in Canberra.

The day after, I came home and it was looking rather wilted and not in good
shape at all. The little information I could find about them suggested they
don't like direct heat, and that seems to happen in my kitchen, so I moved
it into a less hot and sunny spot. It didn't improve, but it didn't get any
worse.

Then someone told me it was an outdoor plant, so I moved it outdoors over
the weekend - and now it looks a lot worse. Its leaves are very dry apart
from a couple of small ones around the base, but the soil was still fairly
moist to the touch.

I have been watering it and watered it a few days ago using Miracle-Gro, but
to no avail. I also tried to help it along with some slow-release
fertiliser on the first night I had it, and that may not have helped.

Is there any hope for the thing, or should I just write it off? Are they
even perennials?! The only information I have about it is from the label,
which simply states "Polyanthus W" - so your guess is as good as mine.

Any/all advice appreciated.


It's possible you watered it too much, especially if it had a tray
underneath so it was standing in water. When you put it outside, was it
in a shady, protected position?

I would leave it outside, but somewhere shady and where I could keep an
eye on it. It might come good or it might not. No need to feed it any
more, but water it after the top of the potting mix dries out.

HTH,
Jane