In article , Spider
writes

Mike @ wrote in message ...
I received some healthy Zinnias from Dobies with instructions to transfer
the plants to 3.5 inch pots using multipurpose compost etc.

I did this, but now 4 days later the plants now look sorry for themselves
and have started to wilt and turn brown ! What have I done wrong ?

To clarify what I did:
Placed multipurpose compost in pots, made hole and transferred plants
carefully loosening part of the root before placing in pots.

Quick watering with (Waterbutt) rainwater.

Transferred to (unheated) brick garage in front of a window that doesn't
get
direct sun.

Any info would be appreciated as I am about to transfer some healthy
Dahlias
into pots and don't want similar happening.
Thanks.


It is not a good idea to use waterbutt water for seedlings and young plants,
as it contains all manner of bacteria and germs - as could a
less-than-scrupulously-clean plant pot. Although your garage window may not
have offered enough light, I doubt this would have killed your plants; they
would simply have become etoliated.

I hope you have much more success with your Dahlias. Watering with tepid
tap water would help. Use a clean jug, too, not some festering can that's
been breeding malicious microbes for the past few weeks. Save your precious
waterbutt water for border plants and acid-lovers.

I'd be surprised if anything carried in by rainwater could have caused
so strong an effect so quickly. IME a strongly growing young plant is
troubled neither by water from a water butt nor by unwashed flowerpots
(provided there's nothing obvious in there like root mealy bug or
lurking slugs). It is probably a different matter if the plant is
already a bit weak.

I wonder whether the key is in the '*quick* watering' - maybe not enough
water, hence the wilting. If this wasn't corrected, then the plants
would die off. Newly repotted plants tend to need quite a good watering
for the first watering because their roots will inevitably have got
bashed around a bit.

The only other thing is whether the unheated garage was in fact too
cold. I've just picked up some hardy fuchsias from T&M and the
instructions are basically to keep them above 40 deg for a while and
harden them off gently.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"