Hi guys,

New to the forum, my girlfriend and I recently moved into our first place and took it upon our selfs to become amatuer gardeners!

Anyway, our plants have been growing like wildfire over the last 2 months from seedlings. Over the last week or 2, most of them have been suddenly drooping to the soil, losing all 'spring' in their step and generally looking tired.

Normally a little splash of more water does the trick but it seems we are fighting a loosing battle. We water regularly and they are in decent compost.

Here is our sunflower, yesterday it was full of life and today it seems it has just decided to comit suicide. Is there any chance it will survive and anything I can do to help restore it?

Also, any idea what could be causing this?

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201650.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201641.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201636.jpg

Thanks, Chris & Emma.

On 26/05/2011 20:29, freshage wrote:
Hi guys,

New to the forum, my girlfriend and I recently moved into our first
place and took it upon our selfs to become amatuer gardeners!

Anyway, our plants have been growing like wildfire over the last 2
months from seedlings. Over the last week or 2, most of them have been
suddenly drooping to the soil, losing all 'spring' in their step and
generally looking tired.

Normally a little splash of more water does the trick but it seems we
are fighting a loosing battle. We water regularly and they are in decent
compost.

Here is our sunflower, yesterday it was full of life and today it seems
it has just decided to comit suicide. Is there any chance it will
survive and anything I can do to help restore it?

Also, any idea what could be causing this?

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201650.jpg]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201641.jpg]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201636.jpg]

Thanks, Chris& Emma.




Could you be overwatering? Is the compost in the pot soggy? I would
normally water only when the plant shows the first signs of flagging.
SWMBO will water a plant every week whether it needs it or not and I
have had to rescue plants where the root ball was floating in water.

Malcolm

Hi Malcom,

We don't overwater, that I know of... I always test the soil using my finger... If my fingertip is still dry after sticking it in past the first knuckle then I know I need to water.

The soil was damp last night when I brought it in due to the rain. The soil was bone dry this morning so I topped it up with a very small amount of water.

Chris

On May 26, 8:29*pm, freshage
wrote:
Hi guys,

New to the forum, my girlfriend and I recently moved into our first
place and took it upon our selfs to become amatuer gardeners!

Anyway, our plants have been growing like wildfire over the last 2
months from seedlings. Over the last week or 2, most of them have been
suddenly drooping to the soil, losing all 'spring' in their step and
generally looking tired.

Normally a little splash of more water does the trick but it seems we
are fighting a loosing battle. We water regularly and they are in decent
compost.

Here is our sunflower, yesterday it was full of life and today it seems
it has just decided to comit suicide. Is there any chance it will
survive and anything I can do to help restore it?

Also, any idea what could be causing this?

[image:http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201650...]

[image:http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201641...]

[image:http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201636...]

Thanks, Chris & Emma.

--
freshage
You certainly can over/under water. The clue is in the wieght of the
pot if you can just ease it off it's support.
Looks more like some sort of disease to me, maybe fungal. Are they all
affected?
If you catch it at an early stage there are antifungal sprays.

On Fri, 27 May 2011 07:11:00 +0000, freshage
wrote:


Hi Malcom,

We don't overwater, that I know of... I always test the soil using my
finger... If my fingertip is still dry after sticking it in past the
first knuckle then I know I need to water.

The soil was damp last night when I brought it in due to the rain. The
soil was bone dry this morning so I topped it up with a very small
amount of water.

Chris

I dont know a fungal disease or pest infestation that would cause such
a sudden overnight change - have you noticed any "odd markings" on
leaves such as brown spots or downy patches developing over time?

Equally it doesn't look like underwatering (you'd see signs of that
before it got this bad and the leaves don't look underwatered) but it
could be overwatering.

Another real possibility is that as your seedlings have been growing
away strongly for about 2 months (you say) they may be hungry. Most
composts have added plant food enough for about 6 weeks but after that
you need to start feeding the plants. You've mentioned that they've
started to look tired in the last couple of weeks.

So get to your local garden centre or diy place as quickly as you can
and find yourself some liquid plant food. Make up a half strength mix
and water your plants with that. About three days later, give them
another watering with half strength mix and keep doing that until you
plant them out. When planting them out, water them in with a full
strength mix of the plant food.

This treatment won't necessarily rejuvenate plants that have starved
too much but, with luck, most that are just looking a bit tired will
recover.

Yes, all the leaves are effected, Emma and I are popping to the local garden centre tonight to buy a bigger pot, and also some anti fungal spray.

Cheers. Chris

On 26/05/2011 20:29, freshage wrote:
Hi guys,

New to the forum, my girlfriend and I recently moved into our first
place and took it upon our selfs to become amatuer gardeners!

Anyway, our plants have been growing like wildfire over the last 2
months from seedlings. Over the last week or 2, most of them have been
suddenly drooping to the soil, losing all 'spring' in their step and
generally looking tired.

Normally a little splash of more water does the trick but it seems we
are fighting a loosing battle. We water regularly and they are in decent
compost.

Here is our sunflower, yesterday it was full of life and today it seems
it has just decided to comit suicide. Is there any chance it will
survive and anything I can do to help restore it?

Also, any idea what could be causing this?

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201650.jpg]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201641.jpg]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...26_201636.jpg]


It looks to me the sort of effect vine weevil or other root-eating pest
can cause, although it would have to be a pretty massive infestation to
cause the damage so quickly. Have a look at the roots of an affected
plant. If the pot isn't at least half full of roots, something odd is
going on.

--

Jeff

It doesn't look fungal to me.

Clearly, for whatever reason, water is not getting to the leaves. One reason could be not enough water, another could be that there's something wrong with the roots. For me, the first step, before rushing off to spend money, would be to have it out of the pot and see what is going on below.

On May 27, 1:21*pm, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 26/05/2011 20:29, freshage wrote:





Hi guys,

New to the forum, my girlfriend and I recently moved into our first
place and took it upon our selfs to become amatuer gardeners!

Anyway, our plants have been growing like wildfire over the last 2
months from seedlings. Over the last week or 2, most of them have been
suddenly drooping to the soil, losing all 'spring' in their step and
generally looking tired.

Normally a little splash of more water does the trick but it seems we
are fighting a loosing battle. We water regularly and they are in decent
compost.

Here is our sunflower, yesterday it was full of life and today it seems
it has just decided to comit suicide. Is there any chance it will
survive and anything I can do to help restore it?

Also, any idea what could be causing this?

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201650...]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201641...]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...526_201636...]

It looks to me the sort of effect vine weevil or other root-eating pest
can cause, although it would have to be a pretty massive infestation to
cause the damage so quickly. *Have a look at the roots of an affected
plant. *If the pot isn't at least half full of roots, something odd is
going on.

--

Jeff- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think that the OP has given us the answer " I topped it up with a
very small
amount of water."
I think what they need is a very thorough watering, I suspect that a
good amount of the compost is dry.
If you can find a big bucket so that you can plunge the pot and let it
soak for 10 mins or so, with a drop or two of washing up liquid in the
water then take it out to let the water drain through to draw air back
into the compost.
So many people pour water over a plant that is dry and much of it runs
off round the sides, also dry compost doesn't take up water easily,
that is why I say to add a drop or two of washing up liquid as it
breaks down the surface tension and lets the water get taken up more
easily.

On 27/05/2011 14:32, Dave Hill wrote:

So many people pour water over a plant that is dry and much of it runs
off round the sides, also dry compost doesn't take up water easily,
that is why I say to add a drop or two of washing up liquid as it
breaks down the surface tension and lets the water get taken up more
easily.


I do agree, although in my experience washing-up liquid doesn't help
that much. I always use a couple of drops in a 8l watering can, but the
water soon pours out the bottom of the pot. That's because we've all
moved to peat/peat-free based composts rather than soil based, and the
former are so difficult to wet once they've dried out. For really
thirsty plants I tend to use pot saucers as these certainly help retain
water and dampen the compost.

--

Jeff