Sunflower + others dead/droopy/soft within hours

 
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/u22/freshagevi/IMG_20110526_201650.jpg ]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u22/freshagevi/IMG_20110526_201641.jpg ]

[image:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u22/freshagevi/IMG_20110526_201636.jpg ]

Thanks, Chris & Emma.




--
freshage

 On 26/05/2011 20:29, freshage wrote:

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




--
freshage

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


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.

 On 2011-05-26 20:29:38 +0100, freshage


If you're watering it last thing at night, and/or drawing the curtains
and leaving it against a cold window (and the nights are still quite
chilly) I wonder if that's affecting it. If the room is warm all day
and cold all night, it's having to do a lot of adjusting - or give up.  
;-(
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon