|
| Every year my Petunia's die, but this year I'm determined not to let it happen. I only bought one to experiment with. The plant was lucious for the first 2 months. I cut it back when I first bought it and it grew really well. Hot weather set in last week and it get's enough sunlight. I don't over-water or anything. I feed it once a week or twice a month. Three problems. 1) It's getting leggy with not much under growth, so I don't know where to prune it. 2) The leaves are fading. 3) Biggest problem which you can see in the picture below is there are little white sand like granules on every leaf. I searched the Net and didn't find anything like it. It's not Thrips. The stuff will rub off easily, just like sand. The flowers are just fine.
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 11:56
| first thing first.. thats a lot of plants.. in what looks like a very small pot ... tip the whole out of the pot.. and see if there is any media left ... second .. your plants need to be deadheaded... they have only one job in life.. procreation.. and once too many seeds are set ... then they simply shut down ... third.. and i cant tell.. you have either bugs or mildew ... i will leave that to others... but will not.. bugs attacked stresssed plants.. and large plants in small plants can become stressed .... when the plant is going on 2 or 3 times the size of the pot.. you have to ask yourself... is there a big enough root system to support such... and then look at your pot.. etc... and then look IN YOUR POT ... and find out ... ken |
|
| Hi oakleyok, First, I agree with everything ken has said. As for the tiny white specks, my guess would be that they are aphid skins. As aphids grow, they shed their skins (exoskeletons). The many tiny white skins will then be found on the stems and leaves of the plant (petunias in your case). Art |
|
| It's just one plant in a gallon size pot. My camera always makes objects appear smaller for some reason. It drains great when I water it. I'm religious about deadheading all my plant's daily. I know if I disturb the plant by taking it out of the pot it will be a gonner. I'm going to do an aphid search again. Nothing I've read mentions sand-like particles on plants. Could either too much or too little fertilizer cause the faded leaf color? Also, could full sun in high heat be the culprit of browning leaves on the bottom of the plant? The plant is out of the wind so it could be sitting there and baking. |
|
| I found some pictures of shedding from aphids and I think that's it! I'm going to treat the plant later today and hopefully it will be okay. The skin is everywhere, so it may be too late. Thanks for the help! |
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 19:52
| I'm religious about deadheading all my plant's daily. I know if I disturb the plant by taking it out of the pot it will be a gonner. ==>> nonsense... work your hand under the plant .. on top of the soil ... working it thru your fingers ... flip pot... tap few times.. and the WHOLE THING will slide out of the pot ... if in fact .. there are dying roots there.. or vigorous roots ... inspect... put back in pot ... i did NOT mean to take the soil off ... i would want to see how the roots are circling in the pot... it doenst matter how much fert you slather on the thing.. if there is no potting media left in there ... if the roots are failing.. THE ONE THING YOU CANT SEE... then it will not matter what you do to the parts you see ... i know how big a petunia flower is.. and your pot still looks small.. using that for a scale ... but if you say so.. so be it ... its really 12 inches deep??? ken |
|
| I noticed you are in zone 7. I'm in zone 8, and if my petunias were in a pot in the hot afternoon sun here, they'd look baked just like yours does. Aphids aside, personally I think you just need to make sure it doesn't dry out and give it some afternoon shade. Simple. Petunias don't like the extreme heat. |
|
| When you have to water a plant everyday, then you are washing away any nutrients in the soil. Instead of fertilizing twice a month, I mix my fertilizer at 1/4 the recommended dose and use it every time i water. If you can get rid of the aphids, try it. |
|
| When you say "it drains great", does that mean that as soon as you start to water it you get water coming out the bottom? If so, then you have too many roots for the amount of growing medium and the "soil" isn't holding on to the water. Instead, it runs right out the bottom. If you lift the plant before and after watering, is it significantly heavier after you've watered it? When I look at your plant, it reminds me of a pot bound plant you'd buy on sale at the end of the season that got root bound because it was in its original sprout-sized container too long. You probably also have aphids, but that's because they take advantage of weakened plants. Martha |
|
| It drains normally. I grow houseplants so I'm not a novice regarding pots and soil. I will start fertilizing more. I checked the soil and the plant isn't rootbound and roots look fine. Sara, I think you nailed it! At least I hope you did. lol. It gets morning sun for about 5 hours, then late afternoon sun for about 3 hours, when it's extremely hot. It will go in the shade after it's morning sun bath. I don't know what it is about Petunias though, we've just never gotten along. :) |
|
- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 8:39
| Me too! I swore I wouldn't buy any this year but ended up with 3 somehow, they are dead. Everything else in that pot is doing great. Why do I do it? The beautiful smell of course but I could have just gotten more pentas and have more beautiful plants right now. There's some kind of wild white/pink petunia that people have in patches in their yards, full non-stop sun. Why don't they sell THOSE? I really am through with these fru-fru cultivar petunias. No more! |
|
| When I used to grow petunias ( too much dead heading for me), I would fertilize regularly and cut the plants back heavily during the summer doldrums. They grow back very promptly from the haircuts. That routine allowed me to have lovely petunias all season. |
|
| Purple, I've seen those Pentunias you're talking about and I've always been so envious! Someone once told me they thought the plants were "New Wave," but I've never seen those colors in a nursery before. The Petunias I see like the one's you describe look to be 2' tall. They are so airy looking! Rhizo, I'm thinking about trimming mine like I did in the Spring, but the bottom stems on all of them have no green leaves, just burnt brown one's. Where I cut them back in the spring there was an obvious spot below the cut where they'd branch out. Now I'm kind of stumped! |
|
- Posted by donnabaskets 7b-8 MS (My Page) on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 21:29
| I just had this conversation with a friend yesterday. The sad fact is that petunias do not like summer in the Deep South. There is nothing at all wrong with buying them in the spring and enjoying them until temps in the daytime start hitting the 90s. But just know, that it's probably not you. It's the weather. And, when plants get sun stressed, they are weakened, and then become fair game for every kind of insect pest there is. Rip them out and plant something else. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Annuals Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here
