Resurrecting severely slug damaged Petunias

About half a dozen of my recently planted Petunias have severe slug damage, I've dug them up and potted them up and brought them inside in the hope that they'll recover.

However, bearing in mind that some of them are, quite literally, just a few stalks with no leavesor buds is it likely that they have had it?

Should I feed them with anything to help them recover?

No harm in trying to resurrect them of course, I'm just curious how readily Petunias can recover from such severe damage if cared for.

If they do recover I plan to put them in pots in a different location and not back into the flowerbed.

 

Any pictures of the damage?

 

It's unlikely they'll recover MadHedger.

 

The camera is playing up so no photos right now I'm afraid, however the worst damaged one is actually showing signs of new growth this morning. I'm very surprised - currently just tiny new shoots or leaf growth (so tiny that it's hard to make out) but the new growth definitely wasn't there yesterday.

 

It's warm enough to keep them outside....
Not indoors now
I have cut back, to stalks, the trailing petunias ....because of severe aphid damage....and they responded brilliantly.
Liquid feed ....they should recover quickly Madhedger
I

 

I was thinking of putting them outside but wanted to give them some TLC inside to see if they responded. Also, if I put them outside now they'll just be mugged by slugs again, but I'll put them back outside (if they continue to respond) when a new raised planter arrives which I've just ordered.

Have just been examining the rest of the "rescues" (six of them) and they too are showing tiny new leaves/shoots (still too small to be sure). Curiously enough, it's the one that is 100% stalks which is putting out new growth the fastest.

They certainly are tough plants.


Liquid feed? All I have is Tomorite, is that suitable?

 

Yes, tomorite is perfect. Outside is far better at this time of year; inside prob too hot......how about covering with fleece overnight then uncovering them at daylight?

 

Thanks. Good idea about covering them overnight, or I could just bring them inside. Thankfully the room that they're in right now has not been hot.

 

A bit of an update for anyone who is curious - the damaged plants are all doing very well. All of them have at least some new growth, particularly the one that was no more than stalks which now has a lot of new, healthy growth. In fact the latter one is growing at such a rate that I think it's trying to make up for lost time! And this is all in less than a week.

I'm both surprised and very pleased, it's also fascinating to see how they are recovering.

 

Excellent.....we live and learn dont we?:rasp:

 

Indeed we do. Well, hopefully.

 

Any pictures?

 

I've taken some now but the next hurdle is my computer deciding that it won't read the camera's memory card .......... yet the camera WILL read it. Ho hum.

 

Time for some photos, they are though only of the most badly affected Petunia plant (there were others that were badly slug damaged but this one was a real wreck).

First photo was taken on June 14th which is just a day after I removed this particular plant from the ground. At that stage the new buds were barely visible but in the first photo they are just about showing.

Next photo is on June 15th, then June 18th, June 21st then July 6th.

I do have one from July 1st but for some reason it won't upload.

But you get the idea from these.

Not bad for just three weeks of growth I think you'll agree?

Note: I also removed the spurious, dead end parts of the old stalks a few days ago. I also put it into a larger (brown) pot a few days ago as the roots were protruding from the base of the old (black) pot. The damaged plants also had a feed with some Tomorite a few days after I salvaged them and potted them up.

Some of the leaves (as shown in in the latest photo) appear to be curling, no idea why that is. But it's about to produce its first (pink) flower. The other resurrected plants are a mix of red and white.

The other resurrected Petunias are now outside in a planter (which is fairly slug proof !) and they too have made a great comeback, but just for fun I thought I would try leaving the pictured one inside to see how well it grows.

 

This is an interesting thread, and it's great to see how the petunias are coming on. I had a coreopsis outside in a pot which I got just before going on holiday a couple of weeks ago. When I got back it looked exactly the same as your first picture. I'm going to bring it inside and feed it to see if I have the same luck as you. Until I read this thread I was all set to chuck it out.