So far fusia plants & petunias have died strangely - please help!

Discussion in 'Pests, Diseases and Cures' started by Howard Shaw, Aug 5, 2014.

  1. Howard Shaw

    Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2014
    Messages:
    24
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Service engineer
    Location:
    Huddersfield
    Ratings:
    +14
    1407260551893.jpg It started with 3 fusia and now 2 petunia.
    Symptoms :-
    On fushia
    Leaves at bottom of plant start to dry out, go brown and fall off. This moves up the plant over a few weeks in end all leaves are dry and many have fallen off. It looks like it has not been watered for a few weeks.

    On pertuina
    Whole plant still green but leaves withered, again plant looks like no water for a few weeks.

    NO. They don't need watering as soil is damp. He. He. Joke over

    Any ideas? Too much water? Virus? Fungus? Not enough food?

    Please help thank you!

    P. S. How can I put pictures on here to show you?

    P. P. S I think I figured it out- the blue and white basket is what they should be like, not the pink wall basket. 1407260551893.jpg IMG_20140805_184913.jpg 1407260551893.jpg IMG_20140805_184913.jpg IMG_20140805_184934.jpg
     
  2. Sheal

    Sheal Total Gardener

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2011
    Messages:
    36,097
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Dingwall, Ross-shire
    Ratings:
    +54,260
    Welcome Howard. :) It sounds like they need feeding to me. This should be done once a week either with tomato food or something like Miracle-Gro. With the weather being so dry we need to water more and that tends to wash the nutrients out of the soil. Most of us use a multi-purpose compost for baskets and pots and the nutrients in that only last about six weeks. Don't forget to nip off the dead flowers too.
     
  3. Howard Shaw

    Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2014
    Messages:
    24
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Service engineer
    Location:
    Huddersfield
    Ratings:
    +14
    Thanks, I must admit they haven't been fed for about 3 weeks and the buds have gone this morning. Do you think same for the poor fushia?
     
  4. Lea

    Lea Super Gardener

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2011
    Messages:
    914
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Bucks
    Ratings:
    +1,067
    Are they in a particularly windy spot?
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • NigelJ

      NigelJ Total Gardener

      Joined:
      Jan 31, 2012
      Messages:
      6,760
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Mad Scientist
      Location:
      Paignton Devon
      Ratings:
      +22,979
      They haven't been over watered have they. This would cause the roots to rot and the symptoms are like to little water.
      I would let the soil/compost dry out between waterings.
       
    • Howard Shaw

      Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

      Joined:
      Aug 5, 2014
      Messages:
      24
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Service engineer
      Location:
      Huddersfield
      Ratings:
      +14
      Wind and over watering, two things what I pondered.
      I read up on over watering and it looks to be same symptoms, BUT! the soil is being dried out between watering and the soil has left the side of the pot another appearance of not over watering.
      Now the wind thing, another possibility, because I had some Bay trees in the same place and them leaves went brown and dry and fell off! I moved the plants and they are ok now. Maybe time to move the fushia again.
      Thanks for some ideas.
       
    • Howard Shaw

      Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

      Joined:
      Aug 5, 2014
      Messages:
      24
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Service engineer
      Location:
      Huddersfield
      Ratings:
      +14
      Any way I can check the roots?
       
    • pamsdish

      pamsdish Total Gardener

      Joined:
      Apr 5, 2008
      Messages:
      5,151
      Gender:
      Female
      Occupation:
      Retired
      Location:
      "Black Country Wench" in Margam,Port Talbot,Wales
      Ratings:
      +4,445
      You can tip the Fuchsia out and see, bit more difficult with the petunia as they will snap the stems.
       
    • Howard Shaw

      Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

      Joined:
      Aug 5, 2014
      Messages:
      24
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Service engineer
      Location:
      Huddersfield
      Ratings:
      +14
      So I guess if the roots are rotten they will just fall to bits when removed?
       
    • pamsdish

      pamsdish Total Gardener

      Joined:
      Apr 5, 2008
      Messages:
      5,151
      Gender:
      Female
      Occupation:
      Retired
      Location:
      "Black Country Wench" in Margam,Port Talbot,Wales
      Ratings:
      +4,445
      You will be able to see if any healthy roots yes.
       
      • Agree Agree x 1
      • Howard Shaw

        Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

        Joined:
        Aug 5, 2014
        Messages:
        24
        Gender:
        Male
        Occupation:
        Service engineer
        Location:
        Huddersfield
        Ratings:
        +14
        Well i pulled out that pertunia last night. It was looking very sorry, leaves were still green but it was really wilted, checked the roots and they were strong, no sign of rotting!
        So back to what could have gone wrong?
        well maybe not fed often enough and even thought fed a few days ago it had gone past no return.
        Or B, the wind is hammering it and dehydrating it severly.

        Back to fushia, spotted another plant today in the windy drive, leaves going yellow and dropping off from the centre and bottom of the bush. A real shame cause these have been lovely plants.
        But need to work out whats happening.
        Am currently moving plants off windy drive to a more sheltered area and will feed again in 5 days !
         
      • Sheal

        Sheal Total Gardener

        Joined:
        Feb 2, 2011
        Messages:
        36,097
        Gender:
        Female
        Location:
        Dingwall, Ross-shire
        Ratings:
        +54,260
        Have you checked the leaves underneath to see if there are any pests present?
         
      • Howard Shaw

        Howard Shaw Apprentice Gardener

        Joined:
        Aug 5, 2014
        Messages:
        24
        Gender:
        Male
        Occupation:
        Service engineer
        Location:
        Huddersfield
        Ratings:
        +14
        Yes no pests.
         
      • pete

        pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

        Joined:
        Jan 9, 2005
        Messages:
        51,033
        Gender:
        Male
        Occupation:
        Retired
        Location:
        Mid Kent
        Ratings:
        +93,718
        If its multi purpose compost and its got to the point of shrinking back from the sides of the pot, chances are its difficult to re wet.
        Once it gets dry it needs to sit in a bucket of water for an hour just to re wet the whole root ball.
        Looking at the petunias and the weather we have been having up till a few days ago, I'd say it would be very difficult to over water.
         
      • Ramshackle

        Ramshackle Gardener

        Joined:
        May 23, 2014
        Messages:
        90
        Gender:
        Male
        Ratings:
        +46
        What is your growing medium?
        I hate baskets for these kind of issues!
         
      Loading...

      Share This Page

      1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
        By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
        Dismiss Notice