what happened to my sunflowers?!

I watered them on Friday and by Sunday they looked like this?
Any help would be appreciated

Oh man. Not sure if they still alive fo rya now, a s just seeign this. Looks liek they have been watere d too much and also som esort of envirnomental damge like wind or sun or something. Leave s look liek they sustain some injury then tried to come out of it without success. hate to say this but I woudl throw thos e out and either us e fresh soil or sterile that soil and start again. Poor babies.

The one on the right looks like it could be sunburned. If so, the bleached tissue is already dead, and will dry out and turn crunchy. It looks like crap, but the plant will grow out of it if that is the problem. I wouldn't throw them out unless the growing point completely dies out, which it shouldn't if it is sunburn.

Unless you're having almost freezing weather, I'd get those puppies outside and into the ground. I seem to remember them not liking to be transplanted very much....

trc... I thought maybe just burn too at first, but take a look at the ne w growth on the top, looks like they have soem sort of viral thing goign on ther e with al the curlign and puckering. Like a viral wilt. I could be wrong though. What ya think?

I agree, something else seems to be going on with those. It could be a combination of sunburn and something else. Viral is a possibiltiy, but I wouldn't expect symptoms to appear so drastically in only 2-3 days. Another possibility that you hinted at is environmental (other than sun). Without any additional info it is tough to diagnose, but with the curling/puckering, my first thought is herbicidal. If those plants were anywhere near a lawn that had recently been sprayed for dandelion or other weed control, the leaf malformation could be from 2,4-D or other phenoxy herbicide. The plants themselves would not have to have been directly exposed for injury to result. Phenoxy herbicides are very volatile regardless of application type (spraying or granular) and on a warm sunny calm day enough can volatilize to damage many different plants. It is common to see lilac and many other ornamentals be damaged to some degree when adjacent to treatment areas after warm/hot and calm weather. You usually see this only much earlier in the spring (better timing for weed control), but is possible if jxmas or a neighbor had a recent lawn treatment. I could be way off base here, I'm making a huge number of assumptions, and may be making up an interesting scenario to fit very little data............... maybe if jxmas can give us some more hints........................

Other possibilities include ozone and other air pollution. Some plants can show a lot of damage to various pollutants. Symptoms can be wide ranging, but range from spotting of leaves to chlorosis to leaf malformations.

Any other Ideas, or any more info available....????