Wilted Heartland's Greybeard episcia

I just received this plant, along with a few others, yesterday, and now, less than 24 hrs. later, its starting to wilt. I'm starting to get really nervous. I've dreamed of owning episcias for many years. I was so afraid of this happening. The room its in is about 35-40% humidity. Its now droopy, compared to yesterday when the leaves were held higher. All the other episcias look fine. I put it in a glass container that is about 7" wide, and put a gallon plastic bag over the top of the container, in the shade. Is that the right thing to do? And how long before I dare take it out of there, and place it back on its pebble tray along with my other new episcias? I was afraid this was going to happen, trying to grow episcias in dry S. California. Yesterday, the humidity was only 7%. Only reason the plant rooms are higher in humidity is because of all the plants, lol. Here's a pic of the victim.

Stick it into a plastic zip-loc-baggie! It'll be fine! :)

Hi Phelan, I very much agree with bsimpson. Have you picked up the plant to see if it moist ? If it really light, touch the soil ,if it dry on top you can water and put it back in the zip lock bag till it becomes turgid. I have this plant shipment wilting trouble with begonias quite often and usually the problem is a certain plant just can't adjust as well to the considerable stress of shipping. Your other Episcias did o.k. Why this has occurred you may never figure out! Possible reasons to ponder are the plant was less mature, it just cant take much additional stress. It may have loosened up in the pot. the stem may have been stressed or partially broken during packing or shipping. I would very gently and slowly look the plant over to rule out and perhaps correct visible physical damage. I am about positive that if your plant gets your good care,it will come around nicely!! If you need to discuss this plant with the grower do it soon, so he/she can help. It is my experience the growers are really knowledgeable and helpful. and....do not worry too much!! Lee Sherwood McDonald

I agree with Olaf and Lee,but would like to add,make sure your plant is not saturated with water.That's worse than a little drying out.

Lynn

all great suggests but if you have a piece of it that can be cut off and rerooted might ensure you dont lose the plant altogher just in case it decides to croak

JIM

I agree with Jim. The motto is "Propagate early and often". That's true for any new acquisition and even for established plants. It's always good to have some backup.

Just recently I have had several different Episcia and one Sinningia speciosa throw a several weeks long tantrum until they stopped drooping.

Keep in mind that it is likely that your plants were grown in higher humidity than you have in your house. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks for plants to perk back up.

Sometimes you'll lose a few leaves.

I had Kohleria cuttings with nothing left than some petiole stumps and a broken off tip that have turned into nice plants down the road.

The key is to stay calm and not panic, provide for some higher humidity and let nature take its course.

Episcias usually take about a week to ten days to recover for me.

Thanks guys. I didn't realize it took so long for episcias to bounce back. I remember tenting African Violets in baggies when they drooped, and they'd be turgid again by the next day! So I can't expect too much, too early here. I don't have a good track record with cuttings, so I'll not hack them up just yet. I've already lost a leaf or two on a couple of my new episcias, and the ends of a couple more leaves are very limp. But I'll be patient. I just watered them--its been 4 days. The pots were light and the soil starting to dry out a bit. I don't want to underwater, but certainly don't want to overwater and risk rot, as that's happened to me quite a few times in the past, and I am careful not to water too often! The soil mix these episcias are in is airy and light, which made me very happy, as I suspect that's why I lost some plants to rot in the past. The soil mix was too heavy. The water went through these plants very quickly, so that was reassuring.

I realize the tremendous stress these poor babies have gone through with the shipping, then a new environment, and then bone dry humidity compared to what they were used to. When I think about it, its a miracle that all plants don't die when shipped!
Randi

Be really careful not to overwater. That would be much more damaging than letting them dry out slightly, particularly at this point!

Their roots will have to recover first before the leaves will be nice and turgid again.

Don't worry about some, or even all, of the mature leaves to crisp up and dry out. That's what happens when a plant adjusts to new growing conditions.

Once your plant has recovered and resumes growth, what you do is follow these instructions:

http://violetbarn.com/lessons/repotting_episcias.htm

Don't worry! It's real easy and even if you hear or feel a stem snap, don't worry! The plant will get over it before you do! :)

Even for the ones on the pebble tray, you should consider to simply putting a sheet of plastic wrap loosely on top of the plants to give them some additional humidity. That usually does the trick to get them through recovery. It doesn't always have to be an air tight lid.

That's what I've done, Olaf. Every one of them has a baggie on it for the majority of the day and night. I didn't realize they can safely lose all their mature leaves, so that relieves a little of my worry. I'll start letting them dry out a bit more too. That's a tough one for me--hard to tell how dry they really are.

Oh, and I am rooting a few stolens right now. I'm hoping to see roots in a few days, as they've been in a moist paper towel inside a container with lid for several days now. I will now read the link. Thanks so much Olaf and the others who have come to my aid!
Randi

hows the plant doing now randi

Thanks for asking, bigoldbuck. Its not as wilted as it was, but not 100% healthy looking. And a few of my other little ones are iffy. I'm thinking I might have to grow them all in an aquarium. Its just too dry here. I keep gallon baggies over most of them the majority of the time. The little stolens are doing fine so far.

Randi