Calalily I got you beat on the killer part. Okla side of the border and the heat. All mine in the sun dropped their leaves.
Moved them all to the shade and are comming back. Still waiting for some blooms come fall maybe.
Vixen
TAR, this might not be correct, but my nursery guy told me, in our zone 8a, that if you will just leave them in the sun their first summer, that they will adapt and the second year they will not drop leaves or wilt. Well, I did what he said, by accident, with my original plant, and it is in almost full sun, almost all day and it blooms almost continually, doesn't wilt, and, except for crop duster damage, does not drop leaves...
Sherry, I think some of my damage may be from crop dusters. They are spraying defoliant on the cotton now so they can harvest. The closest cotton field is two-three miles away, but one never knows how far this stuff drifts!
Cala, my neighbors also think we have been hit several times and the fields are far away. None of us remember this happening previously and I've been here 41 and a half years. I cannot believe they are read to pick cotton there, really shows the difference in zone 8a and 10a...it will be a couple of months before we pick here...
They've cut the sorghum and corn already, now they're cutting cotton. They want all the fields except the cane fields bare by Sept(not sure why but think it has something to do with insect control)