PANIC in Paradise

Today I went out to the shadehouse where I am growing out seedlings...for the first time in 3 days due to the cold from hades. This is what greeted me. In the 40' space where I have them planted in 3 rows, the first 20' are completely drooped, defoliated, and looking as sick as I feel!!! The last 20' there are just fine!!!

No pigs rooting around in there.
I pulled up a small one and it had a fine bunch of roots.
I suspected Round Up but none done in that area.
I suspected foliar feeding with a bottle containing Round Up...nope.

In back of me, as I take the picture, are DHs' young palms growing out...and they look fine.

Anybody have a clue?????

Is the ground real wet, if it is they will look like they need water when in fact they need to dry out. I have had too much rain here and some of mine have wilted like that and lost leaves and when they dry out they will start to perk up and put out new leaves. From the picture it doesn't look like it is wet.

Connie

We have had an inordinate amount of rain. The puzzling thing is: they all have the same soil i.e. mostly black cinder and only 1/2 of them all in one section look like that. I can hope...can't I?

Thanks for that,

Carol

Gee Carol. What a shock that must have been. The only time I have see those symptoms is when I put down that Bayer Rose food and systemic granules. The next day when I went out they had dropped most of their leaves and drooped. Looked just like your picture. I had burned their roots with the fertilizer.

I quick scooped out all the ferilizer I could see on top including any dirt I could get. Then I watered them for about 30 minutes, flushing them like crazy.

Even if not that, it has to be the roots. Some how the roots are in severe shock.

I am so sorry!!! I know you have worked so hard on your brugs. They can still be fine. Remember brugs are really strong plants. Not easily killed. They usually come back stronger. Remember when you found their heads clipped off? Turned out great.

This message was edited Oct 19, 2005 11:55 PM

Thanks, Kell. I have really worked hard...and if I fertilize I do them all with the same reckless abandon so if it is fertilizer burn, it should be throughout the bed, no? NO. Some day I will figure it out...only now hope whatever it is doesn't spread and that the affected ones will recupe!!!

Thanks for your kind words. I may just quit and take up making jam!

Each time I burn mine, I manage to do only a few, thank God. Some I must just give the extra bit that does the damage, or maybe it is clumped more together so it gets one part of the root zone and zaps it. Or maybe some are dryer so they drink up the fertilzed water faster and get burned. Or maybe I watered some better than others after I tossed the granules down and so I diluted it better.

I have noticed if I water the brugs well the day before and also spread the granules evenly over the top of the pot I do not burn them.

Had you fertilized the day before?

When you pulled that little one up, it had good live roots? Nothing is under there eating its way back to the mainland is there??

maybe they got the brunt if the cold weather and the other rows were more protected?? the cold cold of affected the wet roots as they were in the front and more exposed??


any loose dogs ( cats)in the area?? i had a tomato plant wilt for no reason until i found out a neighbors dog was going on it. not good for any plants i am told.

hope they perk back up soon for ytou.

Oh, boy, I know exactly what it looks like, the guy that works for me rowed over to Hawaii and threw ant and flying insect granules on your brugs. But it really ONLY defoliated mine, they were not limp like your trunks and branches seem to me. But, they came back, stronger than ever, so maybe there is hope, oh how i hope so!!!! Whatever it is, it appears to be chemical...

I've had some partial wilt like that.. but never on an entiire plant... as they are in one section I'd think it was a climatic /enviornmental thing...
they are in the ground there .. so maybe apart of a subterranean water excess
perhaps a localized bloom of some fungal item in there..
or perhaps a draft... wind swept evaporative responce...
I think fungus when I see that on a few of the limbs here.. ..it is strange... I can't believe it was all that cool there... come on... perhaps cooler than you'd like or expect... but how cold are you talking about there..
Mine will ofter sprout new leaves along the effected branches... but somtimes the entire branch will wither and fall off... keep us posted on your problem there... could it be a smog reaction..
All the best ... Gordon NYC

I had not read the responses before I replied to your first post Carol - I would like to add that Bayer drench did cause chemical damage, because some plants were not watered properly before they were treated - this damage was 'only' to seedlings, who defoliated and the foliage grew back like spinach then got molted looking leafs with spots, some took a long time to recover, some recovered quickly. At that time I did not know to flush them, duh, seems like I would have figured it out since I knew it was chemical burn. Later I had the ant granule defoliation and that time, I washed the plants with soapy water and attempted to flush the roots and they recovered quickly. Neither one of the chemical burns I got were just like yours, but it did not hurt mature plants, it only hurt seedlings, my favorites, of course...

Thanks for all of your ideas.

The coldest yet has been 64deg. at night. Those affected are in the middle, not the edges.

I don't water them, they get lots of rain thru the shadecloth. They are planted in 80% black cinders and 20% organic matter and drain immediately.

No Bayer drench....too expensive to use on seedlings I may toss...they can simply suffer. I just want blooms.

I 'suspected' DH had gone nearby with RoundUp or Garlon...but he hadn't managed to get that far yet!

I may pull up some others if they don't look well...photograph the roots and see what you think.

?????????????????????

Carol

Carol, last year a crop dusting airplane dropped something on my original unknown brug and it defoliated her, but she lived. There were other brugs nearby that were untouched...strange stuff happens with plants and stuff that you try to take good care of, or it does to me, whew!

If they continue to be wilted you should take cuttings of the ones you want to save, they will be ok. They could be wilting because the water is not getting thru the roots to the stem. Is the area they are in lower than the rest of the plants, does the water stand there after it rains. With mine it was a combo of the extreme heat and the wet ground it kinda of steamed them, but at night they would perk back up.

Connie

carol, i hope your brugs get better.

=) wishing you all the best.

I pulled up another small one....roots are fine. New growth is coming out of the axils where the leaves are drooping. Some of the newer green growth feels mushy.

I cut them all back....then I called the Extension Service. It 'could be' a bacterial wilt....and I have to watch if it progresses down the planting.

This has been so Wierd!!! I feel obsessed by an unknown 'baddy'....

Carol

I hope not!!! Let us know, Carol. I tell you never a dull moment with these.

Another clue: On one in that group that is NOT drooping, the newer leaves are turning yellow green from the stem outwards...but not drooping. Other leaves have big yellow splotches on them? Would a mineral deficiency cause that much damage?...like, death?

Here's a photo of the discolored foliage with the droopy leaves

And a photo of the discoloration on a non drooping plant.

Carol, I had a couple or three seedlings, growing in different places, but the same cross, do that color thing, they didn't wilt but had strange leaves colored like yours - I gave them Micro Mix and something else I've forgotten and it cleared them up, but they do not have buds, I think what ever that was, set them back. Good luck, I really want to know what you find out...

Krickey....if I live long enough!!! I am going to take cuttings of the two I want to save, dis the ones that are infected/affected and fertilize with heavy calcium/mag. the others and hope to save them.

I think I am too old for this. I raised the kids and thought it was over!!!!