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VDB Shriveled Up and Looks Dead

13 years ago

Not sure what happened. The plant shriveled up and looked like this yesterday. Before that it was fine. Fertilized it and all my other plants the day before. The other plants look fine.

What could this be? Will the plant live?

Violette de Bordeaux:

VBD & Barnisotte & my unknown called "Jersey":

Joe

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Comments (13)

thisisme
13 years ago
It could be any one of a number of things frozenjoe.

It could be that the small plant could not take the amount of fertilizer you gave it.

It could be over watered.

If the pot were in the sun the roots may have gotten too hot.

The fertilizer could have gotten on the leaves.

Whatever the problem was when a small plant like that looses its leaves its chances of pulling through are not good. I would give it about a 25% chance of making it if you baby it.

I would move it a place where it will get mostly shade. If you think you may have over fertilized it then flush the pot with enough water to wash the fertilizer out and then let all the water drain out the bottom. Don't put a saucer under it until water stops coming out the holes.
frozenjoe
Original Author
13 years ago
Thisisme,

That's exactly what I did. I'll post how it turns out.

Joe
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Even with pics, it's impossible to rule out other things but this looks like a plant that is struggling with the difference in soil between its' peaty root ball and the surrounding soil. This just happens sometimes, despite anyone's best efforts to plant and then coddle them well. Combined with a little frost bite, it's had a struggle. Looks like it's on the frontier, the edge of the bed, and may have been more affected by the frost because of that added exposure. Try not to water it unless it's truly thirsty. That will give it cause to make roots beyond the peat ball. Having long-term mulch there is good. You might have to dig a little deeper, push it back a little bit to give tiny new plants like this room to breathe, but the soil under there should be very nice, well-drained, more fertile, not drying as quickly, moderating temp extremes in summer and winter, a great thing. Replace as needed, as it decomposes, to keep a 2-4" layer of fresh on top. I wouldn't see any need to fertilize these plants. Coleus have always grown well for me without it, especially in the ground. At this point, if you remove the big, mostly damaged older leaves, you'll end up with much nicer looking* plants with many more branches and total mass of foliage. From this angle, the ones I'd remove have orange stars on them, and any others that are more brown than green. The dead parts are just blocking the light. This will allow light to reach more parts of the plant, improve air circulation, and encourage many new tips (which will soon be branches) to grow away from the main stem. I prefer this over pinching the tips on new plants this short, as there is no reduction in height, and the difference at the end of the year is astonishing if done vs. not done at all, and between tip-pinched vs. removing the original leaves from the main stem but not the tip. Glad you find it helpful, I love babbling about one of my fav plants! *Sometimes one might want a tall, thin plant, which is fine. Just trim nothing at all.
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dieseler
13 years ago
Hi Joe,
i posted on other forum as you know, but can see the picture of plant a little better here.
You have very good chance of it being fine just takes some time now in full shade.
That bud at 7 o'clock will eventually the one at 2 may come back from within. open when its the plants time. Keep the faith - been there.
Martin
gorgi
13 years ago
Hmm! Another multiple forum posting...
genecolin
13 years ago
Hmm! Another multiple forum reader...
frozenjoe
Original Author
13 years ago
The reason for multiple forum posts is that there are some people who only post on this forum and I wanted to get their feedback too.

Joe
danab_z9_la
13 years ago
Hmmm! I'm still protesting the other fig forum cliques. I for one, only read and post on the GW fig forum. The edit function does not exist on this forum and this forum administrator does not close her eyes to its abuse.

Dan
giants_2007
13 years ago
I for one like the edit function Lets you add content correct mistakes and add pictures to update your post. I have not seen any abuse. As far as multiple forum posts I agree with Joe not all are members of both forums like Dan and Al who both post some good info and feed back
giants_2007
13 years ago
Edit feature would have came in handy: Back to topic of post I agree with others I think it will come back in time Good Luck and update to let us know what turns out.
danab_z9_la
13 years ago
It should come back if left in the shade for awhile to recover. VDB is a very good fig and it would be a shame to lose it.

Dan
User
13 years ago
It will die if you do not change the soil immediatelly using soil,without any fertiliser,or manure.
This is fertiliser burn,plant to small for the amount of fert.
frozenjoe
Original Author
13 years ago
Herman,

Thanks for the advice. Based on what you said I changed it into the only soil alternative I had: cheap Scotts Top Soil. Hopefully this works.

I repotted the plant from the smaller fertilizer burned black pot to the larger pot with top soil.

Joe
User
13 years ago
You are doing great,and your fig is still alive with roots damahged but not dead.
Now Use the moisture meter(if you do not have,then get one,from Home Depot),and keep moisture on 5.
And in shade just like it was advuiced by the other poster.
Doing that your chances are now 60 percent or better you will save it.

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