How long does it usually take for plants to go into transplant shock?

6 years ago

I transplanted marshmallow plant seedlings (althea officinalis) into the garden a week ago and they've done fine until now. There is one plant, it's one of the biggest and healthiest of them all, that's suddenly wilting. The top of the plant has fallen over and gotten "floppy". They've all got some minor leaf burn and curl but this one looks like it's dying. It was just fine yesterday! It looks like it hasn't had enough water or something but it rained quite a bit yesterday and the day before ( I didn't give them any water myself, because I knew it was going to rain). Is it possible for shock to set in a week after transplanting?? I thought that's something that happens right away. Could it be that the rain wasn't enough? The soil is very clayey but I have compost (store bought bags), pea gravel, and a little sand mixed in to help with the density. I have to save it one way or another, but I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas and thoughts about the shock thing would be great!! Thanks ~ Jen

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

jennifer_champagne80
Original Author
6 years ago
UPDATE: I decided to go ahead and water the marshmallow plants (even though we did get a lot of rain). The water just sat on top of the soil. Not soaking in at all. So I took a long nail and tried to poke holes in the ground with it. I got less than 2 inches down and hit what was damn near solid earth. As I mentioned above, the soil in that one area of my yard is very clayey but I did add bagged compost, pea gravel, and a little sand before planting. Obviously it wasn't enough! I even tried pouring water into the holes but it just sat there too. So I ended up putting the drip hose in the garden and after a few hours my "floppy" marshmallow plant perked right up. I sure hope I don't have to use that hose all the time! It's a pain in the butt! Is it too late to add more things to soil to help separate the clay?? The whole garden is already planted so how would I even be able to do that, to dig around in there, without damaging roots??
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
When you transplant you must water, even if there is rain. A transplant needs to be absolutely soaked so the roots can settle into the soil and can start absorbing moisture. A simple way to think of it is to regard a newly moved plant as like a bunch of cut flowers. Water, water, water! Now you have got the soil wetted it will be easier to keep moist in future.

Btw never amend planting holes. Just plant in the native soil. If you do amend you need to do the entire bed. You are in danger of loving this thing to death.
Related Discussions
How long does it take plants to take up liquid fert (ie FP, MG)?
Q
Comments (6)
It only takes minutes after application for soluble fertilizers to make their way into the plant's nutrient stream. Many nutrients need to be in the nutrient stream constantly for the plant to grow normally. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are considered mobile nutrients and are readily borrowed from one plant part to sustain other parts, particularly strong sinks like new growth o flowers/fruit. Calcium and boron are usually considered immobile nutrients, and need to be in the nutrient stream at all times for normal growth to occur. Sulfur, chloride, copper, zinc, manganese, iron and molybdenum are intermediate in mobility, and only under certain circumstances are intermediate elements mobile. The mobility of the intermediate mobile nutrients is usually linked to the breakdown of amino acids and proteins in older parts of the plant under low nitrogen conditions and their movement to younger parts of the plant via the phloem stream. Again though, unless nitrogen availability is good, these elements are mostly immobile. That it rains doesn't mean all the fertilizer you applied is washed from the soil. Elements attach themselves to colloidal surfaces and tend to remain there to some degree until they are exchanged. Cation exchange in soils occurs when root hairs utilize proton pumps to pump hydrogen ions (H+) into the soil. The hydrogen ions effectively displace the cations that are attached to negatively charged colloidal surfaces, making the cations available then for root uptake and incorporation into the nutrient stream. AL
...See More
How long does it usually take for babies?
Q
Comments (14)
It depends...everything seems to be relative. I'm new to African Violets too. My November planting of leaves went through so much with me...I decided to wick the leaves because I knew I had to be gone for a couple weeks. About half the leaves took six weeks to have babies, some a little longer and some a lot longer. My first flower appeared just recently. At one point I decided to dome half the leaves and noticed a big improvement with the doomed leaves and babies. What Montezuma suggested about cutting the peripheral edge--that's so true. I experimented with two of the same kind of leaves and same size, and the leaf I trimmed rooted and had a baby much faster than the leaf that didn't get trimmed. Just want to add, I purchased a Pow Wow plant and planted a few of its leaves. Those leaves had babies within about three weeks--much faster than all the other leaves that I had received in the mail. Pat
...See More
How long does it take for trees to come out of shock from planting?
Q
Comments (9)
Transplant shock describes a series of stresses a plant may undergo when being physically moved. In nature, growing plants do not move from place to place :-) They adapt and respond to their current environment, both above and below the ground. When that environment is changed - and often rather radically - they respond to the change by being stressed until they can readapt. And the larger and older the plant, the more difficult it may be to readapt and the longer it may take. So when you dig up a plant that has been growing happily and peacefully in one environment and move it somewhere else, chances are very good it is going to react to that disturbance in some way. Even plants that have been grown all their life in a container will still experience some sort of stress/shock when they are taken from the container and planted in the ground - different soils, some inevitable root disturbance, often different lighting characteristics, temperature changes, climate variations, wind exposure and moisture availability, etc. That's a lot of changes a plant needs to adapt to and that can take time. You will lessen the stresses involved in planting and transplanting by removing or reducing those changes as much as possible. That is why transplanting or planting while dormant or not in active growth can result in minimal stress/shock. Plant metabolism while dormant is at its lowest point and all the biological functions are on 'hold', so the plant has time to get used to the new setting before it responds to its seasonal clock and starts to grow. Minimizing these factors during the prime growing season - like right now - is much harder to do. Root issues have already been addressed by other responders.....in most cases, you are dealing with a compromised root system that needs sufficient time to re-establish itself and that will be dependent on all the other factors mentioned: age of the plant/amount of root disruption, time of year/growing cycle, soils, moisture availability, climate (heat, humidity), sunlight, wind, etc. If all these changes are not adequately addressed, transplant shock can last an extended period of time resulting in stresses that the plant may not be able to overcome.....it could die! OTOH, if these changes are taken into consideration and properly addressed as much as possible, then the transplant shock may be minimal or very short term. FWIW, planting a decent sized tree of any variety now in Utah is going to present all of these factors in abundance so the chances of transplant shock - and even severe transplant shock - is extremely likely. It would be a bit surprising for a tree to respond positively to this process at all this season and you might not see any signs of recovery until the next growing season. And unless you are extremely careful, you may not see any sign of recovery at all and the tree could die.
...See More
*Usually* this is the perfect time to plant and transplant but NO :(
Q
Comments (38)
Our daily rain gauge records here go back to 2004. I just added up our current October records - in comparison to our average October rain from 2004-2023 our 2023 rain in October was 50% of the avarage. BUT September was only 38% of average Sept. rain. April (122%) and July (178%) were above average and the other months were near-normal. The plants seem to be doing OK so far, so we'll see how they do this winter....
...See More
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
6 years ago
Sand and gravel can contribute to a compacted soil. In the future, add more organic matter.....compost, peat, bark fines, etc.

I have brick hard clay soil and it drains just fine. I never amend planting holes.
jennifer_champagne80
Original Author
6 years ago
The compost, pea gravel, and sand were all added to the whole garden. It's a new garden that I dug up in early spring. I've got a very large yard so I dig up new areas to plant in all the time. Most of my yard has nice black dirt under the sod but this particular area is clay, for some reason. Out of the 10 marshmallow plants I planted, it's just the one single plant that isn't getting enough water. I've been having to run the drip hose everyday for it. After a few hours of watering, it perks up. BUT by mid day, the next afternoon, it's drooping over again! This is the 3rd day in a row that I've had to run the drip and all that water is starting to piss off my other plants that are sharing the same garden. Like my Helichrysum italicum, it can't handle all that water. I have about 20 of them in that garden and if I have to keep running the water over there, it's going to kill every one of them! I also have about 20 chamomile plants in there. I should NOT have put water loving plants right next to drought loving plants. Duh! I don't know what I was thinking! And I don't know what to do. I can't dig up all of the marshmallow and move them. That'd be too traumatic for them. Maybe I should dig up just the one that's not getting enough water and plant it somewhere else. I still cannot understand WHY it's having this problem when none of the others are! And just out of curiosity, why is it a bad idea to amend a planting hole?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
You have hit the nail on the head. By putting marshmallow next to Curry plant you have set one of them up to fail. The mms have only just been planted. You can certainly move them.

Amending a planting hole creates a pocket of soil in which your plant roots will sit as if in an underground flowerpot. The roots will have no reason to move out into the surrounding soil. If you amend a hole in a clay soil you risk creating the famous 'bathtub' effect. That is that water will remain in the hole and not percolate into the surrounding soil.

How long does it usually take for plants to go into transplant shock?

Comments (5)

jennifer_champagne80
Original Author

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

Related Discussions

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

jennifer_champagne80
Original Author

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

How long does it usually take for plants to go into transplant shock?

Comments (5)

jennifer_champagne80Original Author

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

Related Discussions

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

jennifer_champagne80Original Author

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

jennifer_champagne80
Original Author

jennifer_champagne80
Original Author