My petunias just suddenly died. Oh No

[nasirahc83]

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the dramatic title but its true my petunias just died on me. I've had them for probably less than two weeks and I've been doing my best to take care of them. I went away for a two days to only return to dead petunias. I did notice before I left that at least one of my petunias had little black dots on the leaves and was in the process of trying to find the culprit and a cure.

Does anyone possibly know what I could have did wrong? Is there anyway I can bring them back to life?

[rainbowgardener]

Probably didn't die from whatever the little black dots were, not that fast anyway.

Lets see... is that spot in the picture where they were growing? Looks pretty shady. How many hours of direct sun a day were they getting? Petunias like sun. Mine do fine on my deck with only about 5 hrs of sun, but they won't handle full time shade.

It looks like one of those planters with the water reservoir at the bottom. If you have moisture holding soil and you water enough to fill the reservoir up, it can stay too wet, leading to over watering and maybe root rot.

Is the top one a before picture? They already weren't looking too healthy- leggy and light starved and a bit wilty. Wilty can be either from too much water or too little. The condition of the soil (wet vs dry) would tell you which.

[nasirahc83]

Thanks for responding.

The top picture is the after and the bottom is the before. My deck gets moderate sun exposure but I can't really say how many hours definite. I had intentions of rotating the plants every other day to give each side of the plant more direct sunlight.

How can I tell if the plant or the soil has root rot? I think the reserves are prettly full.

[rainbowgardener]

If that is the after picture, they look struggling but not dead. Put them where they get more sun and take the bottom (reservoir part) off the planter. The bottom just snaps on and off, but it will drain a lot better without it. If it rained while you were gone, that would have added to the problem. The rain couldn't drain out, with the reservoir on.

Is the soil wet - ie muddy, if you squeeze a handful, you can squeeze water out? If not, then that is likely not the problem.

If it is, then you can pull the plant out and look at the roots. If they are brown and mushy that is root rot.

In that case, dump out all the soil that was in the planter and start over with fresh, without the reservoir.

It could be overwatered without being rotted.


Personally, I wouldn't stress too much over a petunia. They are common in all the stores and cheap. If it is really suffering, put it out of its misery and get a new one!

[Kisal]

I agree with RG. I grow petunias every summer, and in my experience, once they become raggedy in appearance, it requires a lot of effort to rejuvenate them. It's easier just to replace them.

[nasirahc83]

Thanks for replies! I will check now for the root rot and write a follow-up. I think my next purchases of plants will be to just buy plants that do not need as much sunlight.

Thanks for the replies.