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Wilting Angel Trumpet #361040

Asked September 09, 2016, 9:47 AM EDT

Can someone tell me why my 2 angel trumpet plants are wilting. I have one in a pot that is doing good but these two are not looking good. They were all 3 grown from seed at the same time?

Pasco County Florida

Expert Response

There is likely a problem with your soil moisture level. Either the plant is getting too much water or not enough. If you are certain that you are providing ample water, then it is likely it may be too much rather than too little. Do you have a heavy soil or is it more sandy?

The bottom line is, if the soil with the roots in it is getting too much water (either you are watering too frequently or the soil is very heavy and hand water or rainwater does not percolate through the soil very fast) a perfect environment for fungal pathogens has been created. Many soil-borne fungal pathogens can cause the plant to wilt like that. In addition, plant roots need oxygen to respire. If the soil is heavily saturated with water all the time, the roots cannot get ample oxygen causing the plant to wilt.

Ideally the plant should go through cycles of being watered, and the soil should dry out (not quite to wilting) and then rewatered again. It is not good to keep the soil constantly saturated.

If you feel that the soil around the roots does not stay heavily saturated with water, just let me know, and we will chase down alternative possibilities.
The Question Asker Replied September 09, 2016, 1:27 PM EDT
The ground is saturated with water due to all the rain we have been having. Knowing that is there anything I can do to help the plant
The Question Asker Replied September 09, 2016, 4:42 PM EDT
The best thing to do is let the soil drain. At this point applying fungicides is not going to do a whole lot. If the rain slows down the soil should eventually dry out some. If you are really desperate, you could dig them out and place them in a container like your other one and they will drain better. If you have a thick clay soil, there may be long term issues anyway, and you might want to either amend the soil with organic matter or just permanently move them to containers. In the pictures they already look like they are in pretty bad shape and might not be able to recover, but you could give it a shot. Primary course of action is to let the soil dry out some and if they are not already dead, they may bounce back.
The Question Asker Replied September 12, 2016, 10:26 AM EDT

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