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Holiday Woes

ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
in Problem solving

I’ve been away for five days with nobody to water my pots, and they happened to be the 5 hottest days of the year so far. Most things did ok, but this lupin is clearly quite pot bound and I came home to find it like this. I’ve given it a good soak and snipped out anything damaged beyond repair (broken stems, etc). Any other advice to help me resuscitate it, or indeed, do you think it’s worth resusitating?

Posts

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    It may well perk up overnight now it's had some water, l find that usually happens. See what it's like in the morning  :)
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I would soak the pots in buckets for a while and sit them in the shade to recover for a while
  • ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
    Fire said:
    I would soak the pots in buckets for a while and sit them in the shade to recover for a while
    Makes sense for most things but it’s huge- it’s not fitting in any bucket, and moving it in its current state would be the end I fear. 
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Anything that will hold water will do, an old washing up bowll, a cat litter tray (clean of course!) or just stand it in the kitchen sink over night, to allow it to take up water by capillary action.
    Worth it because even if it doesn't look great you may manage to harvest some seeds so you can grow more next year :)
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    @ciaranmcgrenera , did it perk up at all or is it a lost cause? 
  • ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
    AnniD said:
    @ciaranmcgrenera , did it perk up at all or is it a lost cause? 
    Not too bad thanks. It looks a little ragged and a bit yellow but it’s perked up quite a bit. I’ve cut out anything that is crispy now and there are new growth stems coming through that will hopefully replace some of the lost foliage. Because it so big I haven’t been able to follow the advice to put it in anything to soak, so instead I’ve given it a good watering in the evenings AND in the early morning. I was tempted to give it a feed but I thought with the nature of Lupins it might not make much difference.
  • ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
    edited June 2021


    UPDATE: Found this little bugger yesterday evening. I’ve had a good look around and don’t see any notch type munching, but maybe the reason for the plant being less able to survive the few days unwatered than other things in the garden was a bit more sinister than it being big and pot bound (that always surprised me anyway since despite its size it’s only 2 years in that pot and the pot is huge). I might have larvae in there. I’ve isolated it now anyway and I’ll have a dig in and see what I can see today. The Plant does seem off a bit- distressed- it’s shooting out loads of small flower spikes.
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