Impatiens - drooping just a day after repotting

13 years ago

Hello,

I'm very very VERY new to gardening. I have a shady backyard and decided to buy impatiens this year for it. I bought a large hanging pot and since it had three stems growing from it, decided to divide it into three and plant one stem into each of three planters. This involved breaking some of the roots since they were all clustered together.

I put rocks in the bottom of each pot (which had drainage holes drilled in) and filled around the plant with potting soil and gave each a good watering. This all happened on Sunday.

The next day (yesterday, Monday) I noticed the plants were drooping. By the end of the evening, they looked really bad. See here: http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7480/skov.jpg and here: http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/2003/hlpr.jpg

They're even worse on day three -- today.

It was a bit chilly yesterday evening. The soil is still moist. It's been humid, though.

I'm wondering if these guys are just suffering from transplant shock? Maybe it was a bad idea for me to break up the plant into three and repot?

Any advice on how I can save these -- or just advice in general for the future if these guys are goners -- would be much appreciated!

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
yes... transpalnt shock ..

these things are like 99% water... and you interfered with its ability to pump enough water to hold itself up.. its lost turgidity ... water pressure ...

they root in minutes.. i would have never repotted this annual ... i would have simply rooted some new pieces ...

sooo.. in fall.. if you want to play with these indoors... over winter.. root a few small pieces... in sept or so ...

right now.. you can practice... by snipping off some of the plant.. reducing water needs.. and put it in a glass of water.. and see how long it takes to root...

ken

ps: use the HTML codes.. and on preview.. if you see the pix.. we will ...
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
13 years ago
Your pics, looks like New Guinea Impatiens:

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Some shade could help a lot with possible recovery. Just don't drown them in an attempt to save. Excess moisture won't help the plant USE the moisture.
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dshnnn
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the replies, guys. The last few days have been overcast with rain and they are actually placed in a shady part of the garden. After reading the first response above re: water, I gave them a watering last night when they were so drooped over and shrivelled up they looked like complete goners (all of the flowers were touching the chair they were on). I woke up this morning to see the stems were upright again and the blooms had reopened! There are a few dead leaves and flowers I'll remove but other than that, they look like they're on the mend.

Will be careful not to overwater but giving them a watering last night seemed to be what revived them!
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
13 years ago
Cool, thanks for the update. These are pretty tough plants, sending good vibes!