Wave petunias are not waveing!

16 years ago

I have planted Wave petunias in the same planter (in the ground) for 4-5 years. The first couple of years they did great. Each year since, they have performed progressively poorer. One year many, but not all, of one color died early, even though they were planted next to other colors that did well. The next year many of a different color died early. So I contacted the original developer of Wave petunias, via their web site (they are not growers, they just developed the plant and sell their patent to growers.) They advised me that one should only try to grow them for 2 years in the same area, and then rotate another plant into that area to rebuild the soil. Nothing about a fungus, or anything about a growth regulator, was mentioned. They got plenty of fertilizer and water, so based on what I am reading in this forum, it would appear that the soil is being depleated, as they say. I live in western Wash. so too much heat is not an issue.

Anyone out there got any suggestions as to organic soil amendments that I might add to the soil so as to be able to replant Waves in the same planter? Nothing else fills the area with so much lasting color at a resonable price.

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Comments (4)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
I'm a little confused about the logistics of this: you said that your petunias are in a planter, but then you mention that they are in the ground. Expand on that a bit so that I can understand if this is a container issue or a garden soil issue.
tugbrethil
16 years ago
Here in Phoenix we get a kind of collar rot fungus that causes sudden wilting and death on our petunias--and Madagascar periwinkles. The smart gardeners (unlike me) practice crop rotation to keep that rot from getting a foothold, but if it does, Captan fungicide will control it 95% of the time. If they are in a container, empty the old soil out and scrub the pot every year to keep spores from holding over--just changing out the top 6 inches won't do it!

Good luck!
Kevin : )
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
the media in a planter should be rotated every other year or two .... depending on what you are using as a media ....

that will solve the problem of the media wearing out ... and it will mean you can keep planting them in the same container ....

using soil amendments in mother earth is tricky enough... trying to do it in a pot is much harder ... much simpler to just remove the spent media ... and it can just be spread around on other soil ....

good luck

ken

PS: if the planter is too big to change all the soil.. consider a pot in pot setup ... where your plants are actually in smaller pots.. in the planter ...
oilpainter
16 years ago
If understand you this is a raised bed not a pot. Do you over water? More petunias are killed by overwatering than anything else. If they've been overwatered they will appear fine one day and wilted the next and then die. This is especially true if you have clay soil.

It may also be that you have a soil fungus so it wouldn't hurt to treat for that.

Do you amend the soil? Every year or 2 dig in some compost and manure.

It wouldn't hurt to plant something else there for this year. Pick a color scheme and then pick a variety of plants that fall in that scheme. Pay attention to the height and width of the plants. You can have taller ones in back and shorter ones in front or all the same size. The plant tags should give you all the information you need. It might take a little more thought than doing all petunias but who knows you might like it better.