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padronalisa

Crushed seedlings

11 years ago

My lovely boyfriend dropped the lid of our garbage can right on top of my 2 month old seedlings last night. 3 are fine, 3 are bent and one is broken in half right under the leaves. I wrapped it some Saran Wrap, being hopeful and in a state of panic. Is there any chance it will survive? It just happened last night, so they still look green and somewhat perky. Even the broken one, but I am afraid of what they will look like when I get home from work.

Comments (10)

  • 11 years ago

    Oh man, sorry to hear that :( Well, I would venture a guess and say the 3 bent ones should recover depending on how badly but the broken one, I just don't know...I don't think so since it won't really be able to grow any new branches out of their trunk that young as far as I know - so meaning it won't have any way to absorb sunlight to convert it to survive. But hey, it's worth a try. I just recently had my bf drop the mini-blinds down on one of mine and it got beheaded so I know how you feel, sorry.

  • 11 years ago

    I am hoping my "band-aid" works like it would when grafting, to save the leaves. I guess I'll find out when I get home in 3 hours. Waah.

    But now I have an excuse to buy a dwarf Singapore cutting I've been eyeing up, and he can't complain about it! Positivity, right?

  • 11 years ago

    Thanks, I just did a little research on grafting, I think I'll put it in a plastic bag when I get home if it still looks viable. I have a lot more hope now than I did earlier this morning, so that's a start.

    Additionally, I have an older plant my sister nearly killed a few years back that has some frost wounds, and I am wondering if I could chop them off and graft the new growth back on to the plant and make it look pretty again.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    We love pictures! It sounds like you could just cut the 'new growth' off, and re-root that. If it's around a foot long, it should be easy to root. Then, you could clean up the older rooted part, and let it grow new branches. I'm not 100% sure that what you described is what I 'see' in my head, so let me know if I'm off.

    What part of the world are you located in?

  • 11 years ago

    I am located in eastern PA, halfway between Philadelphia and NYC, I believe it's zone 6? It's very hot and humid here and we've been getting a lot of rain this month.

    I will post some photos of my little collection when I get home. I've been a plumeria enthusiast for about 15 or so years, and finally started my own cuttings from the philly flower show back in 2008 when I was in college. I moved around and some were at my moms, some with my sister. She of course brought the plants out before the last frost, I think 3 years ago? She killed our oldest plant, from the original cutting my mom bought 15 years ago, but I managed to save a cutting. I think two others survived, one is rough looking with scarring near the tips. The new growth is only a few inches long at this point, so I may have to wait a year or two before doing any surgery.

    This year I ordered a Charlotte ebert cutting and a pack of seeds which yielded 7 seedlings. So I think I have 11 plants altogether?

    I need more. Thank goodness I have a big basement.

  • 11 years ago

    If you have a big basement, perhaps a grow light could be considered, then you could bring them in, in case some crazy blizzard decides to show up early/late in the season? A little indoor oasis might be nice when it's starting to cool outside, and when freak whether becomes more possible.

  • 11 years ago

    Well I have a sunroom that will eventually have some grow lights. I'll put them in the basement for the winter. Grow lights in the basement too isn't a bad idea.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    If you have good success in making them happy with grow lights, please share your set-up.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Not sure why my photos are coming out sideways, but here is the broken plant. It's getting a little brown, but doesn't look totally dead yet. I have it bandaged and bagged and it's hanging out in the sunroom with my African violets.

    And here's the one my sister nearly killed. I think next year it will get some surgery.

    The rest of my seedlings seem to be recovering nicely from the incident.

    My biggest plant, does anyone know what causes the waviness on those two leaves? One leaf is really wavy, the one most prominent in the photo is just a little wavy on one side, but all the new leaves coming in look normal.

    And the rest of my ladies. :-)

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