Off topic: A gardening mystery for my gardening friends...

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
I have 4 large heavy urns on my back patio that I planted very nice geraniums in from a local greenhouse. These weren't the sorry little seedling geraniums from Lowes, these were big lush locally grown greenhouse old-fashioned geraniums that I paid top dollar for.

In the urns, I sprinkle purple allysum seed around the edges to grow over the side and plant garlic in the middle for spikes.

In three of the urns, I have nice big geraniums doing their job and blooming their heads off. The allysum in these urns is very minimal. The garlic is there, but somewhat wimpy. I think they get too much water, but the water is required for the geraniums as they begin wilting if I don't.

I the 4th urn, I have huge big clouds of allysum that have covered up the ever-diminishing geraniums, that currently are buried in allysum and have no blooms showing whatsover.

My inclination is I have a drainage problem in that urn since the geraniums have a much deeper root system than allyssum. The garlic has long since died off. It's so hard to tell since it's been hotter than Hades here for the last month and I have to water every other day since the pots appear to be dried out with withering leaves from the heat when I do water.

What do you suppose could be the issue with the recalcitrant urn of geraniums? All of the urns were replenished with new bags of Miracle Grow potting soil when I planted. I fertilize every 4 weeks.

I'm stumped. These are big urns and I really can't dig down into the bottom to see if I have a water problem since they are so large and to reach bottom would require major upheaval in the plants.

 
The symptoms of root rot from too much water and those of not enough water are the same AND. . .

if there are no drainage holes, the symptoms of loss of root from salt buildup in the soil can be the same as the ones of too much water and not enough water--the plants cannot take up water because the roots are rotted, dried up or burnt (i.e. loss of root system).

My guess, your plants are really stressed from the heat and no drainage, so those deep rooted geraniums are standing in water maybe are burnt from the fertilizer and are rotting out. The garlic just will not tolerate standing water. The sweet alyssum is taking over because its roots are not so deep.

If you have one that is already dead, pull a geranium and see what its roots look like. If the geraniums are still alive, you can pull them and re-pot in some barely moist potting soil where they will get some afternoon shade and keep from watering them until the soil is quite dry and they probably will recover if they are the standard thick-stemmed, thick, somewhat fuzzy-leafed standard geranium.

Out here, we have to water our geraniums to keep them blooming during the summer or they tend to shut down and hibernate till the water comes back in the fall. In any case, you cannot over-water them or they will croak.

 
Yes, that is what I feared. I will have to excavate and repot....

now in the meantime, I have an empty urn...

Replant the geraniums and throw away the glorious cloud of allysum?

Just pull out the geraniums and repot? That probably is what I should do. I just hate the empty spot.

 
Have a friend with a really heavy duty electric drill make a drainage hole in your urn if you don't

one. If you can't salvage this year make drainage in all your urns for next year. I watched my guy do mine and was terrified they would break but they didn't.

 
My pots are a mix of 1/2 compost, 1/2 potting soil

And the compost is decomposed LEAF mulch not wood, not manure.

I listen via pocast to this gardening guy - "You Bet Your Garden" - he's organic and shares alot of information. Ever since I dropped the Miracle Grow and used his recommendations, my plants seem much happier. I've noticed they're bushier and not as leggy - he explained that the artificial plant food leads to tall but weak plants and a build up of salts that eventually hurt the plants.

So - now I have HUGE tomatoes and peppers growing in containers... bigger than I've ever had over the years... My potted flowers look like those in magazines.... I'm kinda impressed.

He says to add more compost or organic food during the summer to heavy feed type plants - there I use Dr. Earth product.

And along with all this is the water factor - yes - your drainage needs to be improved - more holes.... The potting soil and compost help with the water retention and drainage, but when water can't drain fast enough, it all rots. Last year I had to drill additional holes in my pots since it was an extremely wet year...

Tess

 
I had planted geraniums under the camilla bush...

Even though I watered regularly, they died down to these little tiny plants. So, I re-planted in another section that gets more sun.

They have now grown to huge plants. I'm going to have to cut one back because its starting to impinge on my herb garden.

 
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