Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Plant wilt and why buy local
I purchased some new plants about a month ago. Heliopsis and Dwarf Joe Pye Weed. And they wilt. I water and they wilt.
There is a reason that some of your plants are wilting even with water. They are trying to protect themselves.
Plants wilt to reduce leaf surface exposed to the sunlight to save water loss. By evening they should perk up. My plants on the west side, where my Heliopsis and Dwarf Joe Pye Weed are, are in the hottest sunlight.
So is there anything you can do? First, make sure they DO have water by sticking your finger down into the soil a few inches or use a gauge that measures moisture content. If the area is moist, Do NOT add water. You could drown them. If it’s dry, then by all means give them a good drink.
Rule of thumb for plants is an inch a week. But, that said, with new plantings (those in their 3rd year now and younger), you do need to monitor them more closely. Especially larger plants such as trees and shrubs.
Talk with the nursery you bought your plants from.
LOCAL nurseries, not the big box stores, are your best bet for quality product and advice.
Their plant material may cost more but when it lives, it’s worth it. Plus you’re helping your local economy.
Big box stores often use something called Scan for Pay. That means that a local nursery may supply them with plant material but the corporation only pays for the plants that are bought. And the employees don’t often care for them in the same way a nursery would. So, if they aren’t watered and the plants die, the big box store doesn’t have to pay the local nursery that supplied them. That can be very expensive to a local garden center.
This type of program was started in the 2000’s. The link to the article above is from 2012. More recently, local garden centers are literally sending their own employees to the big box stores to make sure their product is kept healthy. So, is there a benefit? Some local garden centers say no.