Can I save my flooded Double Impatiens?
Question:This is my first home, first gardening experience.
HELP!
I have two pots with Double Impatiens on my back patio. They get morning sun and are mostly in the shade in the afternoon. Yesterday I noticed there was standing water (!) on the top of the soil of one of the plants, so I drained it off. Today during the course of a 90 degree heat, the one that was flooded yesterday just dropped and wilted.
When I noticed the wilting, I swapped places with the other pot that gets a little more sun in hopes that the sun might dry out some of the excess water a little faster. As the shade started to grow over the new spot I put it out in the lawn in the sun (not direct sun -- it is very overcast now).
Does anyone know if impatiens will "come back" after being flooded like that? or is there anything I can do to help bring it back? It was probably flooded for less than one full day.
I just hope I can help dry it up and bring it back...it was doing *awesome* before today.
Answers:
Hi, empty the plant and soil on some paper; add fresh soil to the existing soil to reduce the amount of damp soil. Generally speaking impatients are shade loving plants so they don't need to be in the sun. Too much sun will "shock" them. The water is only important if the roots were allowed to rot. I can't imagine that would occur in one afternoon. Impatients naturally grow in the deep jungles of tropical islands so they are accustomed to shading all day.
It's hard to say, but I'd make sure that the pots had drainage holes in them. I'd also keep them out of the direct sun to reduce the stress on them.
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Good Luck and Happy Gardening from Cathy and Neal!
You really need to drill drainage holes into the bottom or near the bottom of your pot. In addition, you may want to loosen the soil around the impatients a little. The water cannot drain properly even if rocks are in bottom. There is no way for the water to flow out and the plant can only use so much. Furthermore, since these plants love the shade they will not dry out as fast as petunias or other sun loving flowers.
Good Luck! P.S. As the flowers grow larger, they will require more watering.
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