Expert: C.L. Fornari - 6/16/2010

Question
I have used fertilizer on my petunias in past seasons once per week yesterday after applying fertilizer the previous day I noticed that all my petunias are spotted, drying up and close if not dead. But the way it has been quite rainy in Chicago lately. Are the petunias dead at this point or can I pull off the dying flowers stop fertilizing as often and save my petunias?

Answer
Chris,
Could it be that you mixed the fertilizer a bit stronger than normal? Fertilizer burn causes plants to "dry up" if either the concentration of the fertilizer is higher or if the plant was dry when you applied it. (Never fertilize a thirsty plant) The spots may be related to fertilizer or they may just be leaf-spot fungus... many plants get leaf spot in rainy seasons.

Be sure that if you get rain, it's enough rain to get the petunias well watered - sometimes if people get periodic showers they assume that the plants have gotten a good soaking, but only the surface of the soil is wet. If that's been the case in Chicago, and you fertilized what were actually dry plants, that might have been the cause.

At this point, clip off the dying flowers and any brown tips of foliage/stems. Don't fertilize any more for awhile, and when you water the plants try not to get the foliage wet. Clipping the stems back will stimulate new growth if there is still life in the plants - if you don't see any sign of growth after 2 weeks, they're probably gone.

I hope this helps!
C.L.