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Dreaded wilt--what should I do?

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mrthing2000

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Apparently my plants don't like the sun. Maybe I started too late--I probably should have started the seeds way earlier and planted them right after the first frost when they were big enough. Chalk that up to getting mold on the first seedlings and screwing up multiple times.

We had a string of 90+ days in June-July that are unheard of for the Northwest, and if I didn't move them to the shade they shriveled up and wilted and looked limp and hung down by noon. It will only get hotter from here on. They are too big for the pots now but I'm thinking planting them will only hasten their death. I might build some shade material but I'm thinking that's not typical for most growers unless they are doing CT Broadleaf. These are burley and virginia types.

Most are a foot tall and have good sized leaves. But with a direct sun blast, they looked like cooked spinach even if I watered them enough.

Am I doing something wrong?
 

BigBonner

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Apparently my plants don't like the sun. Maybe I started too late--I probably should have started the seeds way earlier and planted them right after the first frost when they were big enough. Chalk that up to getting mold on the first seedlings and screwing up multiple times.

We had a string of 90+ days in June-July that are unheard of for the Northwest, and if I didn't move them to the shade they shriveled up and wilted and looked limp and hung down by noon. It will only get hotter from here on. They are too big for the pots now but I'm thinking planting them will only hasten their death. I might build some shade material but I'm thinking that's not typical for most growers unless they are doing CT Broadleaf. These are burley and virginia types.

Most are a foot tall and have good sized leaves. But with a direct sun blast, they looked like cooked spinach even if I watered them enough.

Am I doing something wrong?

How do they look the next morning ?
Tobacco will droop / wilt in hot sun and then recover at night . Too much watering will cause scald and they won't recover .
I am seeing it every where here because of way too much rain .
 

Smokin Harley

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Apparently my plants don't like the sun. Maybe I started too late--I probably should have started the seeds way earlier and planted them right after the first frost when they were big enough. Chalk that up to getting mold on the first seedlings and screwing up multiple times.

We had a string of 90+ days in June-July that are unheard of for the Northwest, and if I didn't move them to the shade they shriveled up and wilted and looked limp and hung down by noon. It will only get hotter from here on. They are too big for the pots now but I'm thinking planting them will only hasten their death. I might build some shade material but I'm thinking that's not typical for most growers unless they are doing CT Broadleaf. These are burley and virginia types.

Most are a foot tall and have good sized leaves. But with a direct sun blast, they looked like cooked spinach even if I watered them enough.

Am I doing something wrong?

I wouldn't worry too much ...a plant shuts down water take up at or around 90* . As long as it perks back up in the evening and still standing in the morning,it will be ok.
 

DGBAMA

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my patch looks "melted" on hot sunny days. as long as they recover by late evening/morning they are good. I only water if they are still wilted 3-4 hours after getting evening shade.

DO NOT WATER while they are in the wilted condition with sun on them. Wait for shade. Sun + Water on wilted leaves will burn them..
 

Chicken

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They will be fine..it is a odd site..

You'd swear they are dying...but its how the plant grows.
 

Knucklehead

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Your seedlings need to be slowly introduced to full sun. It's called "hardening off". They will need to be hardened off before planting to your patch or to buckets. Also quit watering about a week before planting.
 

mrthing2000

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thanks everyone--I got them into the ground today and planted them in several different test sites in the yard. One is full sun, the other is a decent amount of shade, and the other sites get morning sun but a bit of afternoon shade. My ideal site unfortunately gets full blast sun all the time so I'll wait until a few of the smaller plants get big enough to risk it.

I noticed the roots only went down 1-2 inches on some plants, 3-4 inches on others. Maybe that has something to do with their heat resistance? Anymore though it seems not to be an issue of heat but rather the sun. We've got a few cool days ahead with a tiny bit of rain before hitting 90s again late next week.
 

mrthing2000

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3.jpg1.jpg

The pic on the left is the mostly shade spot. I had these all growing there in the beginning and they never looked heat stressed.

The spot on on the right gets mostly full sun. But even the sunflowers aren't entirely happy. They are 4-5 feet now but struggle with the intense sun despite watering.
 

mrthing2000

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I think I screwed up the would-be newbie plants I started 3-4 weeks ago. I didn't use an entirely soilless mix. I gave them a nice bottom-watering bath last night and sort of forgot about them. I checked on them today and found what I thought was mold growing on the soil medium.

I hit the medium with a vinegar spray and moved these into a place where they should get a lot more sun than they've gotten, hoping I can 'burn' it off with the vinegar and sunlight. Uggh. Looks like it is only on the medium though.

The first 2 pics show the fuzzy thing after I sprayed it with a vinegar mist. The third picture shows a large leaf that creased or something, and got a split in it.

Should I pull this leaf off, or is the split ok? I've seen pics of leaves with holes in it, but this one split.

2.jpg5.jpg4.jpg
 

deluxestogie

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All sorts of things (wind, critters, grower) can cause leaf splits like that. In my experience, tears in the leaf are most often caused by a bird snagging a hapless insect on the leaf surface. They tend to be on leaves relatively low to the ground, but do appear on upper leaves.

Although tobacco is not heat stressed when in heavy shade, it is unlikely to thrive there.

Bob
 

ProfessorPangloss

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I also wonder about the place with the sunflowers. As leggy as they are, I wonder how "full" the sun is. How many hours and what time (early or late?) does that spot get sun?
 

mrthing2000

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I got too aggressive handling the 'mold' problem. Using a vinegar spray was too aggressive.

I'm hoping a few of these bounce back. The few (not pictured) that looked ok, hopefully do not have too much vinegar in them to seep down and kill the plant and not just a few leaves. Uggh.

The pic on the left shows what looked to me like the leaf surface was etched away. The leaf was almost transparent here. Looked like the vinegar ate it.

The pic on the right shows the overspray damage to the plants. I only used vinegar because 'some guy' in a book said if the seedlings mold, mist with vinegar. Well that didn't work for the seedlings (lost all of them) and that apparently was too much for plants--easier to prevent mold than to treat it. Sunlight might also have killed the mold, but we had 3 rainy/cloudy days and I didn't think to wait it out.

8 or 9 plants are in test plots in different places. All are doing OK but this will be the first real test in a couple of days when we hit 90s again. I may have a bunch of cooked, melted spinach again.

20150726_175113.jpg20150726_175125.jpg
 

mrthing2000

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That spot gets sun from probably 10 to 7pm--all the really hot sun and high UVs. They might be leggy because I didn't understand how to fertilize them right and I kept pulling leaves off as bugs ate them. Neem oil fixed the bug problem and foliar sprays helped the food issue. Watering has been a mystery though.
 

mrthing2000

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They took the mid-80s bright sun today pretty well. Looked a bit melted/wilted on some of them, but bounced back as soon as the sun went down. That seems good. Next 5-6 days will be mid-to-upper 90s though. A trial by fire! If they should make it, I may just have something at the end of the season.

Looks like the mold is all gone. Hoping the chem-burned plants come back to life. A few look like they might.
 

mrthing2000

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You're right about the appearance. Weird. Some looked dead and melted then came back within an hour of sundown. The ones in partial shade looked the same all day.

I couldn't believe they bounced back after a 96 deg bright day today. 5 more 95+ days in a row here (unheard of for the Portland metro area). 100 tomorrow. UV index is ridiculous--instant sunburn if you go outside for more than 5 minutes.

I'm betting if I had planted these right after the first frost, the hardening off would have been much easier on them and they'd be not only bigger but a lot stronger. That WAS the plan until I lost several seed start attempts to mold and damping off.
 

Knucklehead

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You're right about the appearance. Weird. Some looked dead and melted then came back within an hour of sundown. The ones in partial shade looked the same all day.

I couldn't believe they bounced back after a 96 deg bright day today. 5 more 95+ days in a row here (unheard of for the Portland metro area). 100 tomorrow. UV index is ridiculous--instant sunburn if you go outside for more than 5 minutes.

I'm betting if I had planted these right after the first frost, the hardening off would have been much easier on them and they'd be not only bigger but a lot stronger. That WAS the plan until I lost several seed start attempts to mold and damping off.

That sounds like typical Southeast weather. Tobacco loves it. What they don't like is wet feet. I've been in a drought all summer but the tobacco is surviving better than the trees and grass around here. They will drown easily though.

Hardening off should be done in the trays before planting. Start moving into full sun a little bit more each day. It can take a week or two to work up to full sun without sunburning them. Quit watering and fertilizing a week before planting to help them start getting used to little water in the field.
 

mrthing2000

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What is a typical watering schedule for them? I've been hitting them probably too hard but not sure what to do about the 90deg days everyday. Next year I think I'll setup a drig irrigation/fertigation system and automate it to water around 6am.

The roots on these only go down maybe 2-3 inches and are fine and spread out from the center--typical potted plant compacted problem as I am finding out. I made the soil in the ground much loser and hope they can thrust down easier.

Many things will be different next year!
 
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