My newly planted flowers are wilting already!

andywright1993

Hi, 
I bought some flowers from the garden centre, (pansies, tulips, osteospermum, etc), and planted them in large planters with compost and horse manure and in the ground. I did this earlier in the week and some of the flowers are already wilting and look like they're struggling. 
What could be causing this? I watered them and we've had heavy rainfall the last couple of days. Have I planted too many too close together? Or could it be poor soil quality? Do I need to give them plant feeder? 

Please help! I don't want my garden to die before the summer season even really starts! 

Thanks! 

Andy.

nutcutlet

Too much water?
Also, when you buy plants in Spring, it may be the first time they've been out in the big wide world and it's a bit of a shock

Posy

Was the horse manure well composted? If it was fresh it could have caused problems for the young roots.

andywright1993

 Posy said:

Was the horse manure well composted? If it was fresh it could have caused problems for the young roots.

I dug down in the muck heap to get the older manure. It was pretty sloppy so I assumed that was the more rotten down things. Is that the right consistency the manure should be? 

andywright1993

nutcutlet said:

Too much water?
Also, when you buy plants in Spring, it may be the first time they've been out in the big wide world and it's a bit of a shock

If it's just the shock, can they recover when they get used to it? 

Lyn

They may not recover, annuals really don’t need feeding for quite a while, Later when they’ve finished blooming you can cut them back, get all the seed heads of and they’ll bloom again, just a drop of tomato feed later in the season is good.
i think you’ve probably killed yours with kindness, the roots may have burned.
manure is the best thing down a hole you’ve dug for planting shrubs and roses. 

AnniD

I agree with Lyn, with the best will in the world, the horse manure is too much for annuals . I don't know how easy this would be to do, but can you empty the planters and replant them using just compost ? It may be too late for some of them, but it may be worth a try. Annuals don't need a lot of feed as they're designed for just one season's growth. You can get plant food to mix in with the compost, such as Miracle Grow. The plants in the ground maybe more difficult to rescue, you could dig them up, try and get as much of the horse manure out as possible and replant.
The other thing is as nutcutlet says, the shock of being out in the open may well be another cause. The very warm weather last weekend and now the much cooler temperatures this week will also have a bearing. The tulips may well be going over anyway,  they were quite early this year as it has been so mild.
Don't get disheartened @andywright1993 , we've all been on the learning curve and are still learning  



 

Marinelilium

Aww, tuck them up gently with a gardener's fleece, plastic bottle cloche or a propped-up sheet if night temperature is below 10C. It's the (quite literally) the difference between day and night being the difference between life or death. Reading them a bedtime story optional!

MLx