Plant broken

After giving the rest away, I have one white datura in a pot which I started from seed. It's rather big & sprawling (in an 18" pot) & I have wondered about pruning before, but have not wanted to cut off branches while it's in bloom. You all know how difficult it is. Now I feel like a jerk, because I think I've killed my plant.

A few weeks ago I noticed that on the 2 main branches, it looked like the "bark" or top layer of stem tissue was peeling off and curling away. It wasn't insect damage, or being chewed on, just looked like it was splitting open, from the inside. This I attributed to the 3 weeks of solid rain we've been having, and I still think it was. It seemed to be doing fine, however, and it looked like it was going to heal on its own. We've had rain all week again, and I suspect it may be responsible.

This morning, I saw that the main stem is perfectly split in 2, and the plant has broken into 2 halves. Like the weight of the branches was so heavy the main stem just couldn't support them anymore, it just split the poor little trunk in 2. Is it going to die? What can I do to save it? Anything? If I cut the 2 sections off I"ll have nothing but a nub in a pot.

Should I prune severely from a young age any datura's I'm lucky enough to grow in the future, to encourage more bushiness? I've grown these before in the ground and didn't remember them needing any pruning at all. I feel just terrible. It was full of blooms, had 16 open last night.

Well, tonight the 2 big branches that have broken off the main stem have 8 and 9 blooms open, respectively. I can't believe how healthy they still are. They're barely attached to the stem. I've never attempted to root datura cuttings before, but I bet these 2 branches will do great in soil with a bit of trimming. The big, main trunk or stalk they were growing off all ready has new leaves sprouting, so I'm going to do surgery tomorrow morning and then stick the nub with new leaves and the 2 cuttings in shade until they take off. I can't understand how it happened, though the same thing happened to my stevia a few weeks ago and I thought it was because of the plastic tie I had used to encourage 2 main stalks to grow upright and closer together. Same thing happened, the 2 main stalks ripped the main trunk in half, though when it was extremely windy...Sometimes I feel like such a bad plant mommy.

0...Liila, I had the same problem to w/ 2 dats, I cut them back and blooming away. I have several that need to be cut also but-- they are metals and so am waiting for a reply before i mutilate them. The others were the "Jimson" weed variety and volunteers so wasn't all that concerned as they dropped plenty of seeds. Corky

Thanks for the response! It was the strangest thing and I'd never heard of it happening before. I notice you're in Florida, too. Could it be our weather down here? Of course we had another week of solid rain last week, after the 3 weeks we were still drying out from...

Needless to say I will be severely pruning any future dats so they don't get so spread out and unevenly heavy.

Hey, more on the way as in rain wowzer. Three years ago we were begging for rain. Now i refer to Lakeland as: Swampland USA. I am so thankful we are in the flood control area. I am losing one of my Brugs tho. I may cut it back and put it in a big pot to see if it will rest and come back. Marilynne

Can you imagine being a farmer and making your living off the land, with the kind of weather we've been having all over the USA?

Good luck and report back on your cutting/sprouting efforts, please!!

Judy

I can haul some of them under the eaves, and I can haul a few of them inside the screened in Florida room, but how many plants can survive continued torrential downpours with hardly any sun? My lavender/scented geranium containers and stevia are dead. My big michelia figo shrub is almost gone despite my best efforts. During summer the usual pattern down here in South Florida is daily afternoon rain like clockwork sometime around 3-4. Just enough to wet the garden and keep the plants happy. Well, I want it back. And no, I couldn't imagine having to eke out a living growing anything these days. The weather's been highly unpredictable and strange just about everywhere this year!