Need lots of help....

i am new to this gardening stuff.. and i have two beautiful scaevola plants, fan flowers... and i don t know how to take care of them. one day they look great and the next they look as if they are sulking. how often do you water? when do you let them dry out? ugh... they have looked crappy for three days now, and i am afraid i have killed them. how do you know if you have over watered a plant? somebody please help me... maybe suggest a book to help me start off... this is a picture of my "sulking" plant. help me make her happy...

Tracey, it is hard to tell if they're in a pot or not. If so, in this DRY heat watering once-a-day is necessary.........sometimes more. If they're in a pot the watering crystals definitely help to keep it moist. Also, when watering so often it helps to feed regularly since the watering washes it away. I feed mine once a week, either 20-20-20 or fish emulsion. If they're in the ground, the same pretty much applies. They are such pretty flowers and just need a bit of TLC.

hey bugme..

thanks for your input. they are actually hanging. i just bought them from pyke's. i kind of want to transplant them into those wire moss baskets, but am afraid to until they look ok again, but then of course, i am not sure the correct way to do that either. i cut 16 cuttings and have them in 4" clay pots... and 12 of them are looking great (4 not so good)... when you say 20-20-20, (sorry to seem so ignorant) but what is that? i will give it a try.

Tracey, I like those moss baskets too........most of mine are those. This year before placing plants in them I first put some wet sphagnum moss around the sides (to help with moisture) and it seems to be working fine. 20-20-20 is an all-purpose fertilizer......some places sell it in bags you use with a hose-end sprayer but you can find containers with handy little packets you just place into a 1 gallon container. This is good for just pots on the deck/patio but for beds the hose-end sprayer is the way to go. A really helpful website you can get info from is Walter Reeves. He has a show on PBS on Saturdays called "Gardening in Georgia"........comes on around 12:30 and again later in the evening. You've done the right thing by cutting the plants back........good anytime a plant looks stressed.

Tracey - I wonder about how much water you've been giving them. See my post about "heat and watering goof." Water until the drainage holes begin to run a bit. Careful about the surface tension factor, too. I water one pot a bit then the next, etc. and then start over, so that the soil has time to begin soaking up the water. (Hey, if you checked my post, you can tell I ain't so darn good at this.....but at least I remembered at last!) Walter Reeves, mentioned above by "bugme," said he sometimes waters container plants twice a day, but I checked mine again this morning by the old finger-in-the-soil method, and the once a day soaking seems to do the trick. Depends on the pot, the soil, wind, and the plant, of course. Hope that is helpful. Sheila

hey sheila...

actually, that is funny you should respond to this... i had read your thread and thats exactly what i did and they are looking fabulous!! i water them now almost every day, but i water them until the water comes out of the bottom... that did the trick! they look beautiful again! no more wilty one second and different the next... they continuously look gorgeous!! i am trying to grow more from cuttings... they grow nicely, but i am wondering how they will finally do when it is time to repot. I'M SCARED! i talk to them ever day (they are all in my kitchen window sill so i have plenty of opportune to chat... my hubby tells me i am crazy. haha

anyways, thanks again!! your advice (reminder to some).. was perfect!