Question
QUESTION: My wife and I have a front window box. In it we have pansies in the middle,
which do great, in fact they are from last summer and still blooming. (We live
in Philadelphia). But this year we put petunias on either side of them. The one
side keeps dying, we have replaced it three times, finally changing the soil
there. It appears to be doing well after two weeks. The other side looked
great until today, went it now appears to be dying all of a sudden. Can the
pansies be competing with and killing the petunias?

ANSWER: Hi Dell:
No the petunias and pansies should do well together.

Pansies are an annual that seeds itself quite readily. some times they winter over because they are very frost hardy. They germinate in cool weather, so they may be this years plants, too. You can save seeds from them and sprinkle them around, where you want them to grow. Do this in late fall after freeze-up or very early spring--before the frost is out of the ground.

Now back to your problem. You didn't say how the Petunias looked. Were they just wilted looking or did they have spots on the leaves--were they yellow? Were the roots ok?

Yellow leaves are a sign of overwatering. Are you watering too much? Neither plant requires excessive moisture.

Petunias are a member of the potato family. Since you replaced the soil on one side and it is doing well, I think there might be a potato virus in your soil. Viruses are nasty things. You could try a fungicide like Bordo mix. Use the recommendation for potatoes. Drench all of the soil not just the one side, because viruses will spread. Repeat again in 10 days.

If you have more to add concerning the condition of the dead plants, please write again.

Hope this helps.          Myrna





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your prompt answer. The petunias look good until they
all of a sudden get less crisp and wilty and droopy. And then shrivel up and die
in a day or so. I have to check the leaves. We may be overwatering. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Dell:
Petunias like to dry out between watering, and it won't hurt your pansies to be grown on the dry side. If you have been overwatering don't throw out your plants just yet. If they have a good root on them, let them dry out completely. Watch for the pansies to wilt slightly, and then water and see if they come back.
A note: A plant will recover faster from lack of water than it will from too much water.        Myrna