I've got 6 window boxes with wave petunias that I planted mid may. They get 6-8 hours of direct sunlight most days and I water every 1-2 days only when the first inch of soil feels dry. They were doing great and growing like crazy until about a week ago... we had a big storm about a week ago and the flowers got drenched. Everything looked pretty dismal afterwards. I held off on watering, took them out of the direct sunlight and allowed them to dry out before picking back up.

Since then, everything is pretty wilty and just looks like they're starting to die. The stems are all very weak and down by the soil level, most stems look brown and sort of rotted. The blooms are all drying up and falling off before they've even opened up and many leaves on the ends of the stems are drying up and grey. I've also noticed some kind of pest infestation. There are tons of little white bugs or larvae on most of the plants. I'm also noticing some black eggs all over the leaves and around the new blooms.

I'm not sure if maybe I've been overwatering by mistake. I didn't think one big rain storm would be enough to kill everything off. Not sure if this is a case of root rot or fungus or pest infestation or all of the above.

Pictures attached. First is the window boxes a few weeks ago. Second is after the big storm last week. Remainder of the pictures are the pests/rot/wilt. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I am assuming there are drainage holes in the window boxes? The compost looks very wet and the symptoms Are consistent with over watering and/or possible root rot.

JBarstool said:I am assuming there are drainage holes in the window boxes? The compost looks very wet and the symptoms Are consistent with over watering and/or possible root rot.

Thanks for the reply. Correct, plenty of drainage holes drilled in the bottom. Assuming that's the case, is there anything I can do aside from holding off on watering for a bit?

Not that I can think of, try to let the compost dry. I would check moisture with my finger and not water until dry. Maybe you will be lucky...plants do want to grow!