Help, I don't think it'll live!

Discussion in 'Vines and Climbers' started by megles7187, Aug 24, 2007.

  1. megles7187

    megles7187 Member

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    I have a passion flower vine that arrived in the mail, dry as heck, the leaves have a lot of green, but the plant was crispy. The person, who sent it, sent it in dirt, dry dry dirt. I didn't want to transplant it into some of the soil I have do to transplant shock right after shipping shock. Now I drenched it in rain water and sprayed the leaves, the leaves aren’t crunchy anymore and feel normal but they won't perk up, and the stems are still dry. Is their hope for this plant? If so how do I save it? Extra, if I can get an exchange, any idea on how to ask the person to ship it? I was thinking if they wet the soil, wrapped it in newspaper, and wrapped in plastic bag, that it would retain more moisture.




    Some background, I took a risk and got this plant on e-bay but I have an ebay plant success rate of about 90%. Even the VFTs I got off of ebay are doing well now, and one of them had babies.
     

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  2. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    There is hope! Passionflowers are very very hard to kill once they've sprouted. If you give this guy some rich, slightly acidic soil in a mixed-sun environment and out of the worst of the wind, there should be no problems. The current leaves might drop, but the vine itself should bounce right back. The vine as at your photo actually looks like it's starting to bounce anyway.

    Shame on the grower for doing that, they should know better!

    That's a P. incarnata, no? They're quite lovely and vigourous once they get going....

    If you can get an exchange, get the grower to ship it to you rooted in a high-peat mixture, lots of moisture, and plastic bagged. I'm not sure how far it had to go in the post to get to you, but if it's possible then spend the extra couple of bucks for express shipping or investigate the live shipping options of a company like FedEx... The less time it spends in the postal system, the better. I know that in Canada, CanadaPost used to have a separate rate system and shipping speed for plants, and the Ecuadorian post has a whole express category for shipping plants. Something similar may exist with the US Post.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2007
  3. megles7187

    megles7187 Member

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    Yeap, your right about the breed. ^_^, I took your advice, and I just repotted it, with my African violet mix*my other passion flower has grown 6 inches in a week with that stuff* I was a little surprised when I saw the root, because, well, it didn't look like a root, I think the person who sold this to me, just took cuttings from her passion flower and put it in a pot of dry dirt. The thing that surprised me is that it is starting to take root, newly developed root stubble. I can't compare it to anything.

    Since it looks so close to dead, I am taking a chance here, and sprinkled some take root hormone on the part that was in the ground and put it in a new pot.

    I don't want to call the seller a liar, because she said these where grown from seed, and have full roots. So if any of you know a place that shows a passionflower root system, I would be grateful.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2007
  4. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    The most common way to propagate any of the passiflora is to take a cutting and root it. You'll probably do fine with the Take Root and the African violet mix; as I said it's remarkably hard to kill these things. The root stubble is actually a totally normal and encouraging thing - it's going to live and be happy!
     
  5. megles7187

    megles7187 Member

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    Sweet ^_^, I needed a little encouraging, would have hated to throw it away if there is hope. Well, when it perks up I'll post a picture of it. I think my area is perfect for these buggers anyways cause that other passion flower, I swear it is growing a inch a night! After some expert advice from other people on this site. ^_^
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2007
  6. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    My P. edulis grows about 5" a week; it's completely taken over my northwest deck railing (over 30' and going strong!) The hardest thing is waiting for the fruit to ripen...

    I'm also waiting on a P. mixto from seed.
     

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