Plants can become stunted, meaning their growth has been inhibited or delayed, for any of a number of reasons. Spring weather can be unpredictable, with fluctuating temperatures and unpredictable rain. Sometimes we make mistakes, or the soil isn’t as good as we thought, or we plant at the wrong time. Some plants just have issues for reasons unknown, which is a truly frustrating situation for any gardener. Saving stunted plants takes a bit of know-how, but it’s absolutely possible to help stunted plants thrive. So let’s dig in and learn a bit more about saving stunted plants and how we can help give a struggling plant its best shot.
Gardzen Executive Summary
· Plants can become stunted or have their growth delayed due to issues with light, water, temperature, soil, planting times, or disease.
· Some plants just have issues with growth and we don’t know why for sure.
· It’s absolutely possible to help stunted plants grow and thrive, but not every plant can be saved and that’s OK!
· Working with plants that are struggling can help us learn more about plants, gardening, and how things grow.
Why Do Plants Become Stunted?
Let’s start with a look at how plants become stunted, as understanding what causes delays or problems with growth and development will help us understand how to fix it. While some individual plants have innate or congenital issues that cause them to grow slowly or develop deformities, most of the time stunted plants are caused by environmental issues:
· Extremes of temperature, whether too high or too low, is a major cause of stunting in plants. Temperatures that are too low slow plant growth and impair development as they prevent proper photosynthesis, and may cause physical damage to new growth on the plant. If it’s too hot can lead to heat damage, premature growth or bolting, or cause other forms of heat damage.
· Lack of proper nutrition is a common cause of stunted growth in both plants and animals, and it’s an easy one to miss. We’ve discussed the critical nutrition plants need in other blogs, and we’ve also gone into detail about how different plants have different nutritional needs. Lack of potassium, for example, and lead to weak stalks or stems or inhibit the plant’s ability to photosynthesize nutrition. Nitrogen deficiency leads to a lack of foliage growth and keeps the plant from developing. The list goes on because there are a large number of ways that nutritional issues impede growth and lead to stunted plants.
· Light, like temperature, can cause issues from both excess and deficiency. Plants getting too much light (especially combined with high temperatures) can lead to pale or discolored leaves, sun scald on stems, foliage and new growth, or dehydration. In most plants, too little light leaves the plant unable to produce and use the nutrition that it needs and delays all aspects of plant growth and health.
· Watering to excess or not enough can likewise cause problems. Too much water leads to waterlogged soil, yellowing leaves due to cellular damage, and fungal infections in the soil that cause root rot. Too little water effectively starves the plant as it cannot move nutrition from the soil to the roots, keep its cells hydrated or alive, or produce new growth. Different plants have different watering needs and those needs can vary widely so it’s important to ensure that each plant gets the right amount of water.
· Transplant shock happens to some plants when they’re moved from one growing space to another. Disrupting the root structure, changes in soil nutrition and pH, and the stress of moving can all lead to stunted growth, wilting, and other issues for a period of time after transplanting. We’ve written about that at length here, so please check out that blog as well.
· Disease, pests, and infections can all lead to stunted growth in plants. These vary widely: sometimes it’s a fungal issue in the soil, sometimes a communicable plant disease attacking a weakened plant, sometimes it’s a bug that just shows up one day. Solutions vary depending on the actual issue, so accurate diagnosis is important.
This is a big list of possible causes for stunted growth in plants, but don’t let that worry you. We have a huge number of options for dealing with stunted growth, but we can also employ a systematic approach that makes it easier to help stunted plants and give them the best possible chance to thrive.
Helping Stunted Plants Recover
If a plant is struggling, yellowing, wilting, or just not growing, the first step is take a look at the plant itself. By that we mean determining what conditions the plant in question needs to thrive, and then comparing that to the conditions it has. If a given plant prefers rich, well-drained soil, make sure that the soil it actually has matches that description. If our hypothetical plant likes partial sun with shade in the hotter parts of the day, check and make sure that it actually gets it. Having the soil tested can be helpful, or at least checking and make sure that we’re using the right type of fertilizer or compost. And, as always, we gardeners are prone to either over-watering or under-watering our plants so let’s make sure that we’re watering appropriately.
Some plants have particular needs. We’ve talked about transplanting and transplant shock—and all the issues that come with both. Diseases are another issue to watch out for, and their diagnosis and treatment depends on the illness and the plant in question. Once again we’ll suggest talking to the local garden club, agricultural extension, or nursery about issues particular to your area. They may have insights about local conditions that can be helpful in treating the issues facing our plants. We generally include links to other relevant blog entries, and we really hope you’ll check those out when you’re diagnosing and treating stunted plants as another source of information and insight.
Not every stunted plant can be rescued, and that’s OK! Every plant offers us a chance to learn more about plants, gardening, and how it all comes together. We’re all doing our best and learning as we go, so let’s accept that we can’t always succeed and take the lessons as they come.
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