The plant known as snapdragon is an herb that you really want to grow in pots or window boxes, as well as, of course, in the ground. It is small, produces very beautiful flowers, and also does not require any special care. Nevertheless, it may happen that we make a mistake with something, and that it begins to dry up.
Although its life is very short, it should last at least a few months before wilting; If this does not happen, then we will have to ask ourselves why the snapdragon flower dries up before its time.
How long does the snapdragon live?
Image – Wikimedia Commons/Michael Apel
La Dragon mouth It is an herb that, depending above all on the climate, can be perennial (that is, live for more than two years), biennial (two years) or annual (one year). But even in the worst case, from the time the seed is sown until the flower withers, at least spring and all summer must pass.
In other words, its life is short, but it must have enough time to grow, reach adult size (between 0,5 and 2 meters in height depending on the variety), flower and, if all goes well, bear fruit. If it dries out shortly after buying it, for example, it is because we are not taking good care of it.
Why does it dry up and how can we recover it?
Image – Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
It is a small plant, and therefore it can have a very bad time quickly if we make a mistake with something; that is, if we neglect irrigation, or if on the contrary we keep the soil moist permanently, or if when applying the fertilizer we add a higher dose than indicated on the package. Therefore, We are going to see in detail why it can dry out, and what we have to do to try to recover it:
Irrigation problems
Watering the snapdragon is very important, but whether we do it too often or forget to re-hydrate it, we can cause a lot of problems for it. In fact, it is best to check the humidity before watering, with a stick for example.
Lack of water
Regardless of whether we have it in a pot or in the ground, the lack of water causes the plant to dry out very quickly. In the warmest time of the year, we can even see that it starts to get musty from one day to the next.and more so if it is in a plastic container exposed to the sun for all hours of the day.
Under those conditions, we have to water it frequentlybut without going overboard because, if not, we will end up causing a bigger problem, which is the death of the roots as a result of excessive watering.
Excess of water
Excess water is something that we always have to avoid when we grow plants, whatever they may be (unless, of course, we are caring for aquatic or semi-aquatic plants). But the snapdragon is not one that can stand having “wet feet” permanentlythat is why it is a mistake to plant it in a pot without holes (or in one that does have them, but then put a plate under it) or in a very compact and heavy soil, with poor drainage.
How can we know that we have spent watering it? well in this case we will see that the soil is very wet, that the leaves begin to turn yellow and that the plant looks “sad”. In addition, if it is in a pot, when we pick it up we will notice that it is very heavy.
to save her, what we will do is stop watering it temporarily, and treat it with a systemic fungicide (on sale here!) that we will apply on the plant and also on the roots.
Likewise, if we have it in a pot, we will take it out and wrap the root ball with absorbent paper. We will leave it like this for one night, and the next day we will plant it again in a new container that has holes in the base. And from then on, we will have to water less.
too much compost
Image – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sometimes it is thought that if you add more fertilizer than the manufacturer indicates on the package, better results will be achieved, such as a greater number of flowers or faster growth, but this does not work like that. The more you add, the more damage we will cause to the roots, since we are going to ‘burn’ them.
Therefore, if we want to save it, or at least try to, from an overdose of manure or fertilizer, what we will do is water it -only with water- to wash the root system. You have to pour enough water on it, so that the soil stays soaked. But yes, if the plant is in a pot, it is very important that it does not have any plate underneath, because said liquid must be able to come out; if it didn’t, this ‘cleaning’ would be of no use, because the water, with the excess manure or fertilizer, would remain stagnant in the plate, in contact with the roots.
And that’s not to mention that we could run the risk of losing it due to excess water as we have already mentioned before.
Therefore, every time we go to pay it, we have to read the instructions for use and follow them to the letter. Only then will we achieve the expected results.
As you can see, a dry snapdragon can recover, but only if it is caught early.
