Twisted Plants

[Ouya Mellsa]

I've grown plants from seeds for many years and never had the problem I'm having this year.

A low of my plants have started off well, growing and transplanting without problems. But as they get taller or bigger, they have started to twist and distory and bend in all directions. It is not etiolation or any any kind of tropism.

It is mainly affecting sunflowers, cosmos, brachycome and a few of the smaller plants.

I know the usual reason for distorted growth is chemical attack or poisoning, but they've been kept in the greenhouse the whole time so avoid any drift from neighbours, and I only use clean watering cans/tools. Plus, I always water from underneath at the right amount.

Any ideas what is causing it? Or how can I rectify it?

I'll try and upload a pic tomorrow.

[Snadger]

Have you manured the ground recently? Sounds a bit like Aminopyralid poisoning?

[vicky]

Fasciation? Although yours sounds on a much larger scale, so I'd go with some sort of herbicide poisoning too

[Ouya Mellsa]

They are all still in pots, I'm afraid.

I use the same watering can/methods on all my plants, yet only a few varieties are affected. Dodgy seed? The cosmos I got free on Amateur Gardening and are Fothergills

I'll post pics later today if I can.

[Ouya Mellsa]

Examples:


Swan River Daisy


Sunflowers


Osteospermum


Creeping Thyme

[Snadger]

The sunflower looks to have been kept too warm with not enough light?

Could the compost have become contaminated at all?

[Straightenout]

Dodgy seed? The cosmos I got free on Amateur Gardening and are Fothergills

No guarantee you didn't get a bad packet but I have the same freebie pack (Candy Stripe?) and they are growing bolt upright.

[vicky]

Swan river daisy are twisted normally. The rest look like they've grow on too quickly (poor light levels/propagator) and are just a bit lanky and bendy. I don't think there's any poisoning going on at all!

[snohare]

I agree with Vicky - good call on the Swan river daisy. If there was gross biochemical damage from toxins you would expect to see all the structures distorted and that would include leaves, which would be curled,withered or discoloured, a la aminopyralid. I am inclined to think that you may just have fallen victim to a particular combination of very good growth conditions and relatively low input of light, which meant that the plants grew faster than some of their stems could support. Maybe your compost is better than usual ? !
There is always a percentage of seed which gives rise to plants that grow particularly rapidly, to the detriment of structural strength. Depending on the previous year's growing conditions, some plant seeds may have genes switched on which would predispose them towards this. So the individual plant seed source can potentially raise the number of plants that suffer from etiolation. (That's epigenesis.)

[Ouya Mellsa]

Great post ^.

Thanks!