look see if the trunk has been gnawed on - happened to me this year
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You donāt show the plant next to it as you stated.
Itās definitely water overload. If it gets too strong sun after that then itās finished.
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Roots are probably rotting. Lots of people saying to water, but he said it got pounded with rain.
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Iām placing my bet here. 
That poor plant is done for and when you pull it up youāll find the roots are nearly gone.
Sorry, I hope Iām wrong.
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Yeah definitely something at the root zone when the plant reacts that way. Or could be due to chronic underwatering.
Either thirsty. Or some animal killed the rootsā¦
Try to pull the stem or move, so you can check if its loose
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This is my bet. Stem rotted or nommed on.
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Hi everyone! Thanks for all your input abd here is what has transpired.
The night before the plant wilted, or as I see it, the leaves turned outside inā¦we got clobbered with rain the night before and too much water was one variable brought up. And my friend and I were leaning in that direction
ā¦well this morning the leaves flipped back to normal so my friend was gonna keep running the plant, all was wellā¦I showed up at 10:30 am to help cut out the insides of the plants and take the rototiller off his tractor with him. and lo and beholdā¦leaves flipped again.
So, what we are thinking is the taproot hit clay, and clay is 3-4 feet down which I found when we were digging holes to setbpotted plants in.and a few of the first holes were dug a little too deep for the potted plants final spot. At least thats where pur heads are currently. I did look for any critter holes and did not see any, and I asked if he ever saw any āhedgehogsā or similar critters that like to dig and nadda to both he saidā¦
Tommorrow he is gonna chop it either way, time to move onā¦
If anything changes I will let everyone know!
Blessings to all,
Argyle
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I would do an autopsy of sorts. Iād dig up the root ball and hose the dirt away to see the roots, then Iād probably split the truck and look for dark blackish wood. If he can find out why, it could help his future grows.
Maybe its trying to pick its leaves up at night, then gets hit with some sun and folds again? Tap root hitting clay is unlikely to be the issue imho. But it would hurt drainage, which could help cause the rot.
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Thats a fantastic suggestion, thank you!
Could this be chemicals from adjacent area that leached into the root system during the rain event. The water during heavy rain events can definitely change things. Any chance your on septic and the leach lines run through that exact area. If it flooded heavily maybe leach lines poisoned them during flooding?
Makes sense manā¦clay is unforgiving and will suffocate roots pretty quickly. My native soil is clay and occasionally sandy rock so no bueno for inground planting unless heavily amended
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Wet clay is killer. Knocked out 1/3 of my cherry tomatoes after all the rain lately.
Sand breaks it up. and is a cheaper option than a lot of perlite. I started plants in HP Promix. so itās half perlite. then dropped into the ground. some western ny twin tiers clay soil. they have a hard time if i donāt till. and I skipped that this year. Iām growing a lot of stuff in growbags ontop of garden fabric. Itās been going way better. but watering daily is a pain. I should hook up the solar pumps.
Yeah. the big issue with clay is the āwater lineā when it rains heavy. itās super easy for roots to suffocate quick. Sand helps. gravel helps. perlite/pumice isnāt really that cost effective. and even filling with sticks/compost. I like to till, then dig it out, put a layer of sticks in there & leaves. some worm food. then that clay crap over it. itāll all fill back in.
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