Parsley suddenly took a dive

[Nelly W]

I'm in south Florida. I bought a small flat-leaf parsley plant that took off like a rocket many weeks ago. I just don't understand how seemingly almost overnight it could go from a big, bushy, healthy-looking plant to something that almost looks like it got sprayed with herbicide.

All the stems are drooping a fair bit, several have yellowing leaves (especially on the "sunny" side), and there are some silvery splotches/speckles that remind me of a plant that's been attacked by mites or some other critter. Never even got to make any tabbouleh.

This is a condo and they do spray, but so far they've have had enough sense not to hit the plants I've set out there - especially one so well-established. The nearby turmeric and Amaryllis so far seem unaffected.

It'd be nice to hear some ideas, but I guess I'm mostly just venting. If it croaks hopefully I'll know more after I dig it out.

[David E. Ross]

Too much water.

Not enough water.

Fertilizer burn. (Too much fertilizer, or fertilizer added on dry soil.)

Potted? Roots cooked by too much sunshine on pot.

Snails.

[Nelly W]

Hello, David. It's not burn, I don't think...mostly because I rarely (if ever) fertilize. That includes houseplants (which even here still stay inside the porch). Doggie piddle aside; there are lots of dogs, but I have one of those scalloped brick semi-circles to sort-of protect it from stuff like that. And give the chem addicts an indication not to spray there. Although, we recently did have a bit of rain (that's relative here anyway) but the soil here is very sandy, so... Still wouldn't explain why its close neighbors (meaning the Amaryllis & the turmeric) look exactly as I left them day before yesterday. Puzzling...

[Brooklyn1]

I'd not plant anything I'd want to eat where landscapers are treating the area with chemicals

[Jeff Layman]

Carrot fly?

[Brooklyn1]

Could well be the landscapers sprayed the lawn with weed killer and your parsley received some over spray on one side... but there's no way to tell for sure unless you ask and they aren't going to admit spraying your plant. Were it me I'd replant and plant a few in different spots, perhaps in a large patio planter... parsley actually does better in diffused sunlight. I plant parsley at the steps to my rear deck (handy to my kitchen), it gets direct sun only during the first half of the day and it thrives... I prefer curly leaf parsley, it's sweeter than flat leaf.

[songbird]

David E. Ross wrote: ...

root knot nematode.

too hot too quickly, overloading respiration requirements, vascular collapse.

songbird