health Sick Plants: What am I doing wrong?

[trailrunner]

As an absolute last resort, if you think the waterlogged soil has picked up something nasty (fungus, mold), hit them with hydrogen peroxide 3%.
 
That'll kill off the nasties and introduce a whole bunch of oxygen to the roots.
 
I saved 2 of my larger overwinters year before last, which were on their last leg (massive leaf drop, wilting with heavy pots.. nasty stinking soil). I literally flooded those with 1 gallon (each - these were 15" pots) of hydrogen peroxide, flushing out the nasty water. The H2O2 bubbles (that's Oxygen being released) in the soil, helps re-aerate it, and the high oxygen content that is released is *very* deadly to fungus and molds. Keep in mind you have to use enough to flush the old stinking stagnant water OUT the bottom through the drain holes. 
 
The plants.. oh my, they frigging love it. 
 
In one week they were recovered and growing like gangbusters!

 
Thanks for the tip! Would you follow up with mykos or compost tea a few days later to reinoculate the soil?
Alright, here's an update. None of these plants have got a drop since my first post. None have died, go figure  .
 

 
Most of the pots feel pretty close to my dry control pot, but I tipped out one of them to check last night and the soil has a bit of moisture yet. 
 
Any thoughts on next steps, or how long to wait before reintroducing H2O?

 

[suchen]

Did you really squish the soil into each cup? If the soil is too compact it may take a while to truly dry out. Were I in your situation, I would either wait until tomorrow or when the leaves actually start to slightly droop to water. Since yours are already kinda glum looking, the droop may be difficult to notice. Then when the plants perk back up in a few days, mix up a full 32oz. spray bottle with 1tbsp Epsom salt and spray directly onto the leaves (thoroughly) without soaking the soil. Then don't do anything for 5-7 days or until the soil dries/leaves just start to droop. Don't fertilize after the Epsom salt for at least a week.

 

[TrentL]

 
Thanks for the tip! Would you follow up with mykos or compost tea a few days later to reinoculate the soil?

Any thoughts on next steps, or how long to wait before reintroducing H2O?

 
The root problem with my overwinters was overwatering. They were brought indoors after a late fall rain with fully saturated soil. Even though I didn't add any water, those two were totally waterlogged, and never really dried out. Pruning them back when I brought them in didn't help matters at all as that meant they were using far less water than they were at full size... so they just got waterlogged. 
 
All of my other plants dried out, and got water, except those; the soil just stayed wet (I later found the drain holes were blocked when I added H2O2).
 
By mid-winter there were big problems. Those plants were wilting horribly and branches were outright dying off.
 
So I hit them with a gallon each of H2O2, popped the drain holes so crap would drain, and got a whole bunch of stinky water out of the bottom in the catch pan. 
 
The soil bubbled and frothed, and a week later those plants were crazy healthy again! Lots of new growth, etc.
 
As far as adding in tea, again, the H2O2 is going to be completely unselective about what it kills, so you'd need to get bacteria stuff started over again. 
 
But let the soil dry properly first.
 
Don't water those plants again until the cups are lightweight and the plant leaves are wilting!
 
Then carefully water (the leaves will begin to feel like tissue paper, be very careful not to tear or damage them)
 
After about 6-10 hours the leaves should fill back out and the plants will look healthy again. 

 

[trailrunner]

Did you really squish the soil into each cup? If the soil is too compact it may take a while to truly dry out. Were I in your situation, I would either wait until tomorrow or when the leaves actually start to slightly droop to water. Since yours are already kinda glum looking, the droop may be difficult to notice. Then when the plants perk back up in a few days, mix up a full 32oz. spray bottle with 1tbsp Epsom salt and spray directly onto the leaves (thoroughly) without soaking the soil. Then don't do anything for 5-7 days or until the soil dries/leaves just start to droop. Don't fertilize after the Epsom salt for at least a week.

 
The soil is moderately compact, but when I checked them 36 hours ago, the soil weight was close to my dry control cup, so I gave them approx 2 tbsp of water each. Here's what they look like as of this morning:
 

 
Not too much change, but I went ahead and sprayed them down with the Epsom salt solution you recommended (foliar only). I added a small amount of FoxFarm Big Bloom (0.01-0.3-0.7), at 1/2 the ratio they recommend for foliar feeding, to hopefully help with trace nutrient deficiencies. Any idea how long before I should expect to see improvement if this was the problem?
 
I'm saving H202 as a last resort, but I have some plants that are looking pretty sad, should I experiment on those and see what happens?

 

[TrentL]

If you think the plant is going to be a loss, do the H2O2. I mean, what do you have to lose?
 
(Seriously H2O2 isn't going to hurt anything, it's just water + oxygen.)
 
It'll also cause your soil to de-compact with the nice bubbling effect, which is also an advantage if the soil is a little too compressed. (Don't be alarmed if you see your *soil* moving around a lot, it's gonna bubble and boil and froth with the addition of H2O2.)
 
You will only see differences in nutes after a few days have passed. It takes a while to see any meaningful difference from nutrients. 

 

[suchen]

 
The soil is moderately compact, but when I checked them 36 hours ago, the soil weight was close to my dry control cup, so I gave them approx 2 tbsp of water each. Here's what they look like as of this morning:
 
Not too much change, but I went ahead and sprayed them down with the Epsom salt solution you recommended (foliar only). I added a small amount of FoxFarm Big Bloom (0.01-0.3-0.7), at 1/2 the ratio they recommend for foliar feeding, to hopefully help with trace nutrient deficiencies. Any idea how long before I should expect to see improvement if this was the problem?
 
I'm saving H202 as a last resort, but I have some plants that are looking pretty sad, should I experiment on those and see what happens?

 
Have you seen any change over the last week? Gonna try the peroxide?

 

[Geonerd]

I'd try a 1/2 strength solution of plain old Miracle Grow Veggie ferts (magic blue crystals!) or some other generic fertilizer with trace minerals.  A low dose of N, P, and K might be what they need.  I've had plants that size go chlorotic when grown in tired soil.  A dash of nutes resolved the issue in short order.

 

[CAPCOM]

What is your pH at??? If you are off the scale either high or low you have a serious problem that is easily corrected.

 

[roper2008]

Maybe you should try a different potting mix.  Might as well try it on a few of them to see if it helps.

 

[trailrunner]

Sorry, guys, been swamped lately, and tomorrow I'm heading out for a business trip. Many of the plants are showing signs of recovery after letting them dry out and doing a diluted peroxide drench last week.
 
The tomatoes I started later in the same mix (WITHOUT overwatering) are doing great, so I think overwatering and soil compaction were the main problems. I've started another batch of seedlings to fill in for the ones that don't make it. I'll post pictures when I get back of how the plants are doing.