Reviving plants or just replace?

So one of the guys I have working with me killed a few plants, has anybody had luck with reviving them?

Of course I will replace & make things right if I have to but looking at my options

Sometimes it’s just foliage loss, give it a week or two and new leaves should come back
If it doesn’t then yea, they dead

Killed is killed. there’s no reviving killed.
Did he kill them or burn them?
Killed usually takes a while to find out, but burning is something that stunts the plant. Many times annuals (flowers) won’t make it, but more hardy perennials (grasses, bushes, etc) will pull through with a little TLC.
Water them well (be careful, because some plants don’t like wet feet,ie Arbovitae), DO NOT fertilize! They are already under stress and fertilizer is telling them to grow more with a weakened system, fertilize a weakened plant = dead
Weigh your options, find out what it costs to replace versus babysitting. Most times, if the plant doesn’t have emotional value, it’s best to replace.

First time for everything… is this dead or will it be ok?

I meant to cross out customer’s name and pic but has not worked, will try again.

What % sh did you use?

What were you washing?

House washes 1% but my team washed 1st house then second house and wind carried overspray over fence (the houses were close) and i guess they did not re-rinse the other side of fence.
The soffits close to the fence were REALLY bad, had to hit them 3 times.
I don’t mind replacing/ compensating i just want to know if i can tell them there’s a good chance they’ll be eating those tomatoes in a few weeks.

I think I would still compensate or replace. Even if it survives they’re going to think they would’ve had a better or larger crop. It might be hard to find one to replace though since we’re well past planting time and into producing. I’m not sure how you’d go about compensating. It was a $3 plant when it was 6" tall. What’s it worth now? Maybe deliver some local tomatoes to them once a week for a month?

Haha! Of course i am still going to compensate for customer satisfaction and reputation. But did not know if there was a chance the plant would live or not. As they seem to be emotionnally attached to it per our phone conversation.

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Some of the leaves look pretty shriveled but tomato plants are pretty tough. I’d be willing to bet it survives if they take care of it but you should know for sure in a few days. I would tell them most plants usually survive and, come back just fine, so let’s give it a week to see how it’s recovering and we’ll then figure out a resolution that you’ll be completely satisfied with.

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Good that’s what i had in mind.

I also did some damage to a customer’s impatiens(type of annual plant) last week. It has been really dry here in PA so I’m wondering if the drought conditions have something to do with the damage? This is the first time I’ve had any trouble. It’s possible I didn’t pre-wet or rinse them well enough either, not counting that out, just seems odd to me. Anyone else have any issues with this type of annual plant - impatiens?

Were you too impatient to rinse them well?

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Dead or not, they should not eat the fruit of a plant that withered from a chemical application. Tell them that every once in a while a plant will have an adverse reaction to the cleaning products you use (don’t say chemicals) and that you’ll gladly replace them or he can take $13 off the bill whichever is easier. That last line “I will be withholding payment for the moment” is what really torques me. I’m not a big fan of pompous, self important, Canadians anyway, so my bias is probably showing.

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I’m a gardner, so I have a different take. When I plant something, weed it, fertilize it (I don’t but many do), prune it, stake it, and tie it up, I have a different feeling. Having said that, In the end. a bushel of tomatoes is only about $17.00. A bushel of certified organic tomatoes is about $40.00. Their scrappy plants (pictured) don’t look like they would put out a bushel, let alone a peck. I don’t think a court in this country, maybe outside of calfiornia, would award more than $25, but I’m not an attorney. I’d offer them tomatoes or cash, whichever they perfer, and I would tell them to water their plants. People who grow plants want them.

I downsized my garden this year and have 20 tomatoe plants, just for comparison purposes.

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This, right here. I saw this post this morning and didn’t have time to comment, but stuff like that makes me mad. We all know this isn’t a $150+ plant. Withold $20, maybe $40 if they feel really mad, but all of it when the rest of the job was done right? That would be my last clean for them I would think. On another note, of course you (you being anyone) want to do right by them, but I think its important to do work for people who want to do right by us as well.

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Thats a good sized mater garden @Dirtyboy !
Buy her /him a new plant @Csteez and move on.

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I always collect payment for residential immediately after service. I don’t offer net 30 or delayed payment to residential. I let them know before service how and when I collect payment so things like this don’t happen if their plant suffers some.

Then I can negotiate refund options or replacement. But withholding from paying the bill ? Never

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He was actually really nice and had gone knocking on his neighbors’ doors to tell them about how happy he was about our service while we were there the day we washed and went to give us a 5 star Google review as we were leaving after the job. I think they were just disappointed this morning about the sight of the plant in their garden and i understand them if i put myself in their shoes. We’re working it out now with them and everything is ok.
And to be clear the question wasn’t if we should make it right as this is a given but whether the plant was dead or just had a rough day but would make it, in which case i would tell the customer.

Thanks, we can tomatoes and freeze some. cucumbers are all done, carrots and radishes are done, just hot peppers, tomatoes, a few green beans and some melons. I’ll be planting garlic around september.

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What’s the garlic for? To keep those rubber scrubbers like @Hotshot away? We all know he’s a vampire.

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