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Leaf drop on one side of the plant

HeatMiser

HeatMiser

Hi guys,
 
Hope you can help me find a solution to this one that has been puzzling me this week. I've noticed my chiltepin started dropping some leaves late last week with the problem getting worse through this week. The weird thing is, the leaf drop is only happening on one side of the plant (both old and new leaves affected), with branches and leaves on the other side looking healthy...
 
Here's the plant
IMG_3849.JPG

 
Healthy side - no leaves missing whatsoever
IMG_3850.JPG

 
Bad side - some branches are almost bare at this point
IMG_3851.JPG

 
I've been pruning the branches that have no leaves left in order to try to promote more growth elsewhere, but it might be too early for it to grow back some of its leaves.
 
Here are some parameters
* The plant is growing in a 1 gal kratky container with MasterBlend.
* Nutrients were changed over the weekend after the leaf drop was noticed, PH 5.8
* T5 Lights are turned on and off manually. They stay on about 12 - 13 hrs a day and they are about 6 inches above the plant.
 
Thoughts?
Thanks!
 
Hey HM
Not sure if this is your problem but .........Maybe?
 
I have a baquinho that I have kept overwintered in kratky.  Twice now I have added too much nutrient solution to the bucket when it got low.  Both times I had a lot of leaf drop from what I assume was getting the nute level above the air roots.  I noticed the drop more on one side at first.  While cleaning up the fallen leaves I bumped the plant and more leaves from the other side fell!  
Before the leaf drop I noticed water droplets hanging all over the plant!  Basically, I was drowning it.  I scooped some of the solution out and luckily did no permanent damage.
 
Like I said, not sure if this is your problem but something to investigate if you've added nutes to the bucket.
 
Good luck
 
Thanks Tybo,
 
That was one of my concerns, and something I'll have to fix moving forward since I've been eyeballing the nutrient level. The good thing is that the other side of the plant isn't dropping any leaves. How did your plant recover? Did it grow back its leaves on the affected branches?
 
Awesome, that's good to hear. Well, I know the nutes are at the right level now, and at the right PH. I'll wait and see how this plant responds. Hopefully new growth will start in about a week.
 
Thanks for the response Tybo.
 
Have had this problem with literally all of my plants at some point, and it's generally not accompanied by the leaves yellowing beforehand, so it's rather perplexing.
 
Some recovered, while others just died off completely.
 
Just an update here...
 
I've been measuring the nutrients that go into those containers. When the level gets too low I dump the old nutrients and replace them with 48 oz of new solution into these 1 gal containers. This ensures there's a good gap between the bottom of the net cup and the nutrients. The affected plant is slowly showing some growth and has almost lost all of its leaves by now. The other chiltepin I have, which was not affected at the time I started this thread, is now experiencing the same symptoms with gradual leaf drop, even after measuring the nutrients.
 
I'm now questioning whether this really is overwatering. It seems more like transplant shock, and I've experienced similar leaf drop in potted plants that were taken inside to overwinter. 
 
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