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health whats wrong with my plants

Emald001

Emald001

I have a few pictures here.  I think they might need some nutrients.  I just put some fertilizer like a day ago.  And I increased the amount of light that I had them under.  Initially I thought it was overwatering.  But the meter that i bought said that it was moist to dry, and the heat here in California has taken care of making that a non issue.  So i thin its perhaps the its recuperating from overwatering?  Please someone help.  Here are some pictures of the leaves that are falling....
 
http://i.imgur.com/lS45QDO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lNzqgXo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vpuYLAZ.jpg
 
First and third look like symptoms of overwatering. Possibly you were overwatering and now are not. Regardless, there are two methods that are easiest to follow when determining how to water - no meter needed. Droop method - wait until the leaves droop just a tad between waterings. The drooping is a readily-visible sign that the plant is ready to be watered again. Lift method - simply lift the pot a tad and judge how heavy or light it is. The first time, wait until the leaves droop a tad, then lift to feel how light the container is. Then water thoroughly, allowing the water to run freely out of the drain holes. When it stops draining, lift the container again, and notice how heavy it is compared to when you previously lifted it. You may need to repeat this a few times until you become familiar with the weight difference, but you will get to a point where you don't need to let the leaves droop at all - just wait until it's about that light before watering again. Note that different varieties uptake water at different rates, so individual plants may need more or less watering than others.
 
The middle pic looks like your plants have the start of fertilizer burn. Can you provide a pic that is closer in to show if the leaves are smooth-surfaced vs. puckered a bit?

Also, are you taking them outside, and if so, what is your hardening-off schedule?
 
Geeme,
Gemme,   Sorry I hit tab and then it booted me out.  I started these as seedlings in peet moss.  I had them in my garage under a T5 and aldo a propagation heat mat.  They germinated in roughtly 2-3 weeks at 90% germ rate.  I transpanted them into the pots you see now at about 2 months after.  I have never fertilized them other than using the organic soil that I had from miracle gro.  They have been outside in my balcony for roughly 2-3 months and I started watering them every weekend(soaking them)  with a little of "superthrive every 2-3 weeks.  In my balcony they would get 4-5  hours sun, ( now I supplement the natural light with 2-3 hours under the T5 on my balcony)  Maybe about 2 weeks ago they were teeming with buds, but they all shriveled up and fell off and the leaves started falling off.  I attribute that to maybe the small heat wave we had or the overwatering.  I livein California so its never too hot or too cold.. this was an anomoly.  Please heelp.. I will post more pictures when I get home.
 
MiracleGro potting and garden soils come pre-mixed with some nutes in them, including the kind labeled "organic." There's nothing wrong with using them (although others will disagree), but you need to use less additional fertilizer than if you were using a soil without anything in it. Most consumer fertilizer packaging indicates 1 teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon of water. When using with pre-fertilized soil, however, you should use less - only about 1/4 tsp per gallon if the plants are young.
 
When you say "small heat wave", how hot did it get? I lived in Torrance for four years, so am familiar with your weather.
 
 we are just over the heat wave, it was pretty bad.  100-105 with wind.  the thing is there was multiple fires in San Diego, so it made things worse.  The day I wrote the this post someone had said it was a lack of nutrients.  So i got a true organic fertilizer and I added one quarter of the recommended dose sprinkled over the dirt, and then I watered some.  It seems likes its working cause i got some new growth, however now I noticed some black spots like its burned.  So maybe it was something else.  I don't know what else to do.  Is it not taking in the nutrients like it should? was it the heat? maybe the overwatering or the a[hids it hadI don't know but its looking better.. what should i do?
 
Emald001 said:
 we are just over the heat wave, it was pretty bad.  100-105 with wind.  the thing is there was multiple fires in San Diego, so it made things worse.  The day I wrote the this post someone had said it was a lack of nutrients.  So i got a true organic fertilizer and I added one quarter of the recommended dose sprinkled over the dirt, and then I watered some.  It seems likes its working cause i got some new growth, however now I noticed some black spots like its burned.  So maybe it was something else.  I don't know what else to do.  Is it not taking in the nutrients like it should? was it the heat? maybe the overwatering or the a[hids it hadI don't know but its looking better.. what should i do?
Click to expand...
 
 
My guess is that your problem is plant stress from heat, wind, overwatering. Place the plants in a partially shaded area when its too hot. If it gets windy, move them to a place that gets less wind. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just don't overthink the situation. I think that if you do these things to prevent the stress your plants will do great.
 
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