A Small Plant Is Dying On Me

[royfree2grow]

This one is in a 10 liter pot, last feed was to my entire garden three days ago with biobizz bloom (NPK 2-6-3.5).

before that its one out of three pots that got epsom salt as top dressing. woke up in the morning and there she was... as if there's no water uptake. the other two in 10 liter pots look fine.

Im not really bummed about this small pot, but i wanna make sure its a specific issue with this plant rather than an early overall symptom in my garden.

What do you think?

 

[Wee Zard]

I think you should keep it far away from the big plants, that's what I think. :D

I'd check the stem, near the base, or slightly below ground.
Last time I saw something like that, a borer beetle grub had blocked the transpiration.
Meh, shot in the dark. :)

Aloha,
Weezard

 

[Seamaiden]

I think the roots have been seriously violated. Possibly with the Epsom salt. Or, if it's been really hot, burned roots. This is something I've seen far too often when I've had to let a plant go in a pot too small and black, and then heat hits and they just can't take it.

 

[Dunge]

Stem fungus is my guess.
Look for lesions.
No cure that I know of.

 

[royfree2grow]

updade: unfortunately she died... just before the buds forming...

I think you should keep it far away from the big plants, that's what I think. :D

I'd check the stem, near the base, or slightly below ground.
Last time I saw something like that, a borer beetle grub had blocked the transpiration.
Meh, shot in the dark. :)

Aloha,
Weezard

you're right, that was my instinct as well- its isolated since i noticed it.

i'll look for that beetle...

I think the roots have been seriously violated. Possibly with the Epsom salt. Or, if it's been really hot, burned roots. This is something I've seen far too often when I've had to let a plant go in a pot too small and black, and then heat hits and they just can't take it.

well now when you mention it, it happened to me a couple of times before but i never contribute it to heat burns. this time is a bit different though because it has no leaf/tip burns as before.

It has been really hot lately but the pick was last week... since then its stared to cool down dramatically...

Stem fungus is my guess.
Look for lesions.
No cure that I know of.

stem fungus? i'll look again closely... again- no early signs of this, she looked fine a few days ago.

Thanks farmers!

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm not surprised to read that she gave up the ghost. How did the roots look?

 

[royfree2grow]

I'm not surprised to read that she gave up the ghost. How did the roots look?

Pretty strange... i pulled it out today and inspected the stem and roots closely, about 2-3 days after it died- the main stem looked completely fine and also the roots; they maximized their growth but didnt overgrown the pot and they looked white and strong, no rot.

Something was strange though, i don't know if its the fact that it died a few days ago but- the roots smelled funny, like an over brewed ACT... the closer i got to the roots at the bottom of the pot the stronger it smelled.

Do you think its fungus? should i take protective measures on my entire garden even without early symptoms?

 

[Seamaiden]

It's really hard to say without being able to see and smell myself. But, if you're noting a rotten smell, like hydrogen sulfide, then my guess is that the roots died back in the heat and began to decompose, and there must have been an anaerobic pocket in the pot itself, otherwise it wouldn't really be possible to get that kind of odor.

If I recollect, you're in Israel, right? You mentioned heat. My experience with potted plants in high heat situations is that they can turn on a dime. So shading the pots themselves is the best fix. I save soil bags for this reason. I cut them open, turn them inside out because they're usually white or another light color, and already made of a plastic that won't degrade in sunlight. Then a piece of wire (husband works for the phone company, lots of extra old phone wire around) around the top just under the lip and we're off to the finish the races.

 

[royfree2grow]

It's really hard to say without being able to see and smell myself. But, if you're noting a rotten smell, like hydrogen sulfide, then my guess is that the roots died back in the heat and began to decompose, and there must have been an anaerobic pocket in the pot itself, otherwise it wouldn't really be possible to get that kind of odor.

If I recollect, you're in Israel, right? You mentioned heat. My experience with potted plants in high heat situations is that they can turn on a dime. So shading the pots themselves is the best fix. I save soil bags for this reason. I cut them open, turn them inside out because they're usually white or another light color, and already made of a plastic that won't degrade in sunlight. Then a piece of wire (husband works for the phone company, lots of extra old phone wire around) around the top just under the lip and we're off to the finish the races.

That makes allot of sense Seam. but somehow my gut (or my over thinking...) is telling me something aint right... i experienced a few lethal heat strokes before and it always came after tip/leaf burns.

other than heat, what can take out a whole plant in a day without any physical damage? even with the funky smell, i can rule out fungus cause there was no noticeable damage to the roots right?

 

[Seamaiden]

There are two families or classes of organisms that I know can move or create a bad disease situation within hours--bacteria and fungi. So, honestly, I don't know that you can rule fungus out.

 

[royfree2grow]

There are two families or classes of organisms that I know can move or create a bad disease situation within hours--bacteria and fungi. So, honestly, I don't know that you can rule fungus out.

OK... i just assumed that if the roots were so damaged by fungi, which consequently resulted in no water intake (that is the symptom that caused the whole plant to wilt and die in a day), i should have seen some damage to the roots.

so how do i know for sure? im thinkin of spraying my entire garden with serenade just to make sure i kill fungi if its there, and as bud rot preventive measure although, and forgive me for this newbie question- won't i be adding fuel to a fire if i'm dealing with bacteria?

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't tell you how to tell for sure. I could tell you to scope, but I couldn't tell you how to identify good from bad here.

I would approach the problem this way--everything is a balance. So, in this case the balance may have been upset. How to restore balance? Teas and microbial inoculations. Inoculate the good players and, hopefully, they'll basically crowd out the bad players. If the other plants are looking and smelling good, I hesitate to go on the attack simply for one plant that gave up the ghost.

I'm sorry, that's the best I can give you.

 

[royfree2grow]

I can't tell you how to tell for sure. I could tell you to scope, but I couldn't tell you how to identify good from bad here.

I would approach the problem this way--everything is a balance. So, in this case the balance may have been upset. How to restore balance? Teas and microbial inoculations. Inoculate the good players and, hopefully, they'll basically crowd out the bad players. If the other plants are looking and smelling good, I hesitate to go on the attack simply for one plant that gave up the ghost.

I'm sorry, that's the best I can give you.

tea is bubbling since yesterday so your approach fits right in my schedule. Thanks allot Seam!