What is going on with my plant? I'm trying to salvage her.

[GrimloxK]

Hey guys...so my plant isn't looking so good. Here's the problems.

-yellow leafs and yellowing leafs
-purple brown spots on yellowing leaves
-tips of leaves curling down
-severe droopiness

Can someone clue me into what is going on with my plant and what I need to do to correct it...pleaze.

 

[ibTheMan]

You need to check your run off for PH and PPM's, looks like bad PH may be lockn out nutes. also thin that thing out and take off them die'n leafs.

 

[GrimloxK]

she's due for transplant in 2 weeks into a 3 gallon.

ib...I really think you may be right with the ph...as for taking leaves off...is this safe...and should I just take the yellow ones off?

 

[ibTheMan]

yah just the yellow ones, it wont hurt um at all, it will only help. yiu need runoff at around 6.0 PH, but i depends on your medium.

 

[Alien Abductee]

Looks like low ph causing P lockout with some over watering. like said before, test run off get it back into 6 range, then let it dry out completely.

or, quite possible its high ph causing N lockout, either way, testing the runoff will let you know. If its high, get it below 7.

 

[Alien Abductee]

Id remove the yellow leaves after you correct the problem, there is a window the plant can recover the leaf, its pretty short, but worth a try. Other than that the plant should recover rapidly after the problem is fixed and you should be fine going forward. A plant that size should already be in a bigger pot. Bigger pots are more forgiving with ph and water.

 

[GrimloxK]

I hear you guys...thanks for the help I just have a couple more questions....

I feel that the droopiness is caused by my soil retaining water too much...I should have added some perlite for drainage...

Should I flush my plant today or wait until it dries out thoroughly???

Also my tap water is a ph of 7.1...if I want to get it to 6 could I just drop a couple drops of lemon juice to get it down?

And about xplanting her in a larger container...I have 2 soils...FF Light warrior and roots organics potting soil....should I just replant her in the Light warrior because I feel it has better drainage qualities?

 

[Seamaiden]

I see that as a calcium and possibly magnesium issue, along with a combination of temperature and relative humidity that the plant in question isn't happy with (she looks COLD).

If you can get a hold of rice hulls, use those for aeration of the soil mix instead of perlite, as a lot of it just floats to the top and it doesn't do its 'job' very well in that location. Or, mix in more sand to increase drainage if you really feel the potting mix is too heavy.

You need to understand what alkalinity is and how it affects pH. Lemon juice will very temporarily shift pH downward, but it will work better if the water is softened a bit, perhaps via some sort of filtration (carbon or reverse osmosis).

I also see the phosphorous issue someone's mentioning, those reddened petioles are the tell.

If your plant is overwatered DO NOT FLUSH. Warm her up, as this helps speed transpiration as well as the media drying out.

 

[Alien Abductee]

That makes sense actually that your tap is 7.1, thats right over the border, but not far enough to cause the tips to yellow, which is the tell tale sign.

Lemon juice, vinegar both work reasonably well.

If the plant was mine. I would flush with adjusted water, then let it dry out.

 

[Alien Abductee]

When I see the leaves spider like that and curl under, I usually look towards o2 uptake issues or smoothered roots.

Seamadien could be right as well, it could be combination of heat and roots, only you know if high heat is a factor.

If I know my soil is heavy, I just let it dry out a day longer, let it get as much o2 as possible before watering it. That keeps my growth rates up, since it has both o2 and water when the roots are saturated with water.

 

[GrimloxK]

Okay guys so hear me out on my plan...

her being cold is not an issue...temp remains between 75-85 degrees

I'm not gonna flush until possibly sunday...an extra day from when I usually water.

Upon flush i'll let her sit for a bit so that all extra run-off can be collected and I want to move her to a 3 gallon smart pot with just bare roots organic potting soil. Reason being that I read the description of both soils and light warrior is better for seedlings because of it's supposed water holding capabilities and the roots potting soil as more nutrition as i'm entering flowering in a couple weeks.

I'll ph my tap water with lemon juice for a quick fix just to get her in the right zone...as for the filtration could I use a regular brita...because that's all I have right now to work with...?

 

[GrimloxK]

Also I just wanted to add that I think on my last watering my ph was below 5.5 which is probably what is going on now.

I just want to stabalize her and get her rejuvenated as much as possible. I don't plan on letting her die just like that...

 

[Alien Abductee]

sounds like a plan. The plant is stressed, but I don't think its close to dying off.