Leaves drying up

17 years ago

On several of my plants, (the tubers where potted up in January) the bottom leaves are drying up and becoming crisp (decidedly dead). Then, the next most bottom leaves are suffering from the same dreaded fate, and so on, like a chain reaction.

what is causing this? I believe the mother plants from last year had white powder mildew, but they show no other signs of this right now. (No powder, nice bright green leaves). I thought perhaps spider mites, but it has been many weeks with this condition, and I can`t see the mites, no leave damage on top, no webs with very careful inspection.

Could it be overwatering?

The leaves seem to turn very quickly, otherwise they look very healthy up until they become affected!!

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Comments (4)

homemommy
Original Author
17 years ago
Hmmm... I may have found my answer... a Nitrogen deficiency... I will have to experiment with a few plants and see if they recover...
homemommy
Original Author
17 years ago
Ok, I am clueless, and I don`t think it is Nitrogen... I found a few leaves that are starting to turn, they have a large yellow patch and have very small brown spots, to me, they look like they are bruised... but I don`t think that is what it is...
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monet_g
17 years ago
My first thought was overwatering, but, mine, which are being rooted hydroponically, are beginning to show similar signs. I looked in Bill McClaren's book and it sounds like it might be a fungal disease. You could try 5T. Baking Soda to 1 gallon of water. Plantlady recommended Garden Safe Fungicide3 (includes fungicide, miticide and insecticide) in a recent post regarding fungal disease. Cut off and discard the infected parts. They may look "rough" for a few days, but should rebound.
homemommy
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Monet for the reply.

They seemed to stabalize over the last couple days, in the end I decided to do nothing, including not water them any further. I think it really is the watering. However... I had to go away for the weekend and leave my plant babies! So I had to water many of them that did not need it yet, because I did not think they would hold over 4-5 days! I am sick with what they will look like when I get home!

I am going to try the baking soda idea, and see if I can find that Fungicide product around here...