I'm stumped. Where am I wrong?

Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United States
I've been off and on getting these pots to grow right. I'm normally an outdoor grower who's having a hard time with potted grow.

I recently moved my Jalapeno, basil, P. Viridis (rainforest shrub), rosemary, cat grass, and some flower I'm in sure of, in to my garage with a t5 grow lamp, and space heater for the winter. Prior I started seeing some spotting, I learned it's over watering. Then I ran into a fungus gnats problem. I sprayed neem oil and copper based once a week/bi-weekly, apple cider, quit watering as often, yellow sticky paper, and now have added a fan.

I normally water now once every week. Tomorrow, I'm re-potting the plants with new soil, mixed with a small mix of verm to help retain water and perlite to keep the mixture loose. After potting I'll add about 1.5-2 in of sand to prevent fungus and other gnats to take..... Root. (Since sand is difficult to harbor organics)

But I've been battling these yellow spots/brown tips for a while now and I cannot for the life of me figure this one out. I'd like to figure this out before I move to the next step of greenhouse then to aquaponic.

I'd appreciate any and all help!

P. Viridis Pictured below.
 

Attachments

  • 20170106_184900.jpg
    20170106_184900.jpg
    98.7 KB · Views: 275
Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
2,441
Reaction score
1,470
Location
Mid Michigan
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
Hi! :)

Well...I think you are correct with your over watering diagnosis. If it's soil- borne fungus (image-google "early blight" and see if that looks familiar) then it may be pretty difficult to eradicate without a complete soil change.

Hopefully I'm wrong and someone else has a more constructive answer.
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United States
Hi! :)

Well...I think you are correct with your over watering diagnosis. If it's soil- borne fungus (image-google "early blight" and see if that looks familiar) then it may be pretty difficult to eradicate without a complete soil change.

Hopefully I'm wrong and someone else has a more constructive answer.

Do you think I should dip the roots in a H2O2 mix before replanting?
 
Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
2,441
Reaction score
1,470
Location
Mid Michigan
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
Had to look up H202...hydrogen peroxide, OK.

Probably wouldn't hurt, but if my early blight DX is correct (and it may well not be) then I doubt it would help. If it does, let me know because I lost most of my tomatoes and peppers two years ago from that...we had a very warm and rainy growing season! I would be delighted to be proven wrong. I moved most of my veg garden to a friend's property a block away because of blight.

You may get a response from @Chuck, who may have some ideas involving horticultural cornmeal. I don't have much experience with indoor growing, but I wish you luck and let us know what works!
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
11,476
Reaction score
5,580
Location
La Porte Texas
Hardiness Zone
8b
Country
United States
I've been off and on getting these pots to grow right. I'm normally an outdoor grower who's having a hard time with potted grow.

I recently moved my Jalapeno, basil, P. Viridis (rainforest shrub), rosemary, cat grass, and some flower I'm in sure of, in to my garage with a t5 grow lamp, and space heater for the winter. Prior I started seeing some spotting, I learned it's over watering. Then I ran into a fungus gnats problem. I sprayed neem oil and copper based once a week/bi-weekly, apple cider, quit watering as often, yellow sticky paper, and now have added a fan.

I normally water now once every week. Tomorrow, I'm re-potting the plants with new soil, mixed with a small mix of verm to help retain water and perlite to keep the mixture loose. After potting I'll add about 1.5-2 in of sand to prevent fungus and other gnats to take..... Root. (Since sand is difficult to harbor organics)

But I've been battling these yellow spots/brown tips for a while now and I cannot for the life of me figure this one out. I'd like to figure this out before I move to the next step of greenhouse then to aquaponic.

I'd appreciate any and all help!

P. Viridis Pictured below.
That pic looks like overwatering but you say you only water once a week. That doesn't doesn't look like a fungal problem but just in case you could cover the soil lightly with whole ground cornmeal (not enriched). I think it is too much water too often. Could you show is pictures of the other plants?
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United States
Okay, I repotted the plants and removed as much of the old soil as possible, the soil smelt really bad and was really wet at the bottom. I found some mold and just threw away a small army of fungus gnats.

Pictures as requested.

First photo to last

P.virdis - slow growing rainforest shrub, maybe, MAYBE, 1 in. A year

Basil - I haven't the idea, this stuff grows like a weed!

Jalapeño - tallest jalapeño plant I've seen, produces res mature jalapenos, and they are hot!

Rose mary/catnip - I think that side just died due to lack of light, forgot to rotate./haven't watered the catnip in over a month, things resilient!

Washed the roots in a bath of 2 gal water and like a total of 1/2 cup of 3% h2o2 to clean the roots and boost oxygen supply to roots.

This come Thursday I'll re-apply copper/neem oil just Incase...

Thanks for yalls bit of information! I'll definitely be around :)
 

Attachments

  • 20170107_143802.jpg
    20170107_143802.jpg
    75.6 KB · Views: 270
  • 1483821676826-575934519.jpg
    1483821676826-575934519.jpg
    80.1 KB · Views: 281
  • 1483821746380-179135115.jpg
    1483821746380-179135115.jpg
    102.2 KB · Views: 245
  • 1483821778462-145753604.jpg
    1483821778462-145753604.jpg
    182.4 KB · Views: 277
Joined
Apr 14, 2015
Messages
3,665
Reaction score
2,986
Location
Inverness-shire, Scotland
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United Kingdom
I think perhaps you may be over-potting the plant. If the pot is to big the soil will remain damp/wet and the plant's roots won't be developed enough to take up that amount of water which is possibly why it's suffering. The soil needs to become almost dry before watering again.
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United States
I think perhaps you may be over-potting the plant. If the pot is to big the soil will remain damp/wet and the plant's roots won't be developed enough to take up that amount of water which is possibly why it's suffering. The soil needs to become almost dry before watering again.

Hmm, this could very well be a possibility. I just bought a tool that sticks into the soil to measure water content to keep an eye on this.

Never thought about over potting them. I'll look into that, do you have any URLs handy?
 
Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
2,441
Reaction score
1,470
Location
Mid Michigan
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
In my experience, rosemary, catnip, basil, mint etc is almost impossible to kill! And in my wintery zone, cat, mint and basil comes back up every spring with a vengeance.

I agree that letting the soil dry to the point of being crispy dry works for most indoor (and outdoor) plants.* Getting a bit dry to the point of even wilting is OK. It wont hurt a plant to get a bit water-starved and commercial growers of some crops (eg tomatoes) let the plants get thirsty in between watering...it encourages fruit growth.

Consider that most of your plants are native to hot, dry climates. They should not be continually damp.

*Tropical/rainforest type plants are obviously an exception.
 
Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
2,441
Reaction score
1,470
Location
Mid Michigan
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
United States
Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you want here?

I'm guessing he wants a cite or two to back up your statements?

Makes sense to me, your comments on over-potting I mean. We know that over watering is probably the number one mistake gardeners make (no cite, I'm on a mobile device so linking is clunky but easily searchable!) :)

I do think many newer gardeners have a fear of starving their plants of water and over think the whole thing. Most. Plants. Are. Over. Watered. And, it is OK to let the soil dry out.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
11,476
Reaction score
5,580
Location
La Porte Texas
Hardiness Zone
8b
Country
United States
I don't know if they are over potted or not but I do know that in every picture there are classic signs of overwatering. And if there is a bad odor when your take them out then that is another big clue of to much water.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
447
Reaction score
536
Hardiness Zone
USDA 10a - Sunset 22
Country
United States
One other question - comment. What is the make up of that soil? Is it potting mix, patio mix, raised bed mix. It looks a little heavy and I don't see much (if any) perlite. For germinating and very young plants you want something fairly light, well draining and won't compact. I like 4 parts potting mix and 2 parts perlite as a medium. I think the right cultural environment will minimize the gnat issue. It's tough to have to apply the treatments you have to young plants.
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United States
One other question - comment. What is the make up of that soil? Is it potting mix, patio mix, raised bed mix. It looks a little heavy and I don't see much (if any) perlite. For germinating and very young plants you want something fairly light, well draining and won't compact. I like 4 parts potting mix and 2 parts perlite as a medium. I think the right cultural environment will minimize the gnat issue. It's tough to have to apply the treatments you have to young plants.

I use potting soil from miracle grow, I go by a look rather direct formula but usually come close to

3-4 parts potting soil
1 part perlite
(For my P. Viridis I've added 1 part verm to help hold water as the water I put in would run straight out, and I've gone to watering this guy once a week at only a few drops/ml of water.)

I also have added about 1 in. of silica sand to the top of the top to help prevent gnat problems too.

So far so good. The basial looks a little hurt - it lost a good chunk of roots when re-potting. I increased my grow lamp to run for 20 hrs/day, have a heater that turns on when temps are about 50°F and will warm up the garage to about 70-80°.

I'll be inspecting the plants again when I get home today from work.

Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you want here?

And what the individual had said below you. Just some sources to read. I have found some but am also curious to see what other sources are out there to read.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2015
Messages
3,665
Reaction score
2,986
Location
Inverness-shire, Scotland
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
United Kingdom
I had a look on the internet but can't find anything there regarding watering of young plants. However, raising my own plants from cuttings and seeds, in particular up to three hundred annuals a year has given me plenty of experience through trial and error. :)
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
26,584
Messages
256,570
Members
13,258
Latest member
alba

Latest Threads

Top