Leaves Drying from the bottom Up, HELP!

[AlittleSalt]

I saw that too, and have no idea what causes that.

[bower]

This is the stem that looks like pythium (damping off) to me:
Is that what you're looking at too?

[Banadoura]

Yesterday I dropped by the nursery to purchase some containers and showed the pictures to the lady.

She was sure that it's a case of over fertilization, she said the leaves are mirroring the root damage due to strong fertilizer use.

So it looks like my mistake was to transplant the seedlings into miracle grow potting mix (which has fert) and to hit them with a full strength of fertilizer with every watering.


According to her, the blue stuff should be at most once a month not once a week.

I think most of my plants will recover/survive, except for my WhiskeyJacks, it's frustrating because because I seeded them first, gave them the largest container, the best spotlight and the most fertilizer love. Now I have to restart this variety, at least it's not too late....

Funny thing is I planted 1 SivlerFir Tree to see how the plant looks like and lo and behold it's about to flower! Fertilizer abuse barely scratched its lower leaves
too bad it's not known to be a tasty variety

[carolyn137]

M, I couldn't get back with you since I had a major problem getting back online, and just an hour ago Wayne was able to do that for me. He's my wonderful computer expert and long time friend as well.

But it looks like you've solved the problem,let's hope so.

Carolyn

[Banadoura]

@carolyn, fingers crossed it's smooth sailing from here!

Great to have you back online and Kudos to Wayne for his excellent support

[Banadoura]

1 Week later, I am still seeing this phenomenon whereby the lower leaves start drying from the tip of the leaf until the whole leaf drops off. This happens from the bottom up.

The over fertilization explains why the plants above curled on themselves but these new plants were not fertilized.

Could it be a distance issue with my T5 lights ? Why would not having a fan cause this drying from the bottom up? Those are the only 2 items I can think of.

Here's an updated picture


Now i'm hoping some of the plants survive long enough to go outside...

[bad.kelpie]

Mine have been doing the exact same thing. I took all the affected leaves off and put them outside. I covered them at night, and brought them in if I thought they'd freeze. A few went into the windowsill, they were smaller, weaker plants. All the outside plants recovered right away. About half the windowsill plants recovered. 2 died, and the last one is just sitting there with pretty much no leaves.

I don't know if this caused it, but it started happening after potting them up with the same miracle gro potting mix from your picture. Thought maybe it had too much fertilizer. I don't know, but I also gave them a lot of water when I put them outside, and I think that might have helped flush out whatever was causing it.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Banadoura

1 Week later, I am still seeing this phenomenon whereby the lower leaves start drying from the tip of the leaf until the whole leaf drops off. This happens from the bottom up.

The over fertilization explains why the plants above curled on themselves but these new plants were not fertilized.

Could it be a distance issue with my T5 lights ? Why would not having a fan cause this drying from the bottom up? Those are the only 2 items I can think of.

Here's an updated picture


Now i'm hoping some of the plants survive long enough to go outside...

Originally I said I had an alternative suggestion but you said,at that time you'd solved the problem.

My suggestion has to do with what's called aberrant Early Blight.Do you remember when I asked if any of the affected seedlings were hearts, and you said yes?

Would you like to hear more, since I think, I hope, I still have those links somewhere.

Carolyn

[Banadoura]

@Bad finally someone going through the same thing!!

Last year I used a different brand of potting soil and ended up with the same problem.
Here's where it gets interesting:

1) it does happen after potting up
2) Last year, when I took them outside in and out for a few days they recovered and thrived. Since the containers dry fast under the wind/sun and they get watered often, maybe this does wash away whatever might be causing it

If the potting mix is indeed the problem, why aren't more people complaining about this issue?

[Banadoura]

@Carolyn, except for some recently potted Omar's Lebanese Hearts, I don't have any hearts.

A quick googling on blight showed yellowing leaves with brown spots. This does not apply to my problem as the leaves bleach and dry.

Do you know if Silver Fir Tree is resistant to this? It's the only plant that is surviving and even blooming from 10+ varieties! Also, why does the problem dissipate when the plants start spending time outdoors?

I'll take those links if you still believe it's a blight variant

[bad.kelpie]

The last of my inside plants. I'm going to plant it outside today and see if that helps. Doubt it will, but it can't hurt it. I have backups of these ones, but not of most.

None of my plants are hearts.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Banadoura

@Carolyn, except for some recently potted Omar's Lebanese Hearts, I don't have any hearts.

A quick googling on blight showed yellowing leaves with brown spots. This does not apply to my problem as the leaves bleach and dry.

Do you know if Silver Fir Tree is resistant to this? It's the only plant that is surviving and even blooming from 10+ varieties! Also, why does the problem dissipate when the plants start spending time outdoors?

I'll take those links if you still believe it's a blight variant

BINGO on what you just posted, and I'll get to that eventually.

Silvery Fir Tree has angora foliage and perhaps angora foliaged varieties are more tolerant. Without making comparisons with other angora ones I can't speak with confidence.

The BINGO refers to your comment about the problem disappearing when put outdoors, I assume with sun most of the time ,b/c that's exactly what did happen with my seedlings.

I would have taken off all the falling off lower brown foliage in the falling down greenhouse, then taken them out to the field to plant, and do so deeply so just a tuft of foliage was showing,and voila, all new foliage was perfect, and they were as perfect growing larger as one could hope for.

Carolyn

[Labradors2]

Here's a question. When potting up, how moist was the potting mix? I'm wondering if you used it straight out of the bag, and it was dry. Some mixes take forever to absorb moisture and it would be extra-stressful to seedlings.

Linda

[bad.kelpie]

One left alone, one put outside. The big one was bigger from the start, so it was with the group that went outside earlier. Same variety (Martino's Roma), same seed packet, same everything.

Some varieties weren't affected at all. Cherokee green, Berkeley tie dye (green), pineapple, and all the Fred Hempel artisan tomatoes (lucky tiger, pink tiger, green tiger, blush).

[KarenO]

I would certainly isolate your diseased tomatoes, if you intend to keep them for whatever reason, well away from your healthy ones. I still say the disease is fungal in nature.
KarenO