Browning Leaf Edges

[Paradoxic]

This is not the kind of browning this topic is referring to, you are probably dealing with a humidity issue. Try making a humidity chamber a mist your plant as much as possible with purified water. If the stem is still green it should be ok.

You should post a new topic in Cultivation and try to get a picture so we can help you out more. Welcome to Salvia Source.

[SinoPacific]

thank you. How exactly do i start a new thread?

[JD1stTimer]

In the Community section there is a Cultivation forum.  Go there, and you will see a link called "new thread"

[Minney]

so should EVERY dead part of the plant be cut off? such as dead parts of branches and dead parts of leaves?

[JD1stTimer]

The dead parts of branches will break off easily at the node junction, if sally is like other plants I've grown.  Waiting for it to break naturally this way reduces the risk of introducing diseases into the plant's vascular system, as long as the dead parts don't get wet and start to rot.  What happens is that the plant lays down a section of cork between the dead part and the nearest node, and when that cork gets mature, the dead part is basically already detached, just waiting for some pressure to actually sever it.  This layer of cork seals the wound like a scab does on a cut.  This process is called abscission.

[xrainxbowx]

I recently bought a salvia from a local nursery and it was short, bushy, and very healthy looking. It looked like they had just taken some cutting off of it. That was about 3 weeks ago. I let it stay in the pot it was in for a week and built a humidity tent for it. Once I was sure it was okay with the humidity I put it in a bigger pot. It is kept in my dorm room on my desk. It gets about 2-4 hours morning sun and then about 6 hours indirect light and then the rest is dark. I haven't used any fertilizer yet because someone told me to wait for at least a month after transplanting to feed it. I've been removing the tent for an hour or two after the sun sets to try and get it less dependent on the tent. I water it about once every 10days and spray it every afternoon. In the past 3 days the plant has become very unhealthy. It looks like the symptoms of poor air circulation so I left the tent off for extra time and it became worse so I put it back on. It maybe looks like some kind of pest but there are no visable pests anywhere, on the plants or in the soil. The leaves on the bottom near the soil are turning brown and falling off. Some healthy ones are falling off too. The ones on top are big and healthy but it looks like something is eating them. Here are some pictures.

The ones look like bite marks all around the new growth of the healthy looking leaves at the top.



Two is the healthy leaves falling off. Three is what looks like something eating the edges causing them to turn brown. You can see the leaves at are falling off. All those had fallen off in like 24 hours. I clean it out everyday because I don't want to promote mold.  If you have any idea on what is causing this or what I should do let me know please!! I read something about the organic insecticide and it mentioned some kind of liquid soap that I had no idea what it was talking about. And I wanted to make sure it was pests before I sprayed stuff all over my plant.

You can see the poor condition of the plant. I am a horrible plant person. If this was an animal I'd have PETA taking me to court. I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is. If you give me any directions to do stuff please do so as if I was a child Thanks.

[JD1stTimer]

Oh, gross, does it stay that wet most of the time?  It's rotting away man.  You even have stems rotting.  I need some info from you:

Do you live where you need heat right now?  If you run heat it is probably running more at night, and you want to wean off the tent when the heat is blowing the least, during the warmest part of the day.  The heat running makes the air VERY dry.

Does that pot have good drainage holes? It looks like a ceramic planter of a type that I have seen completely closed on the bottom (Why did they ever manufacture those, anyways?)

Is the soil fluffy when you break it up with your fingers, or does it try to stick like clay?

I wouldn't recommend any pesticides until you fix your other problems.  That's NOT just pests.  The plant is very stressed right now and you don't want to do anything stressful.  If a bug munches the leaves it would be the least of this plants worries.  I'm not trying to rag on you, I just know that things look bad from here.

[xrainxbowx]

It is usually not very wet most of the time. I spray it once a day and condensation bubbles stay in the tent almost all the time. but the soil is not soggy or anything.

The planter does have holes the the bottom and sits in a plate, but the plate doesn't have any water in it. the only time i put enough water in there for any to run into the plate is when i first planted it. the bottom 1/4 of the soil is mixed with a sand/grit and soil mix to promote drainage while the rest is just regular potting soil. Its the mix we used to plant bananana trees which need good drainage but hugh humidity.

thanks for the tip about when to take the tent off. our heat runs but not that much in my room,  and i have a humidifier in the room that is on whenever the heat or air is on.

the soil is fluffly and damp. the two parts that look rotted arnt attached to anything. it looks like cuttings were taken from those spots. when i got the plant there where brown rings around where the cutting where taken.  i figured it was the plant healing it self or whatever. but then they slowly got bigger and bigger. should i cut that part off? i figured it would fall off eventually but it hasnt it just keeps spreading and now like you said it is rotting. i am a plant murderer. it is sad because i love the way plants look in my home. i want them everywhere. but i am no good at taking care of them. i guess i need to find a husband that is good at raising plants LOL.

[JD1stTimer]

You should definitely not use the tent so much.  If there are condensation drops on the sides of the tent, then they are probably also collecting on the leaves and in the soil.  Bad thing, but you may be able to save her yet.  Always remember, one guy found his SD growing in a pot in his trash can that he had thrown away weeks earlier thinking it was dead.

[xrainxbowx]

So I took the tent off for like 6 hours this afternoon instead of like 2 and found the leaf edges even more brown. The parts that are still green was semi perky, but not at its best. So i put the tent back on and checked back in like 4 hours and the green is back super perky and the crispy brown leaf edges have turned in to limp shiny looking edges. two more branches had fallen off with no apparent rot at the stems. the only thing i could think is that the two that fell off were almost the biggest, maybe as it was turning brown and becoming limp it couldnt support the weight. there are new leaves growing where all the leaves are falling off and they are all bright green and healthy...not turning brown like the rest. just eaten a little bit.  hmmm...maybe i should throw it away and see what happens? LOL

[JD1stTimer]

No, don't throw it away but you know how the brown edges turned slippery when the tent was back on?  This is when the dead parts rot and spread diseases to the rest of the plant.

You need the tent off more, but don't go from two hours off to six, go from two off to three off, and if it doesn't wilt much then go four off the next day, and if it wilts a lot then go 30 minutes less the next day.

So it would be like this, depending on how the plant responds:  Time without tent - two hours -> three hours -> four hours (bad wilting) -> three hours thirty minutes -> four hours thirty minutes -> five hours (you had a scheduling conflict) -> six hours.  This way it's not so drastic.  In 24-30 days you will not use the tent anymore, and if you don't live in the rainforest you will have no issues with rot anymore unless you overwater.

[darjeeling]

I BELIEVE THAT THE BROWNING MAY BE OCCURING DUE TO PEOPLE USING TAP WATER NOT DISTILLED WATER  because most browning is on weak suseptable to damage and it may just be a little to much cholorine

My personal experience reinforces tator's theory.  I was getting some brown edges and when I switched to deionized (similar to distilled in quality) water, it cleared right up.  No other significant changes to the environment at that time.
See my gallery for more info.  Sort by upload date for them to make sense.

[garrick]

hello everyone I'm Garrick and new to the forum.
I have just begun to grow my own plants. they were given to me by a brother and i have them on my patio outside and out of direct sun.
 The two older plants are about 2feet high and seem to be doing well although have the brown tips pretty often.
The new cuttings I have planted are not doing so well. They started off good but the leaves began to curl and whither and fall off one at a time. there are new leaves forming but the older larger leaves have fallen off or are falling off. I also see a white substance on the base of the stems. Please help me out with your input.
I live in so. Ca so there isnt much humidity.
 Also, I am looking for a GOOD source for live plants and would love feedback suggestions as to the best places to buy.
Thanks,G

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

A great place to buy live cuttings is right here on salviasource.org. They follow through with customer satisfaction and encourage customers to post grow logs.

JARG

[Sea Mac]

hello everyone I'm Garrick and new to the forum.
I have just begun to grow my own plants. they were given to me by a brother and i have them on my patio outside and out of direct sun.
 The two older plants are about 2feet high and seem to be doing well although have the brown tips pretty often.
The new cuttings I have planted are not doing so well. They started off good but the leaves began to curl and whither and fall off one at a time. there are new leaves forming but the older larger leaves have fallen off or are falling off. I also see a white substance on the base of the stems. Please help me out with your input.
I live in so. Ca so there isnt much humidity.
 Also, I am looking for a GOOD source for live plants and would love feedback suggestions as to the best places to buy.
Thanks,G

Welcome to the Forum!

Where in Southern California do you live? if you're near San Diego you should buy your plants from me!



My Plants get more Love than Water ... anyone that has gotten their hands on one of mine will tell you I have fine and POTENT Plants in my Garden ...



I don't give tours of my Garden: but I meet people at a Gas Station and sell some NICE Plants ...