Black/brown leaf tips

[jabu]

Hi all,

Was hoping someone might have an idea whats starting to go wrong with this plant in the picture I have attached. Plant is about 5 months old. Started to flower, but then went back to vegetative growth phase. I have 2 plants doing the same thing, the tips of the leaves look black and dead.

They are growing outside in +- 20L pots.
Soil is Searles herb and vegetable mix
Fertilizer is Ferticote slow release which they got around 5 months ago and around 2 months ago they got some slow release fertilizer for flowering roses which was last added around 8 weeks ago.
They get watered every second day with about 3-4L of water

both plants have started with the same condition at the same time around 1-2 weeks ago. I am wondering whether it could be to do with the heat we have been having +- 40C in the sunshine I would guess so those 20L pots must be getting pretty warm on the sides. maybe I should look at bigger pots and add some better soil this time ?
Maybe the water is added to late in the day (8am) and gets to warm.

none of the deficiency charts I've researched seem to talk about this. One article mentioned perhaps over fertilization however as I mentioned they received some slow release fertilizer around 8 weeks ago and since then just water and they both have been growing very well.

any ideas ?

Edited January 22, 2013 by jabu

[STONEDAJ69]

how about you get rid of your spidermite problem and flush the buhjeezus out of the buckets

 

20 litre pot? 50 litres water. at once.

 

Come back in a week if they aint greener

[jabu]

hey captain, please excuse my ignorance, are you talking 2 seperate issues here ? i take it the flushing is not for the spidermites ...... but for over fertilized ? (causing the dark leaf tips ?)

 

i havent been able to see the spidermites, what are you seeing in the picture that tells you this ? any tips on how to get rid of this pest ? (without chemicals on the flowers)

[jabu]

neem oil i guess

[STONEDAJ69]

mite rid

$20-$30 depends on how stoogey ya hydro shop is.

 

It's no bunnings thing. Hydro shop.

 

 

White spots on the leaves with potential webbing, i cant quite tell from the pics

[magpie1]

how many hours of sun they getting? at 40+ a day they do look a bit cooked

[jabu]

they live outside permanently in the same spot and get good sun all day. we live in the north so not the extreme temperatures of the south but probably been averaging 30-32C i would say maybe a bit hotter in the direct sunlight during the mid day hours.

 

now that i look at the pots i am thinking they are probably closer to 15L with a 30cm diameter. What do you think about me re-potting them into bigger pots (which could help against the heat?) and if i was to do that then any recommendations on which soil to mix in at this stage of the vegetative growth phase given that they are already +1m tall and were flowering but then went back to vegetative phase ? I threw out a plant the other day because it was looking manky and the root system was a ball shaped the same size as the pot so looked pretty maxed out in there and this plant is the same age.

 

50L flush has been completed

 

will look into the mite rid thanks

[buzzo]

Overfeed big time & yes looks like Spider mites to me