Sick Plant Recovery........ Hopefully

[Dreddyboy]

After my recent episode with a male plant I called my mate who had a seed from the same supplier to see if his was a female.  Turns out his plant is a bit sick, so he gave it to me to try to recover it.  I started this thread for advice and to help those with similar problems.  As a noob this will be a learning experience that hopefully other noobs can learn from as well.  Hopefully we can rescue it and this will serve as a record of what we did.

 

The seed was put straight into the current pot filled with Osmocote Vege Mix and grown outside.  The plant does not look too badly damaged and the leaves and still flat and not drooping, well most of them at least, and the stem is in good shape.

 

I have added a small amount of worm castings and topped the pot off with good quality soil.  Then rinsed it through, with lots of water with Seasol in it.  I am going to leave it where it is and monitor it.

 

Luckily it is raining at the moment so the soil will get a good wash through.  It is not too firmly packed down and has good drainage.

 

I plan to feed it with a mix of worm tea and a liquid rabbit dropping solution later.  I soak the droppings from our rabbit in water for a few weeks then drain off the liquid.

 

Any tips or previous experience will be greatly appreciated and I will update as we progress.

 

 

 

       

[louise]

I'd be treating it for insects*... I use Eco Oil, but most of the damage looks like water burn... eg splashing water or fertiliser solutions on the leaves when it is sunny will leave those sorts of burn marks... 

 

Apart from that, treat it the way you did the male (that seemed to be thriving) and post up pictures as the new growth develops.

 

*I inspect and treat all plants coming into my garden... it saves tears later on...

Edited November 3, 2015 by louise

[Skink]

hey Dreddy, that male plant that you grew was a very nice healthy plant, you seem to have a couple of green thumbs,  get yourself some good seed and have another go, its not to late, there are plenty of safe and reliable seed banks.

happy days. 

[_Puff_Tough_]

Lift the plant from the pot and check the rootzone, are the roots dramatically decomposing anywhere? Any little bugs that can be seen? Has your friend added any dolomite lime? Was anything recently added to the plants nutrients or soil? How old is it? How often do you water? Town water? Added any trace elements at any point in time? Edited November 3, 2015 by _Puff_Tough_

[The Hash Nibbler]

Thats burn, exactly same as what I just did to mine with pyrethrum spray.

Louise is on the money.

 

Nibs.

[_Puff_Tough_]

it actually looks like a common toxicity.

[Dreddyboy]

It's still raining here and will do for the next few days so i am told.

 

Puff Tough, the plant is 8 weeks old, I just use mormal tap water but it has grown outside and has had more rain that tap water.  The soil is the slow release Osmocote herb and veg mix.  2 days ago I added some worm castings straight from the worm farm and flushed it with seasol added to water.  Do you think I should wait for it to stop raining before I check the roots?  Following the check, could I replant in fresh soil?

 

It did live next to a metal shed (almost touching) which got the full afternoon heat, could this have hurt the leaves?

[_Puff_Tough_]

simple answer.... absolutely. Though leaf burn is usually predominant around the leaf margins also and i would expect it to be more pronounced. You appear to have nutrient lockout, first signs of a lockout anyway and the burning is much more akin to a calcium toxicity thta i have witnessed in the past. Are you able to list the macro/micronutrient contents of that osmocote mix? Save me the googling. Youre sure your friend didnt add ANYTHING else to the dirt prior to the toxicity? You may find that the addition of worm castings were probably unnecessary in hindsight. Osmocote usually have comprehensive mixes containing what is necessary for the growth of small plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dreddyboy]

Here is a good page for the details of whats in the soil.

 

https://www.scottsaustralia.com.au/osmocote/osmocote-plus-organics/osmocote-plus-organics-vegetable-herb-mix/

[_Puff_Tough_]

Check the rootzone and get back to me..... I cant glean much from that site. Edited November 4, 2015 by _Puff_Tough_