licorice Posted January 24, 2003 can anyone help me with my morning glories? i planted some I violacea probably about sept/oct last year. they came up quickly and seemed to be healthy at the time, but since then they have failed to thrive (growing only about 20cm in the last few months). the leaves are mottled with yellowish patches and look 'sick'. the potting mix is well drained, ive tried feeding with high nitogen food and they get plenty of light but nothing seems to have worked. any suggestions?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mesq Posted January 24, 2003 Any burning tips of leaves?? There is such a thing as too much nitrogen.. also if you are only feeding high nitrogen then cell walls are not as strong as they should be and you may get stunted growth.. It also would help to know how the yellow patches are forming> ie originating from veins and spreading , originating in between veins and spreading. Also whether the yellowing occurs in new leaves first or old leaves. My guess is just some nutrient problems.. Give it a good all round NPK feed with micro elements... But I may be wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gomaos Posted January 24, 2003 Are you keeping them "too wet"? Or too rich and too wet? Perhaps they've run their leaf and flower stage and would like to seed, but for that to happen they have to dry out a bit. Could that be it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
licorice Posted January 25, 2003 the area around the veins is dark green, its the other parts of the leaves that are yellowish, all leaves are affected. native orchids are my original plant vice and i know with these that yellowish leaves can indicate lack nitrogen which is why i tried fertilising with aquasol, but i didnt overdose them which i know is bad (i thought MGs were heavy feeders anyway?). also, the mix is free draining (i add sharp sand and orchid mulch to standard potting mix), so they shouldnt have wet feet. admittedly i do piss a fair bit on my plants (theyre begging for it i tells ya :D ) so maybe this doesnt agree with the MGs. as for the setting seed stage, i guess this is possible, but the plants are so small. i would have liked them to concentrate on building up some size before flowering, but they went ahead and did it anyway. babies having babies, i blame myself, but i tried to bring them up right... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darklight Posted January 25, 2003 Green veins in light leaves sounds like iron deficiency... but I can't be sure unless it is a plant in a little tube. I don't do whole plants any more Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mesq Posted January 25, 2003 From http://www.hydrofarm.com/content/articles/...ficiencies.html quote: Interveinal chlorosis: yellowing between leaf veins, with the veins forming a green pattern, is a symptom of deficiencies of iron, manganese or sometimes zinc or copper. In turn, these deficiencies (especially iron) may arise from alkalinity (excessively high pH) in the growth medium, which makes these metals less soluble. Non-nutritional causes of interveinal chlorosis include virus diseases; and some ornamental plants are normally yellow between the veins. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted January 25, 2003 orchid mulch is terribly deficient in just about everything. It would also eat up much of the nitrogen. Pissing in pots isn't such a good idea due to pH problems. Give the plants some dynamic lifter (fixes more than just nitrogen levels) and if that doesn't fix it then repot into potting mix. Also, how big is you pot?? pot size often stops members of this family to grow beyond stunted twigs. It's a weed, so if it isn't growing, you're doing something seriously wrong.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted January 25, 2003 Magnesium deficiency- Yellowing in leaves, curling of leaves upward along margins, marginal yellowing with green midrib Zinc deficiency- decreased internode length and fruit bud formation, interveinal yellowing in leaves Iron deficiency- Interveinal yellowing in leaves (sharp distinction detween green and yellow) Manganese deficiency- Interveinal yellowing in leaves (no sharp distinction between green and yellow); white, gray, or brown spots or streaks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew Posted January 25, 2003 I grow m.g.s every year,if your growing seed from Torsten or Adrian or AFSR then I probably grew it.But this year is the worst I,ve had for some reason,havent worked it out yet.Could be the unusual weather,I dont know. I,ll see what happens but it looks like I,ll have no seeds(or very few) this year,sorry Torsten. [ 25. January 2003, 07:55: Message edited by: Andrew ] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gomaos Posted January 25, 2003 Re: pissing on plants: using urine as fertilizer is not a bad idea, but as torsten said, if you piss on them directly, it burns them. The solution: Piss in your watering can and dilute it 1:10 with water. Works well! [ 25. January 2003, 11:15: Message edited by: gomaos ] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterdragon Posted January 26, 2003 not having any dramas with mine this year, wish i could take a piccy of the display each morning, plenty of strange creatures rolling up for pollination duties too. my soil is slightly acidic with compost added and mulch, due to the heavy water requirements i doubt that it would be happy in pots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
licorice Posted January 26, 2003 thanks for the suggestions peeps! yeah, my first thought was nutrient deficeny of some sort, but i really do try to take care of this before it gets to be a problem (too much or little), but ill definately give the dynamic lifter a shot. the orchid mulch *is* defficent in pretty much everything (consists mainly of fine pine bark, rice husks and limestone chips), i just add some to the mix to keep it open for spieces that require extra drainage. also when the bark starts to decompose a bit and get spongy, roots grow right through it. actually i think you maybe onto something with the pot size, i feel this spieces would be much much happier in the ground, but im moving house soon so its going to have to put up with the pot for a little longer. thanks again for all your help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adrian Posted January 27, 2003 just a long shot, but take a close look at the underside of the leaves... [ 27. January 2003, 18:19: Message edited by: Adrian ] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest mandragora Posted January 27, 2003 I think it can be iron deficiency, especially if you have alkine soil with high calcium content, calcium blocks the iron to get into the plant. So I would make an soil test, also if it is potting mix, you still could have changed the ph through water or in your case the high nitricion. If the yellow is only on the new growth, it can be sulfur deficiency. orrrr the other possibillity: magnesium. But I would go for the test and then the iron, also you described it that the veins are really green. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adrian Posted January 28, 2003 A while back I had yellowing leaves on several young MG's, they had also vitually stopped growing. At first I thought it was a deficiency and tried to correct it. Only when one leaf dropped off and I picked it up and inspected it, did I notice mites on the underside (made sense due to the dry weather). Some of the leaves were plain yellow and some were very slighly speckled. A week after spraying they began to thrive once more. I find it difficult to regulate the watering, as flower buds and fruits seem to drop off with 'too much'. Do you think it would be possible to foliage feed successfully? I'm also interested if anyone has any further information about boosting the actives using hormones and/ or soil additives. I'm guessing adding nitrogenous fertilizers (NH4NO3, KNO3, CON2H4 etc) may have some effect. Torsten wrote (24/11/00):Don't believe everything you read Especially if it is written by Maryjane Superweed / Adam Gottlieb [ 27. January 2003, 20:10: Message edited by: Adrian ] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites