Home garden is lookin good still. Been havin some nutritional disorders.
Slight chlorosis of the inter-veins. As well as purpling of the petioles.
Now this can be brought about by many factors. One certainly is allowing the plants to get a
little too dry between applications, 50% dry is the measure. Even this is allowing your salt to
water ratio to potentially double.
Another can be low temps decreasing flow rate, growing above 78F but below 82F is ideal. Humidity is very important because
cool roots, below 72F and dry humidity, below 60% day in especially earlier stages (ideal is starting around 70-80% and
dropping slowly to harvest at 50%), can cause a decrease in water movement through the plant. Any of these things can
cause what also would be considered beginning root binding symptoms on older and bigger plants in containers. Adding
Mycorrhizal fungii to the medium will hold the water stress down some but does not fix all the issues. All nutrients move
into and through the plant in a water matrix!
Suction applied through transpiration at the leaf is as important as the supply at the other end. As the water slows,
so does the nutrient flow which leads to the purpling of the stems. The plant begins shutting down less productive leaves to
keep water moving to where it is needed and they do so in the manor described. Plants also exhibit a darker green
from a thicker cuticle that forms to protect the leaves from desiccation and can take on a "tired" appearance. Increasing
the EC or salt concentration in the root zone by feeding higher, doing less leaching per watering, adding supplements
like Cal Mag, or allowing the medium to run dry each time increases the effect by slowing the osmotic gradient that
moves water and the nutrients into the plant. Slower gradient, slower water movement, slower nutrient movement,
equals a water relation issue again.
I need to stabilize my EC and water more often, or use much larger pots.
