Nutrition problem

So i have about 7 plants in their first year. We have had a very wet spring, and now a bit of a hot spell. I've already had trouble with Mites and Aphids but seem to have them under control. Now it seems im having a nutrition problem however each plant seems to have a different problem, or at least show different signs. I was hoping if people could help me figure out some of the issues im having. I've been using Miracle Grow fert pretty regularly, per instructions, that's rated at 12-12-14. Any help would be great


plant 1


plant 2


plant 3


Plant 4... i dont think this is a nutrition plant, but someone seems to be eating this plant, and the peppers planted near by. These two plants seem to be the only ones effected.

Pic 1 - no idea (what did you use to treat the spider mites and aphids and what was the temp when you treated them?)

Pic 2 - without seeing the underside of the leaf - that looks very much liike spider mite dmg. It could also be early downy mildew, but my bet would go to spider mites.

Pic 3 - Looks like fert burn or sunburn as there doesnt seem to be any curl in the healthy part of the leaf. Looks like it also has some spider mite dmg.How many leaves are like this?

Pic 4 - Could be any number of insects.

Overall suggestions - If those were my plants -

I would spray with Permethrin (Eight) - This would get rid of any insects and does a good job on spider mites. (I wouldnt suggest Sevin Dust or any Sevin product as it will flare the spider mites)

For plants that have leaves like those in Pic 2 -Foliar feed them with something like Jacks Classic. It does a very good job of helping those leaves recover and also has all the micro nutrients.

Also you can test the leafs in pic 3 by spraying one of them with the foliar feed. If it gets worse then its probably fert burn. If it is fert burn then about the only thing I know to do is heavily water to flush it. N is highly mobile and should wash out readily. If the inner part of that leaf starts to look better after you spray it with the fert then I would suspect sunburn, however if you have spider mites directly on the stem of the leaf I would think that you would get that effect. Also Neem Oil will sometimes do that to hops -so if you sprayed with any Neem Oil product and then it gets hot it can dmg leaves.

I used a simple soap and water spray and I think that might be part of the problem. I used a generic soap, and after doing some reading looks like i should try something more natural... and its only getting hotter today. I'll try the foliar feed test tomorrow. I've had a hard time being consistent this year with the plants with a busy schedule.

With dmg'd leaves like these, is it best to prune them off or just leave them?

Lokii13 said:

With dmg'd leaves like these, is it best to prune them off or just leave them?

Click to expand...

I use this philosophy.

If they are green, they are photosynthesizing and supporting the remaining plant.

If they are yellow, they aren't doing anything of much use except maybe draining some resources from the plant in a failing attempt to recover.


But,

Another side is, these plants have thrived for decades, centuries, maybe mellinia with no interference by man. Bugs still ate them and they still flowered.

I personally am trying to learn a more minimal approach to tending plants.

Lokii13 said:

I used a simple soap and water spray and I think that might be part of the problem. I used a generic soap, and after doing some reading looks like i should try something more natural... and its only getting hotter today. I'll try the foliar feed test tomorrow. I've had a hard time being consistent this year with the plants with a busy schedule.

With dmg'd leaves like these, is it best to prune them off or just leave them?

Click to expand...

On pic 2 -id leave it and spray it with the fert. If it gets any rust color to leaf then you still have spider mites and youll need to address those. If the mites are gone then the leaf should return to a more deep natural looking green with no speckles.

On pics 3 and 4 I would trim them off provided that in doing so you are not completely stripping the plant of leaves.

On pic 1 - I think I would trim that off - however I have no idea what that is ...so it may do no good at all to trim it off.

Soap and heat dont mix well. On the "guess" that part of the dmg in pic 1 is burn related (having too much soap on the leaf in too hot an environment) It may be a good idea to simply hose off the plants really well with cold water after the sun has set. This will also help with the spider mites as they dont care for cold water.
Cheers