Beginner Gardening: Ficus leaf curl and damage , 1 by tapla

tapla wrote:
Wouldn't a nutrient deficiency cause all the leaves to show varying degrees of the problem? No. Some nutrients are very mobile in plant tissues (N, P, K, Mg), so in the case of a deficiency the plant is able to rob nutrients from existing tissues with which it can build new growth. Other nutrients are considered immobile (Ca + the micronutrients except Cl, Mo, and Ni) and must be in the nutrient stream at all times if the plant is to grow normally. Ca is considered immobile, and Mn and Zn are considered immobile to moderately mobile. These happen to be the 3 nutrients that cause the type of deformed growth your plant shows, which is why I singled out those nutrients.

It looks very much like a Ca issue to me, but there is a problem that needs to be explained with that suggestion. In bagged container media, Ca and Mg are supplied by the addition of dolomitic lime, which also adjusts media pH to less acidic levels. The Mg fraction of dolomite is about 125X more soluble than Mg, so a Mg deficiency is usually made manifest before a Ca deficiency except under a certain cultural condition - saturated soil. If you're watering your plant while you can still see or detect the soil is still damp, that's probably what's occurring - a culturally induced Ca deficiency due to a lack of O2 in the rhizosphere (root zone). Calcium is absorbed only by young root tips in which the cell walls of the epidermis are unsuberized. Once a suberin layer develops in these cells, water and calcium can no longer be absorbed. Suberin is a waxy substance through which water and nutrients cannot move. These deposits form what is known as the Casparian strip. Excess soil moisture and a lack of oxygen results in the development of this suberin layer - probably what you're seeing.

I would:
* Make sure you have your watering regimen under control. Schefflera tolerates (doesn't LIKE, but TOLERATES) dry conditions rather well, so it's better to grow this plant on the dry side than to keep it wet.
* Flush the soil with air temperature water when it next needs water and fertilize with a soluble fertilizer that contains Ca and Mg - almost NONE do. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is an excellent choice for your 'go to' fertilizer. I use it on everything I grow, and the many photos I've posted bear witness to its efficacy. It has nutrients in a ratio that mimics average plant usage, is immediately available, and gets most of it's N from nitrate sources and none from urea, which helps keep plants compact and full.
Give the plant all the light it wants. It will enjoy full sun outdoors, and indoors too if you keep a fan moving air to disrupt the boundary layer (of air surrounding the leaves) during periods of direct intense light.

That's about it, unless you have other ?s.

Edited to say: Pardon me. I glanced at the small photos w/o looking at them in close-up view. The last picture looks like a scheff, and I thought YOU had misidentified, but it was my error. Everything I said still holds, except your Ficus won't take it quite as dry as a scheff w/o complaint. Pardon my error, please.


Al



This message was edited Jul 22, 2015 9:55 PM