The leaves are kind of curling and brown at the tips. What's going on? It's in shade and getting adequate moisture.
It's put out a new growth and that one seems healthy so far.
Problem with my blue ginger
I would "guess" that it is something to do with chemicals...in the water? fertilizer burn? not enough ambient humidity.?
OH...I did hear recently that the Blue Ginger really likes iron...so I sprinkle some around my clump after a big heavy rain....
HTH..Carol
I was waiting to hear what the diagnosis was, l have the same problem! Our water is hard, over 300ppm calcium carbonate hardness. I will give mine a little iron.
Cala...your water being hard...do they chemicalize it (like my new word) alot. I know that Cordyline are VERY sensitive to Fluride...perhaps BG is too? They do like humidity...tons of water..
I am remided of a naturalist guide we had in a park in Central America...who went to the USA with his parents when he was 12. He could never figure out why they sold weeds in the Supermarket!!!
BG can get like that here...unless you plant it in horrible soil in a shallow hole...then they thrive!!
Aloha
I think I probably fed it too often. I try to keep the soil wet and so whenever I have the watering can full (even if there's food in it) I water this plant.
We have well water, cold that have something to do with it? I use the water on my orchids and they haven't reacted badly.
Just a wild guess that it is burned: could be from fertilizer burn (I have put fert. on mine maybe 3 times in 4 years!!!), chemicals in the water burn or lack of humidity. I don't know this for sure, but they could be "wild" enough not to need a lot of fertilizer...
Try letting it rest from fert. and giving it some ambient humidity....
...and, please, let us know how it goes...
Carol, they do use flouride, but the chlorine doesn't seem as strong as the water in TN. I use resaca water more than city water but they're working on the bridge over the resaca and have the water shut off so it's city water or nothing.
I think it looks like it's not getting enough water. Mine is not doing that, and it has received a lot of water including the 30+ inches of rain we've had so far.
Cala...maybe you can let your water sit out for a while for the chemicals to flash off...
:~)
I think I'm going to flush the plant with water. It doesn't look too bad except for those leafs, every new growth looks okay. Flushing can't hurt I guess.
No, can't hurt and will give it lots of water.... Good luck. Keep us up on it, OK?
Carol
Yup
just a reminder or incase you dont know,
sitting the water out will only remove the chlorine,
the flouride will still be there.
If you boil the water the same, but the flouride levels
will increase becouse some of the water boils off.
a Reverse Osmosis unit will remove it all but there
is like 7 gals of waste water going down the drain
for every one gal of clean water it makes.
Check out this link: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1238/index.html PlantFiles says this plant requires consistently moist soil and not to let the soil dry out. That may be the cause of your brown leaf tips.
It certainally looks better since I've been keeping the soil consistantly moist.
I'm no expert on ginger, but it looks to me like a dry atmosphere, not enough humidity. If it was chemical the whole leaf would be affected, this just looks like the tips. The other thing it could be is red spider mite, but this usually shows as a mottling on the leaves first before going brown. Hope this helps its just an idea.
pete
Glad to hear it, CaptMicha! I keep mine constantly moist too.
If only I had a greenhouse.... I'm going to plant it in the woods border. Then dig up in the fall. The ground there is always moist so I think the humidity won't be a problem either. I also have a Kahili Ginger to go with it. It also had the same problem, in both plants, the new growths look a lot better than the old stalks.
Or should the Kahili go in full sun?
Where's Kay? She knows a lot about gingers and is the one who gave me the ones that I have. She'll know for sure. Lisa has them too and can answer this. I think part sun is best, but I'll defer to the experts.
The Kahili Ginger grow in full sun here (and shade, and under houses, and in the rain forest...EVERYWHERE up from about 1500 feet elevation). We are at about 800' elevation and I can't get it to grow!!! But it is considered an invasive species at higher altitudes. Full sun, lots of water.
Thanks guys. I'm going to slowly introduce it to the light. This is not going to be one more plant I sunburn.