I wasn't sure last week if I was seeing things /wishful thinking when it looked like the crown on the plants that I was concerned with,looked like they were loosening up and putting on new crown growth but yup,they diffinantly are,all but Cambridge Missy but I think she's suffering from "disappearing crown syndrome" and may go in and trim out her crown. I reduced the hours I had the lights on after calculating I had been leaving them on apx 16 hrs and took it down to 10-12hrs.
P
Tight crowns
HHMMMM Anymore Symptoms other than tight crowns ? How is the growth ? Some plants like girl leaf and be put in natural light and within a week crowns are no longer tight and new growth and form will be showing aprovment. Some people put a tissue over crown to see if improvment. Light foliage, girl leaf , pink flowering plants do better at the end of the tubes.
You might want to send a few plants off to be checked for mites.
They've all started to put on new growth...variegated ones are showing variegation,leaves are greening up and loosening up in the center. I'll try to get a pix of Cambridge Missy but close-ups usually come out blurry.
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Are your light tubes new ? They might be getting light shock. When changing new ones best to do one at a time and wait couple weeks do the other.
Yup,brand spanking new.
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I'm glad your other plants are improving! Since 'Cambridge Missy' has such crown damage, you might want to just disassemble it, put some leaves down, and get rid of the main plant. You could try the hot water treatment that somebody mentioned on the leaves, or at least give them a good wash and a dose of neem oil "just in case." I won't have news on the parent plant for at least another week... one set of company left last night, but my family is arriving tomorrow, so our holiday festivities haven't ended yet!
About the close-ups... I have trouble even on the macro setting sometimes because the auto-focus insists on focusing on something other than my chosen subject... If you can crop the photo using your photo editing software, just take a photo from further away at full resolution and crop it to a close-up shot. When you're further back, the auto focus will focus on the whole plant rather than on a single leaf edge or something, so your shot won't end up blurry.
Cambridge Missy close-up
oh critter you just don't know how computer challenged I am...my head would explode...LOL.
Above pix is pretty clear.
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Do you water from the top?
no,I water at soil level with a turkey baster.
Think I'm going to do what critter suggested,tear it down,clean up the usible leaves real good and dispose of the rest to be on the safe side.
P
Notice how the outer leaves are a little turned up and the inner leaves are curled under. That is a sign of to much light. Either the intensity or the duration. If you have new bulbs that might be one of the problems. I have a reliable source that says 8 to 9 hours is plenty. But you will want to reduce the number of hours by 1 hour each week. Otherwise the plants might go into shock.
I used a turkey baster but my aim wasn't very good. I always got water on the leaves and especially in the center.
Okey dokey,I'll knock the light duration back and hour or so and see if I get them to straighten out some more.
It is kind tough to have a good aim on the smaller ones and I do some times gets some water on the leaves but if I hit the center,I blot the water out w/ a paper towel. Bigger plants are easier,I just hold up the leaves.
I tore down CM,used a soft painters brush and undiluted Safers Soap,water warms as my hands would take,srubbed each leaf front,back and the stem,rinsed well then did it again with diluted SS but didn't rinse it off the last time...just to be safe.
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Cambridge Missy does not look good :)) Even some of her foliage that's not in the center :((
Try taking one light tube out of each fixture for a week or two . Your fixture should still work or just turn them a little so one does not light up. It is never good to change two new light tubes in a light fixture at the same time and with both yours new now good. 12 hours plus won't hurt your plants I ran mine at 16 hours and less in Summer . But two new light tubes is too much light.
In a week or two you can use both then they should be fine !
I hate to say this but I don't think Cambridge Missy problem is light. It sure would be good if you could take a leaf or two and send the rest of the pot with soil and plant away to be tested along with one other plant to make sure.
She's already gone to the compost bucket.
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Bigred, sorry about your CM :~( I was wondering how long yal think you need to run new lights before you put plants under them. I'm about to put in another shoplight and was gonna put plants under them as well, but will wait on the plants. Can you raise the light higher and be ok?
Yesterday I picked up a flavor injector at Wal-Mart. I can use the turkey baster on big plants, but am really messy with with tiny ones. Thought maybe the injector will be more controllable. Haven't tried it yet.
Debbie
No can't move lights up but I'm turning them off sooner now.
I'll have to try one of those injectors...if I can find one.
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bigred. Where is Ashdown, AR. DH and I will be in Mesa next week for the wedding of a daughter. We are actually looking for somewhere to retire in two years and the 4 corners area is one of the places we are considering.
Would you please Dmail me some information about your area in AZ. Thanks
Allison has a good idea about turning off one of the lights. That's what I did with my stand and plants are doing much better.
Just start your new lights off slow. Double fixtures of new lights run one new for a week or two then ad the second.
If you must run both sides as some fixtures won't work if you don't do small amount hours for a week or two. 4,5,6 build it up every few days for your plants to adjust .
When changing your lights change one tube at a time wait a week or two change the other side.
Growers that show change their lights tubes each year like this one tube at a time.
nanna,
are you looking to retire in Arkansas or Arizona? I'm in Arkansas.
V_T
will do
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Always worth a try I learned from growers with 20,30 plus years of experience . If you do sadly get another plant with damage like poor Missy I would send her and a couple other plants off to be checked for mites to be safe, then you can decide how you want to treat !
Sorry. It is AZ my eyes are not working this morning.
nan,
No problem. We'll let ya move to Ark. In fact there's a pretty primrose yellow house right down the road from me for sale. Even has a picket fence. I've been inside. Newly remodeled and it's a beauty.
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Sounds tempting, but most of the family is out west.
I understand. We passed up op. to purchase a remodled farm house on 60 acres because it would take us futher away from our kids(son's family just down the street and daughter 20 miles away). Didn't feel it would be fair to make it harder on them should we need them as we get older....and it would have been out in the boonies.
P
I hear ya!
bigred, the flavor injector is awesome!!! With the needle that comes with it, you can put water exactly where you want it. No drips. I'm gonna love this for minis and semi's!! I got it at Wal-Mart for about 2.50.
Debbie
Debbie,
I picked one up at Walmarts yesterday and used it for the first time today. Much better than a big ole turkey baster.
P
I went to Sally's beauty supply and bought a few of the bottles that you use to put hair dye in. They have a nice tip on the end of them that lets me put the water right where I want it. I do bottom water some of my plants but I usually top water my minis and the bottles I got from Sally's does a wonderful job. Thanks for the idea of the flavor injector. I will have to check that out. I'm always looking for an easier way to do things.
Jesse
You guys are really thinking.
Bigred how is Cambridge Missy ??
V_T,
I took four leaves off her,scrubbed them real good w/Safer,struck the leaves on 1/04 and tossed the mother plant out.
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Good Job !
Thank you,Thank you...taking a bow...LOL
P