Been trying to find something online about this, but haven't had any luck.
Here at work (and my wife's said it happens at her office too) I have several plants including spaths (peace lilies) and a white bird of paradise. When I first brought the plants in they were plenty happy growing as normal. But I've noticed over time they start doing this strange leaf thing.
The new leaves come up, and in the case of the BOP, don't open. Eventually they do, but the leaf looks yellowish for a long time before turning green. It essentially looks very young for a much longer time than normal (compared to the one at home in more ideal conditions). The spath (peace lily) is the one that really confuses me. It does the same thing, only its new leaves will open half way, and the other half remains curled up. I have half a leaf open basically. If I uncurl the leaf, eventually it'll open, but has the same symptoms as noted on the BOP. It looks yellowish or pale green for a very long time, eventually darkening to it's regular color for established leaves.
My first guess is this is one of two things. Not enough water or not enough light. Humidity, according to my meter, doesn't seem to be the issue. Fertilizer (lack there-of perhaps) has also passed through my mind, but I wasn't sure. I have given the spath Osmocote before.
Any clue what this sounds like to you guys?
Thanks
-John
Bizarre leaf problem
how much water and light are they getting now?
I water them well about once a week - I think they are probably fine water wise. We have fluorescent light here at work, so they get that almost 24/7 - and a window across the path provides some late afternoon sun rays, but nothing much.
Hi John
I've done some researching on plant nutrition, and have charts that give symptoms and what corrects it. This is a sample
Title: PrimaryNutrients Function Deficiency Symptoms *Solutions
1: Nitrogen
2 Vigorous growth & dark green color
Light green leaves; stunted growth
3 Dried Blood (blood meal), Garden Manure, Cottonseed Meal, Ammonium Sulfate, Urea
Title = Substance, definition, term
First line = NPK
Second line = What it does/Symptoms
Third line = What "it" is (solution and nutrient form)
It is located in my Diary
http://davesgarden.com/journal/ed/index.php?tabid=1923
under the "Seaweed" section (which also might be interesting to you)
I use the charts all the time and they are fairly accurate for immeadiant and long term solutions. I put alot of this together in one area as I was tired of searching through countless pages of data..Even so, there is still alot of info.
Good luck!
Rj
Thanks RJ, that's going to be really useful :)
Good, they are pretty accurate too. They were created by epsoma tones, and I put their link in there too. Of course they are selling stuff, but the info was concise and to the point- which us what we gardeners need when plants are exhibiting these strange signs.