Uh,oh! The leaves are turning color!

I recently moved to a new house. One of my first things I did, of course, was clean up the flower beds and put in new plants. Some of the new plants are doing very well, but several have leaves that are changing colors. The affected plants are both in the ground and in buckets. The worst hit are my geraniums, gerbera daisies, and salvia, but I have some of each of these that are growing vigorously, as well. The new growth seems to grow normally, then turn as it gets older.

The leaves of the geraniums are turning copper...

...the leaves of the salvia (and, to a lesser extent, the leaves of a newly planted hydrangea) are turning black...

...and the veins on my gerbera daisies are turning red. The red then spreads to the rest of the leaf. The underside of the leaves look better than the topside.

Is this something I've done, planting it incorrectly or placing it poorly, or is this a disease of some sort? How can I make my plants healthier? Anything anybody can tell me is welcome, even if it's that I completely screwed up.

Thanks!

Could be this heat wave we've been having lately. Have you been keeping them watered well?

This started before the heat, but yeah, I've been watering well. I'm actually wondering if I might be overwatering. Also, I have some examples of each of the plants that are doing well, and are near the ones not doing well, so would theoretically be getting the same amount of water.

Hard diagnosis to make from just pictures, unfortunately.

What type of soil do you have? You may need to ammend it to hold more water, and also to allow the roots to penetrate.

The geranium looks like it may be stressed for water, and/or suffering from heat damage.

From your description, maybe the hydrangea is in too much sun, and the foliage is burning. When you say the foliage is black, do you mean crsipy black, or slimy black? Crispy would lead me to think too much sun. Slimy meaning too wet. A few of my hydrangeas got a little sun damage when our first really hot days occurred.

I would start with the soil first...to see if that may be the problem(s).

I've never had any luck with Gerbera daisies, so I won't even venture a guess on what may be the problem with them.

You Geraniums are suffering from lack of water and prob need a feed as well, dont know your soil type, but these plants use a lot of energy up for flower production and if your soil aint holding onto water, then it wont hold onto neutrients either, I know my geraniums and summer flowering plants do better in slight shade, in a soil that has plenty compost and plant feed added to the soil, this helps to retain some moisture, keep your watering off the foliage as they dont like a lot of moisture aroung the leaves, plants in hot weather and in pots loose a real amount of moisture from evaporation which happens naturally from the leaves and soil due to the heat from the sun, to get a faster feed into the roots, maybe try a liquide type as you water then maybe just once a week after that, but water each day/night if they need it, think how much you would want to drink if you were in the hot sun all day, dont let them sit in water, but if you feel the water is running through your pots soon as you add it, then sit the pots in a large container with water till the soil on top tells you it is wet, then remove the pot and let it drain, you might have to do this each week as once the pot soil dries out, it becomes difficult to get it wet through again unless you sit it in a container for a couple of hours or more. hope this helps you and good luck. WeeNel.

kris_OR:
Where the gerbera daiseys are concerned, the red could be a sign of a phosphorus defieciency (at least that's true with tomatoes). Could be that the daiseys have more need that the other plants in the pot. Spray it with a liquid fertilizer or fish emulsion.

As far as the other problems you mentioned, I agree with the previous comments. Your soil looks like it would benefit from a generous dose of compost and mulching. Your red clay(?) soil could also be binding up nutrients, since the leaves on the salvia are also showing signs of nutrient deficiency before turning black. Compost, compost and more compost. Fix your soil, and you will have fewer problems all around.

Otherwise, when you have the same plants growing in the same conditions and having problems with only some of them, then I would check the weaker plants for specific problems. If the plants were potbound when you planted them, did you spread the roots when they were planted? Could there be something chewing on the roots or sucking on the stems?

I would aggree, daphnecat... about the phosphorous defficiency. I know many plants whos leaves turn red/purple from this condition. If the plant is also lacking in flowers, this is another sign that could point to lack of phosphorous.

Thanks to everyone who has replied. It sounds like I have a couple of separate issues to work through, but at least now I know what they are. I do have a couple of questions about some of it.

One, I think composting is a great idea for the soil in the areas that are having difficulties. I've been watering the geraniums every day and most (the ones in the ground) get hit with the nighttime sprinklers (which sounds like it might be a bad thing itself), so I would assume improving the soil's absorption of the water would be the way to go. My question is this: should I compost in the pots that are having problems? I potted with organic potting soil topped with a couple inches of MiracleGro potting soil.

Two, when I try adding phosphorous, will it negatively affect any plants in the same pot that are already doing well (specifically alyssum and lobelia)? Should I add it just to the pots that are showing the problem? Could phosphorous deficiency cause the problems the geraniums are having?

Finally, the black on my hydrangea leaves is more crispy than slimy, so it sounds like it is too much sun. Right now it's only getting sun until 12 or 1 pm, though, so does it prefer less sun than that? A different timing of sun? Or could it be my soil again; I put it into the hole I pulled a rhodedendron out of, with a bag and a half of potting soil?

Again, thanks so much for your help and patience with me. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm quite new to this. I've never done much other than place flowers in the soil and watch them grow (which they did quite well, thanks to the topsoil we brought in when we built the house). I doubt I will ever take the soil for granted again, though.

-Kris

Kris, I'm no expert either, but I do know that we have a really great resource in our area.....it is mint compost. Do you have any places near you that sell it? We can get it in the fall down here. I bought a truck load of it for $20 in the fall of 2005. I spread it though all my beds and it has made a world of difference. I have really bad clay soil, so the mint helped a lot. You don't have to worry about any seeds in the mint either....they let it sit long enough that the seeds are killed off.

As for the phosphorus, I have never just added that...I've only gotten a good bedding flower food or used Mighty Plant or Miracle Grow.

Edited to say: I would think that your hydrangea would be fine with the amount and the timing of sun that it is getting (mine gets the same amount and is fine) but it the leaves are crisy, then it is trying to tell you something. You definitely don't want it to have afternoon shade. Is there any place you can move it that it won't get direct sun at all?

This message was edited Jul 8, 2007 9:47 AM

Your hydrangea should be fine with that amount of sun, my guess is that the crispiness is from something else like not quite enough water or something along those lines. I have hotter summers than you do and I have hydrangeas that have had just as much sun as yours and they've been totally fine. So either it's something else, or perhaps the nursery you bought it from had it in mostly shade so it's taking a little time to get used to the new amount of sun. But once it's adjusted it should be fine.