Here is a picture of what is happening to the leaves on my one Garndenia. What could be the cause of the brown edge on the leaf? It has spider mites that I treated with Neems oil solution but other than that it is not overwatered, underwatered or fertilized. Please give me your comments.
This is only on one of the plants and just started yesterday.
It could be residual damage from the spider mites--if they were chewing on those leaves often there was already damage done to the leaf but it hadn't really showed up yet. I frequently find my plants continue to look worse after I get rid of the mites because of the damage they'd already done--sometimes entire leaves would proceed to brown up and fall off eventually. Or it could be something like salt buildup in the soil, if you hadn't mentioned the spider mites that would have been my first thought. Doesn't necessarily mean you were overfertilizing, but if it's been in that soil for a while and your water's a bit on the hard side that can happen over time, especially if you're not giving it really thorough flushing with water from time to time. Or if the leaves were all coated in neem and it was getting sun then it could be sunburn--you have to be careful with oils on the leaves for that reason. Lack of humidity can sometimes make leaf edges turn brown too but I would have expected that to develop a little more slowly.
I bet it was the neem. I never thought of that. Oh what a relief. The morning sun really beats in there in the morning and the neem may have been on and not dry when the sun came out. WE have been having stupid weather. Cloudy, sunny, windy....all in one day and I know I sprayed in the morning when the sun was not on the plants. Then the sun came out and that could be it. Thanks so much. JB
