As mentioned last week, I spent the beginning of this week trying to improve the health of the plant. I started with a flush of the soil (~5-8 gallons, lost count). At first I was concerned it was a nitrogen deficiency given the general yellowing of the plant. I waited a few more days to see if the leaves would keep yellowing uniformly or not, and saw that it was more interveinal chlorosis rather than complete yellowing.
So my theory is magnesium or sulphur, given the location and presentation. I was also a big worried about calcium, since I started to see some necrotic spots on leaves. But in retrospect I think these are just burns from where I've touched leaves with my fertilizing funnel. :)
I prepared a feeding with:
- Half-dose of fish emulsion, for some longer-acting nitrogen source. And to help help out the soil microbes after the flush
- Tablespoon of sulphur granules, dissolved. This also includes some calcium, although not the fast-acting variety
- Tablespoon of gypsum for fast acting calcium, also contains a bit of sulphur
- 4 tspFF Tiger Bloom
- Gallon of water, pH'ed
I'm not really a fan of bloom formulations... pretty sure they are marketing gimmicks by companies. But after the flush I wanted to rebalance the available nutrients, and the low nitrogen was fixed up by the fish emulsion. It also contained a good helping of magnesium which is mainly what I was after. Finally, I added a top dressing of some Plant-Tone granules, for longer-acting complete fertilizing (including calcium, magnesium and other micros).
Few days later and the plant is looking much better. Greening back up, and the interveinal chlorosis is starting to recede. Think I dodged a bullet with this one :)