Another what is wrong with these topic

[Visceral Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Visceral]

I received 4 plants from a nearby nursery that are splotchy brown all over. I have been fertilizing lightly with ammonium sulfate and have had them planted in 50/50 fine pine bark and peat moss for 3 weeks. My other bbs from a different nursery, planted and cared for similarly, look great. These recent additions show green growth on the very tops of branches, but the bottoms are staying splotchy. Does the green growth on the tops bode well for them? Or is this some kind of fungus/disease that can spread to my other plants that are problem free?

Any ideas? Is this rust?

Thank you

[Gina Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Gina]

It can be very difficult to know what's wrong with a plant. Many nurseries don't know how to take care of them, and perhaps yours got a bit too dry and had some leaves get over-stressed and had spots on them die. Once they are brown like that, those leaves won't come back. What really matters is what the new growth and leaves are doing. And if your new leaves continue to grow well and look healthy, your plants should be OK.

[WillsC Admin / Owner Find all posts View Profile Close WillsC]

As Gina said it does look like they got dry.

[Visceral Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Visceral]

Again, thank you both. I've got my acid adjusted water and AS, so they are definitely getting bigger. I won't worry about the old leaves and just focus on shaping the new growth with some pinching here and there.

[bahamadan]

As an aside, what are you using to measure the pH of the water when you adjust it?

[Visceral]

I got some ph test strips on Ebay. They have ones that give a wide range of ph, and others that narrow that band down to what you'd like to measure more accurately.