So far we did not have a great spring here in the UK, which affect our growing efforts in many ways. One of the problems many gardeners experience is unhealthy looking leaves on planted out vegetables or even on seedlings kept indoors. This condition called scorch. It is often caused by extreme temperatures or just radical fluctuation of temperatures within 24 hours, overwatering, overheating, direct sunlight, cold and strong winds, transplanting shock, nutrient deficiency. Symptoms of leaf scorch include browning of the leaf margins, browning or yellowing leaf tissue between the veins.
When the scorching advances entire leaves can get brown or the entire plant can wilt rapidly and the colour remains pale green even when the plant is dead.
Water droplets on the leaves can magnify the sunlight and cause damage to the plant; it is a common problem in the greenhouse. Water your plants often and little from underneath making sure the water does not go on the leaves.
Fast growing, young seedlings have a fairly thin tissue which can get damaged easily. Some tender crops can develop soft tissue during the growing season if they suffer from low calcium levels, this can be a cause of erratic watering. It is very important to water regularly and little! The best time to water is in the evening, so the water can go through to the roots during the night and will not evaporate in the sunshine and if the leaves get wet they will dry up by the time the sun comes up again the next day.
Do you or did you have scorched plants? Leave your comments below…
