3

All my Camellia sinensis appear with the leaves like the foto shows. All the other Camellias ( japonica and sasanqua are Ok)- Please, someone knows what it is?enter image description here

Maria
  • 321
  • 1
  • 8

1 Answers1

1

This plant is in need of chemistry. The soil seems to be devoid of organic matter, moisture, proper acidic pH. Without knowing any more than I can see I would get a bale of decomposed DECOMPOSED organic matter, spread that on top of the soil no more than an inch at a time. A slow release fertilizer is critical.

What fertilizer have you used? I am seeing that this plant has had none. Or that the pH might be so high this plant is unable to use what chemistry is in that soil.

Your plant is suffering multiple symptoms of plant starvation. Plants make their own food. Fertilizer is not food. Fertilizer is critical for plants to make their own carbohydrates or food for repair, storage of food in the roots, vegetative growth and reproductive growth. Your soil looks unhappy, your plant is on its last legs.

Please tell us what you have added for fertilizer? Any compost? This most certainly can be turned around.

stormy
  • 40,098
  • 3
  • 31
  • 75
  • I'm using NPK 5-6-13 + 4% MgO a tablespoon every 30 days. I do not use any compost. – Maria May 27 '18 at 09:48
  • Hello stormy, I followed your advice and did a test at Ph. It really was high. Almost 7. I decided to open a pit around the camellia and apply horse manure. On the surface I applied substrate for plants that require acidic soil. I hope I have not exaggerated Can black spots be rust-type fungi? – Maria Jun 11 '18 at 13:22
  • Was the manure decomposed or was it raw? Tell me more about opening a pit around your camellia. Is it planted next to a concrete sidewalk or foundation? That would be the reason for high pH. It is tough to reduce pH. Horse manure won't do a single thing for your soil or plant if it is raw. Certainly does nothing for pH until it is decomposed where it is able to be ingested by soil life (not decomposers) eaten and then taken back into the soil to be pooped out and mixed into the top soil profile. Then that organic matter BUFFERS the pH, brings acidic up and alkaline down.. – stormy Jun 12 '18 at 00:27
  • Manure is compost and you are fertilizing too much adding this every month. What kind of soil do you have? Clay is wonderful but it also holds onto the chemistry better than sandy soils. Meaning less fertilizer is necessary. Black spots are fungi. Spots of water that held a spore splashed on a leaf and plants believe it or not take care of themselves. The plants sequester and get rid of the fungus by dividing healthy material from the infected material. The infected material is surgically cut out and dries up to drop out of the leaf by the plant itself. – stormy Jun 12 '18 at 00:32
  • Could you send a picture of the undersides of the leaves? If you have used raw horse manure, that nitrogen will be feeding the decomposers first, some might actually harm and weaken your plant, too much Nitrogen will generate weak vegetation. Because the soil pH is so high this plant is having a tough time uptaking nitrogen, you've given it enough fertilizer. I would get some sulfur to try that while at the same time adding decomposed organic matter to the surface. Decomposed. Be careful not to pile too thickly. Inch maybe two leaving a circle of a foot diameter? – stormy Jun 12 '18 at 00:38
  • That organic matter being mixed into the soil for you by the micro and macro organisms of the soil will buffer an alkaline soil making it far more amenable for acid loving plants that need the acid to be able to get at what chemistry they have available to do photosynthesis where they make their own food. Sulfur can temporarily help, only. Where is this plant in your yard? How much sun? – stormy Jun 12 '18 at 00:41
  • Hello I put manure well decomposed (I guess no one would forgive me if I put raw manure because of the full and flies). I did not open a very deep pit, just enough to cover, 5 to 10 cm at most, and around all the trunk . I have a concrete wall and a concrete ladder (very contemporary garden), it never occurred to me that this would affect the Ph of the soil. How does Sulfur apply? The soil is rather sandy than clayey, hence my interest in adding organic matter – Maria Jun 14 '18 at 10:06
  • I do no have leaves, I chose to remove all (one by one) and incinerate it.But they had nothing on the bottom page, the look was identical to the top page. Retentively I applied a fungicide to the rust of the rose bushes. I also took the fruits to avoid debilitating .The plants were planted a year ago in my garden, and they have sun in the late afternoon. – Maria Jun 14 '18 at 10:07
  • Maria, without leaves those plants will certainly die. Plants make their own food by photosynthesis; light plus CO2 plus nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and tiny bits of a dozen other compounds/chemicals. These are not nutrients. These are chemicals CRITICAL to perform photosynthesis during which food is made for the plant to perform growth, reproductive growth, resisting disease/insects. So there was nothing beneath these leaves? Maria, please keep asking questions. Let's get the basics of growing plants down so that you don't have to learn the hard way, like ME. grins!! – stormy Jun 15 '18 at 02:37
  • Sorry,I'm sorry I splintered very badly, I just took out the affected leaves with the black spots. All the green leaves, even those that tasted lack of iron, remained in the plant. This weekend I'm going through tourbe blonde (I do not know if the translation will be the right one) and irrigate with iron sulfate 4g/litro. How much do you think I'll have to wait to repeat the PH test? – Maria Jun 15 '18 at 08:13