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I live in Pune, India and I am new to terrace gardening. I have no knowledge in this field. I bought Marigold, Catharanthus, and Zinnia (name not sure) from nursery. I made pot mix myself of 30% soil, 30% compost and 30% coco-peat. I added little bit of general flower fertilizer in it. But I am observing that the plants are slowly getting sick. Overall, these three plants are not looking fresh after transferring them from plastic grow bags to pots. What could be the problem?

Is there something in my way of making 1/3 soil, compost and coco peat mix? I have purchased coco-peat loose 1kg bags not coco-peat brick. Is it coco-peat or is it something else causing the problem. Please help me. Plant1plant 1 plant 2 updated photo of the problematic plant leaves.

Plant leaves

Silkograph
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It rather looks like insect damage, possibly leaf miner and whitefly. Both would cause a gradual decline of the plants. The broken necks might simply be gusts of wind or other rough handling. If you look closely at some of the leaves in both photos you will see tunnelling through the leaf tissues, tracks a couple of millimetres wide where a larva has passed through and eventually lays eggs which of course turn into more problems. The whitefly are evident on the margins of leaves as white specks. Flick the plant with a finger or jog the pot and see if any adults are disturbed. If you have a magnifying glass available take a good close look at the specks and the tracks so that you can recognize them in their early stages.

Colin Beckingham
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  • Sorry for late reply. This is what I was looking for. I haven't closely seen it but now couple of other plants also show similar white residue. If it is insect damage due to whitefly then will have to get pesticide from local shop informing them the issue. I will definitely give you reply on this. Thanks a lot for your valuable feedback. – Silkograph Jan 26 '21 at 16:00
  • OK, I have bought Thiamethoxam 25% WG and spread it on those infected plants. Lets see how it works. What do you think, is it correct? – Silkograph Jan 28 '21 at 15:06
  • Well, since the plants are annuals and reasonably cheaply replaced I think my choice would have been to compost the infected plants remotely from the terrace garden, accept the loss, and after a few weeks replace the annuals with fresh. But if you have a lot of annuals and you are attempting to stop transmission from a few infected plants your decision, while not very environment friendly, might be the right choice. We need to apply the right product to the right pest, and if in your area that product is the correct one then no more to be said. – Colin Beckingham Jan 28 '21 at 16:38
  • OK, thanks a lot for the valuable feedback. – Silkograph Jan 29 '21 at 10:23