Water Lettuce leaves curling and white.

[kadoxu]

Hi,

I'm starting to put some water lettuce and other floating plants in the small tub "pond", but just a few hours after transferring the Water Lettuce from a propagator into the pond, some leaves start to curl up, and a couple days later the leaves start to turn white.

Last year the water lettuce just thrived and grew in there, so I wasn't expecting this.

I'm thinking this may be related to the low amount of Magnesium in the water, but the curling leaves are confusing me.

I'm thinking of adding a bit of Magnesium and a bit of Micros just in case. What do you think?

The pics don't really show what's going on...

 

[rebel]

Looks like a fungus? Did you say it changed colour within a few HOURS???

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

but the curling leaves are confusing me.

They should be all right. It is leaf tip burn caused by the change in the humidity and PAR from being inside the propagator (humid and relatively dark) to on the pond. Basically it is Clive's <"photon torpedo"> of sun-light that has caused the damage.

The sun is <"pretty bright"> at the moment for the UK.

cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

I would also say transplant shock likely is the cause.. Several drastic changes, also temperarure changes can contribute.. Nights can still be pretty chilly.. Tho this is improving in western europe with the slight climate change... The old rule of thumb might be shifted a bit to an earlier date, but i didn't use to know any beter, for preventing night frost damage to keep seedlings and temperature sensitive plants (Introduced tropicals) indoors till past May to be on the safe side.

2 days ago i noticed it was 3°C when i woke up at 6 AM in the mornig..

 

[Edvet]

I put out a bucket with some floaters monday, let's see how they cope.

 

[zozo]

I did put my Hydrocleys nymphoides outdoor pretty soon again last month, thus April. And again it suffered a temp shock and is not growing. Day temps averagely are high enough, but the cold nights and temp swings don't do it very good. Tho it does survive but it definitively needs a constant water temperatur above 20°C to thrive and or flower. Last year i did put Juncuns repens to the test outdoors in April and it completely died off and didn't recover. This is a subtropical originating from the southern US it dies if temps drop bellow 14°C following database description. And it does, pretty sensitive plant..

I've tried Pistia in the past and also this is rather temp sensitive same goes for Eichornia sp. Ralated to Pontederia that is a bit more tolerant but also refuses to thrive in a shady spot or cloudy and rainy summers.

@kadoxu put a High/Low thermometer

in your garden. And track the night temp fall, especialy in the spring.. You might be surprised how far it can drop at night..

 

[kadoxu]

Looks like a fungus? Did you say it changed colour within a few HOURS???

Sorry, no, not the color... the tips of the leaves started curling in a matter of hours. The colour loss is a mater of a couple of days.

Hi all, They should be all right. It is leaf tip burn caused by the change in the humidity and PAR from being inside the propagator (humid and relatively dark) to on the pond. Basically it is Clive's <"photon torpedo"> of sun-light that has caused the damage.

The sun is <"pretty bright"> at the moment for the UK.

cheers Darrel

I would also say transplant shock likely is the cause.. Several drastic changes, also temperarure changes can contribute.. Nights can still be pretty chilly.. Tho this is improving in western europe with the slight climate change... The old rule of thumb might be shifted a bit to an earlier date, but i didn't use to know any beter, for preventing night frost damage to keep seedlings and temperature sensitive plants (Introduced tropicals) indoors till past May to be on the safe side.

2 days ago i noticed it was 3°C when i woke up at 6 AM in the mornig..

That makes sense. Also explains why I had a lot of floaters die of in the conservatory during the winter.
The propagator has a heated base and it gets some sunlight in the afternoon, so it probably goes up to 30ºC in there. Temp has been going down to 13ºC during the night, so the plants may not like it too much.

Thank you all!
I'll just keep adding what I remove from the tanks/propagators to the pond as usual then. They'll eventually start growing and I'll know when to start adding them in the future.

 

[Edvet]

Bucket after a week, gets a few hours sun

 

[kadoxu]

I finally figured out what the problem is. And it's water temperature. I realised I was moving the plants from water between 30-35ºC to water at lower 20ºC.

 

[rebel]

temperarure changes can contribute

@zozo was on point!