Phrag andreettae leaf bronzing

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Loomis, California USA
I recently purchased several andreettae from Peruflora and noticed that most of them seem to have some bronze coloration on the margins of the leaves. I will take pictures tomorrow and post them. Just curious if anyone else has had the same experience.
BTW they seem to be growing really well, all plants with new leaves and new growths poking through.

Thanks

Tyler
 
Here are the pictures as promised.

So there is not any rot at all, and like I said the plants are growing really fast since I purchased them. I keep them in a moderate light area with other Phrags mostly besseae and some Parvi's. Temps are 55-80 right now with good humidity. Potted in NZSM, Hydroton, chunk carbon, and a touch a leaf humus. Watered twice a week and fertilized once a week with MSU, Humic Acid and Kelp extract. That fert combo has served me quite well and growth has been explosive on pretty much every plant I grow.

Thoughts?

Tyler
 

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I've never seen anything like that. Could be light. If found andreettea to be relatively easy to grow.

Kyle
 
At what strength are you fertilizing and what is the TDS of your regular irrigation water?


May want to run a lower fert rate for these little guys. Can you measure pot TDS?
 
Maybe overhydration....affected species are bessae, fischerii , schlimii and andreetae. Be very careful with waterings, they need very strong air movement just on day of- and day after watering. In opposite case you will see that few or more oily spots appear on leaves , they will turn to bronze like dry spots within few days. Cause is overhydration, intracellular oedema, if it is severe, leads to death of cells ( dry spots), if only mild, spots will diappear.
 
The fert concentrations are:
MSU - 3/4tsp per 2 gallons
Humic Acid - 5ml per 1 gallon
Kelp - 5ml per 2 gallons

Interesting about the overhydration! Have not really thought of that since all reports that I have encountered is that the care is similar to besseae just slightly warmer. They DO dry out very slightly between waterings, not to the point of complete dryness but mostly dry. The air flow is quite high being a big believer in high flow. The bronzing to me is less spotting but more like a hazing of the leaves. Surprisingly there has not been any dry tips other than the ones that they arrived with from Peru, all the new growth has been clean of any dry tips or dry patches.

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

Tyler
 
Looks to me like a bit of anthocyanin production. Which could be a lot of different factors from dehydration to imbalance of P or Mg.

Do you have fischeri? How are they doing in comparison?

You may have some interesting pot dynamics going on. I wouldn't add any more chemical to the mix, but dilute more.
 
Have not really thought of that since all reports that I have encountered is that the care is similar to besseae just slightly warmer. They DO dry out very slightly between waterings, not to the point of complete dryness but mostly dry.

Have you been keeping track of the PK thread?

Rains every day in the winter and almost every day in the summer.

Besseae growing at the bottom of wet seeps.

These guys need lots of water. Low TDS. The straight RO water use probably doesn't help much to get excess K out of the substrate. If you add in a bit of tap water to your RO water that would help.
 
IMO bronzing is caused by low temperatures. andreettae is a warm growing species and do not grow well under 18°C. If your besseae plants are growing fine... it is too cool for andreettae. I think that temperature is the key factor growing this species. Keep them between 18 and 28°C and yo will see how start recovering. Also andreettae is highly tolerant to overfeeding and to underfeeding and you can use a wide spectrum of fertilizers with good results if you can keep temperature OK.
 
Have you been keeping track of the PK thread?

Rains every day in the winter and almost every day in the summer.

Besseae growing at the bottom of wet seeps.

These guys need lots of water. Low TDS. The straight RO water use probably doesn't help much to get excess K out of the substrate. If you add in a bit of tap water to your RO water that would help.

Hello, Rick! Overhdration is a valid problem, especially on ficheriis and bessaes. You have right about raining in nature, but I read few articles before about their habitat. Writer noted that wind almost swept his hat from his head.....I know their need much water but need VERY strong air movement!!!!! I always put my fischeriis just front of fans after waterings for 2 days....last time I forgot to do this, and overhydrated spots appeared within 6 huors!!!!!! I go on your way, you know it well, I use K-lite fertilizer with weak CC on every waterings ( 60-70 ppm total).
 
That would be good to see if a temp increase would change that.

55F is 5 degree F lower than I let my GH get too.

18C is almost 65 F so that would be a significant increase to get those plants to a happier range.

That would probably change the water uptake and transfer dynamics inside the plant as well as the media.
 
Hello, Rick! Overhdration is a valid problem, especially on ficheriis and bessaes. You have right about raining in nature, but I read few articles before about their habitat. Writer noted that wind almost swept his hat from his head.....I know their need much water but need VERY strong air movement!!!!! I always put my fischeriis just front of fans after waterings for 2 days

I may take the airflow in my GH for granted. After I come back inside after being in my GH, my wife says I have Einstein hair:eek: So definitely pretty breezy all the time in my GH.
 

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