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Will plants always have a small amount of melting


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Hey all. I noticed some of my planes have a very small amount of melting. Like an extremely small part of the plant. My nitrates are at 30-40ppm. I don’t have the resources to test for additional nutrient deficiencies. So here’s my question. Will plants always have a minuscule amount of “imperfections” or does any imperfection represent a nutrient deficiency? Overall the plants look very healthy 

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Hi @Zac

Most of the "melting" I see on your plants looks to be physical damage likely caused by the snails.  I do notice that the new growth is starting to show some chlorosis (yellowing) which could indicate an issue with insufficient available iron likely caused by not enough iron being dosed or the wrong 'type' of iron for the pH of your tank.  -Roy

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On 7/16/2022 at 3:54 PM, Zac said:

Hey all. I noticed some of my planes have a very small amount of melting. Like an extremely small part of the plant. My nitrates are at 30-40ppm. I don’t have the resources to test for additional nutrient deficiencies. So here’s my question. Will plants always have a minuscule amount of “imperfections” or does any imperfection represent a nutrient deficiency? Overall the plants look very healthy 

4CC9A697-F625-4B3B-8B3D-6A59BD565D0F.jpeg

D4DD251D-2FC1-4EEA-BE09-443CE3DCE8DC.jpeg

89857620-C92E-4E35-9716-1C1499C4C076.jpeg

My experience with snails, shrimp (and fish) is they won't attack healthy plants unless they are starving. Like, massively and chronically starving.

Side benefit of feeding freshly blanched veggies (carrots, squash, green beans <minus the "bean">, etc) is as the snails and shrimp eat the plant matter, their poop is perfectly balanced fertilizer... So I am doing much better with my plants now that I am following @Guppysnail's advice "Have you fed your snails today?"

It isn't always a nutrient deficiency problem. Sometimes it's a nutrient absorption problem. My pH got too high for the commonly used iron to be absorbed by my plants. Seattle_Aquarist and Mmiller explained Mulder's Chart of Plant Nutrition to me, and combined with my other plant chart that translates what I am looking at, to what my plants are trying to tell me, even my red stems are regrowing leaves in my tanks now.

Plus, keeping blanched veggies and dark green leafies in the tanks at all times has increased the amount of microfauna in my tanks, allowing me to successfully breed even my NANF glass shrimp. So plants are healthier, inverts are healthier, fish are healthier.

For the occasional plant the pops up with a little bit of algae, Reverse Respiration kills the algae, and also seems to be strengthening the treated plant so inverts limit themselves to eating the (now dead) algae, and not snacking on my leaves. I still have a deficiency I haven't fully identified in one tank, as the plants aren't developing roots as strong as the roots in my other tanks, but compared to where I was in the middle of June, things are already looking much better.

I suspect snails get blamed for eating plants, because most of us don't feed our snails or shrimp enough, because we are worried about fouling the water.

I don't gravel vac, I barely spot clean my substrate, I only do water changes when testing indicates a change is needed, I don't run CO2, and I use UGF plus sponge filters.

 

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NANF Glass shrimp tank on 7/2 above

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Berried female a week later

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Tank today

My Scapes from Scraps tank, after I underfed snails and shrimp below20220717_115305.jpg.e586334d0053746048ed7141843a8537.jpg

Tank on the left is SFS tank. No red plants left, barely any stems and barely any Helferi grass left. I'll get a curent picture after the lights come back on... but I got a picture last night of the pearlweed pearling and a red stem growing back leaves

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So if you are noticing holes in your plants, and they don't show any signs of deficiency, I would recommend feeding blanched veggies on a skewer for you inverts, both as an indirect fert schedule, and to prevent them from starving and eating foods they wouldn't normally eat.

 

FALL IS THE BEST TIME FOR LIME APPLICATION

08/27/2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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  • Soil nutrient availability and fertilizer use efficiency is pH sensitive.
  • Grid sampling provides the best method for measuring pH differences due to its uniform acre size/sample area size.
  • Field variance of pH values is driven by yield variation since the last pH correction, ammonium fertilizer applications and manure use in some cases.
  • The irregular shape and size of predetermined zones of zone sampling lead to unseen pH variation that can result in over or under application of lime in some areas of the field.

Balanced soil pH is the foundation to obtaining the most from soil fertility and maximizing yield.Extreme soil acidity or alkalinity can affect both nutrient (Diagram 1) and fertilizer availability.Additionally, soil pH outside the range of 6.0-7.5 can create an unfavorable environment for soil microbial life, adversely affecting soil health.Phosphorus is one of the most pH sensitive crop nutrients with a pH requirement around 6.7-6.8.At soil pH levels outside this range, phosphorus begins to form plant unavailable compounds with iron and aluminum at lower ranges, and calcium at higher soil pH levels.Even major nutrients like nitrogen become less available at pH 6.0 or below. The ideal soil pH range for a corn-soybean rotation is 6.0-6.5. When alfalfa is in the rotation a pH of 6. 8 is recommended.Ideal pH ranges are partially based on each essential nutrient having an optimum range of availability that is represented by the green-yellow range of each bar in the image below.While these areas of optimum availability don’t all align perfectly, macronutrient availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium lies in the 6.0-6.5 pH range.Recall that macronutrients are those needed by plants in the greatest quantity.While this places calcium and magnesium at a slight availability disadvantage, these two secondary nutrients are found in the higher volumes in mineral soils, being continually added with lime across time. Micronutrient availability remain at best availability for this pH range (6.0-6.5), except for molybdenum (Mo).Mo ideal pH range is extremely high and unsuitable for all other nutrients. 

Diagram 1. Soil pH effect on nutrient availability

 

 

Soil_ph_effect_availability_plant_nutrients_TABLE.JPG

 

Hope this helps you as much as it helped me!

 

 

 

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