First Steps in Problem Solving
Disease, Disorder or Pest?
Abnormalities in your plant’s growth are typically caused by disease, disorders, or pests.
Disease
Abnormalities caused by microorganisms or other pathogens invading your plant. For a disease to happen, three factors must be present: (1) a susceptible plant, (2) a viable pathogen, and (3) a favourable environment. Remember, prevention is the first step.
Disorder
Otherwise known as an environmental problem, these are abnormalities usually caused by environmental factors, such as light, temperature, humidity, water, nutrition, and soil.
Pest
Pests are insects which cause harm to your garden plants, such as whiteflies, aphids, or flea beetles.
Use the acronym LAWNS
Before rushing for a pest or disease diagnosis, the first thing to do is make sure you actually do have a problem. Think back about what a plant needs to survive. Does your plant have all of its needs met? Oftentimes, a plant issue is simply a symptom of an unmet need. Use the acronym L.A.W.N.S. to remember your plant needs.
Rule of Thumb
Indoor garden problems are most often environmental – due to lighting, temperature or moisture, and can be fixed by restoring favourable growing conditions. Ensuring ideal growing conditions is also the best way to avoid other garden problems, such as soil-bourne pathogens and pests, which are more likely to develop when plants are grown in stressful conditions.
Light
Are your plants receiving enough full sun or light? Are your grow lights placed too close to the plants?
AIR
How is the air quality for your plants? Is it too cold or too hot? Your plants need airflow to grow healthy. If your plants are too crowded you can place an oscillating fan on your garden for a few hours each day to ensure that there is enough airflow.
WATER
Are your plants receiving consistent moisture? Is the soil too dry? Too wet? Ensure that the bottom Earthbox reservoirs don’t dry out.
NUTRIENTS
Do your plants have enough nutrients? Did you add the correct amount of fertilizer? When in doubt, try adding your vermicompost. Too much fertilizer can be just as bad as too little fertilizer, but you can’t add too much vermicompost!
SPACE
Do your plants have enough space? Are they crowded? You might need to repot crowded plants or thin plants to make sure they have enough space.
After you’ve considered your plant needs, ask yourself the following questions:
Do I know what a healthy plant looks like?
Often times gardeners will panic about something “normal”. Tomato leaf roll is an example. Some tomatoes are supposed to be yellow or green at maturity. If your issue is a very small problem, either remove the tissue or isolate the offending plant. If your plants are strong and the problem small, they may not need your intervention, especially if it’s caught early. Use your judgment and experience to decide and be ruthless! If you suspect a problem, discard of the plant before it gets worse – and keep up your monitoring!
Is the plant stressed?
You may not have a pest or a disease at all. Maybe your plant just needs water, or fertilizer. Think about how you’ve been treating your garden before you treat the problem. Often establishing your garden back to ideal growing conditions will halt issues, and it is the best way to prevent disease and pest issues. Check out the symptoms of environmental causes here as your first stop.
Are my leaves pale or yellowing but showing no other symptoms?
If so, in an indoor garden like ours, it’s most likely a water, light or fertilization issue than a disease issue. Have you been meeting your plant’s needs? If it’s an uneven discolouration, it could be a sign of feeding. If it turns fuzzy, it’s a disease. Spotting can be either. Check out the chart of symptoms and environmental causes.
Is it slimy or moldy?
If so, dispose of the rotten/rotting stuff, disinfect the watering trays, adjust your watering practices and install a fan to promote air circulation.
Pest or disease?
If you’ve ruled out an environmental disorder, inspect your plant more closely. If it moves, looks like it’s been chewed, has swollen areas that could be eggs, or you can find webs, eggs or droppings, it’s probably a pest. Decay or discolouration of some kind is probably disease (assuming fertilization isn’t an issue). Spots on leaves can indicate pests or disease.
Opportunities when things go wrong
Indoor garden problems are most often environmental – due to lighting, temperature or moisture, and can be fixed by restoring favourable growing conditions. Ensuring ideal growing conditions is also the best way to avoid other garden problems, such as soil-bourne pathogens and pests, which are more likely to develop when plants are grown in stressful conditions.
Related Resources
Diagnosing the Issue
After 10 years of growing, when problems crop up in an LGT garden, they are often the same. Below are our most common issues found in the LGT garden.