Sunburn or Fungus on my Oregano?

[Ledanator]

Hi guys,

It's my first time posting here! I have a little container garden that gets a lot of full sunlight most of the day. I recently bought some oregano and rosemary and put them in a little pot together. They were fine for a bit but recently the oregano has gotten very sad. I thought it might be because my bf accidentally hung out his laundry to dry over them one night and that maybe the detergent residue burned them. But it's been slowly spreading to the new baby leaves and I'm wondering if it's a fungus or a sunburn. I have no idea how to tell. The leaves are pretty crispy. And the rosemary has been happy as a clam. Here's some images:


And here's the whole pot.


There are a couple branches of the oregano that are unaffected as you can see.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[imafan26]

Looks more like a little transplant shock and maybe a little tip burn to me. If you cut off the damaged branches the new ones should come out fine. It is probably not a fungus since the other parts of the plant looks fine. Fungus would be spreading. My oregano doesn't really get much fungal problems, just problems when it gets too much water or the center dying when it isn't divided soon enough.

The tip burn is a common problem with container plants and has multiple causes. Transplant shock, too much or too little watering, a container that was is in the shade being taken out into the sun without hardening off first, too much fertilizer, chemical burn, hot and windy conditions. A pot that is just too hot. If the pot is too hot for you to hold then the roots are probably cooking a bit too.

[Ledanator]

Thanks! I'll check for the hot pot problem and cut back the dead branches. I got it from home depot and they have that sheer mesh ceiling over all the herbs and edibles. It was still pretty sunny in there but maybe it was still too much of a shock for it. Thanks so much for the quick reply!

[GardeningCook]

I agree to cut off the affected branches & see how it goes. (And move it away from your boyfriend's laundry. )

[Susan W]

Hopefully your dead leaves are just one dead stem that didn't make. An oregano pot is most always a number of plants/stems, not just one. Once these get up and a bit stronger, will want to separate to 2 pots. Oregano gets thirsty, perhaps a big root system, and rosemary needs room to grow. Enjoy!

[GardeningCook]

An oregano pot is most always a number of plants/stems, not just one. Once these get up and a bit stronger, will want to separate to 2 pots.

Not true. While it's possible that if one purchased a large pot of oregano from a nursery it might contain several plants, all of my potted oreganos have been one single plant only, & they've all ended up huge. And as single plants, there's no "separating" them, as oreganos don't grow from rhizomes or anything that can be separated.

And I can tell from the plastic plant labels in the OP's pot that the plants are purchased are most likely "Bonnie's Plants". They sell their oregano seedlings one to a pot.

[Susan W]

Oh my, this is interesting. I try to have oregano starts all year. I sow more liberally than most, for all starts, and thin later if needed. There may end up 1 -4 oregano seedlings per peat pellet. Once with true leaves and all, gets bumped up to 4" If sparse, put 2 pellets in a pot.