Lawrence Croeser
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:02 am
Location: South Africa

Yellowing & wilting of plants

Good Day,

Please suggest what the problem could be;

My basil plants are yellowing and my sage wilted and died. My egg fruit died off.

These are all planted outside. I do have other plants in the same bed whci are fine. eg Broad leaf parsley, garlic chives, sorrel, rosemary and rocket. I am waiting for a PH & nutrient tester.

My soil is slightly clayey. I have transplanted the broad leaf basil into a pot plant and it seems fine. All my plants are in full sun and I live in the sub tropics, South Africa east coast.

Many thanks........Lawrence

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Welcome to the forum!

It always helps if you can post pictures; instructions for that are in the introductory section Helpful Tips and Suggestions for New Members.

You are very far away and I'm not familiar with your climate or some of your plants (egg fruit? would that be the same as what we call eggplant?).
You might be best to check with a good local nursery, or if you have something like our Agricultural Extension Service, where there are people who know the local climate, pests, diseases, etc.

But one possibility that occurs to me to consider is over-watering. Clay- ey soils (that I am familiar with! :) ) tend to hold moisture and not drain real well. The basil and sage particularly like very well drained soil and do not like to stay damp. The basil may be doing better in the pot because it provides better drainage.

garden5
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Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

OK, I probably have no business throwing in my comments on this one since I probably know hardly anything about your gardening climate. Anyway, Isn't this the warm season in Africa?

Could it be that the plants are getting too much heat? If you have been experiencing plenty of temps in the high 80s to 90s, this could very well be the case. If it is, do a search on "floating row covers"; they are like thin fabric that you suspend over your plants to shade them.

Welcome to the Helpful Gardener :D!

Lawrence Croeser
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:02 am
Location: South Africa

Thank you very much,

The well drained soil seems the most likely. I am going to try and plant sage and basil in a pot and place it in the veg garden.

Are basil and sage compatible to plant in one container?.

Thanks Lawrence

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Should be fine for this year, if the container is big enough. But the basil is an annual, the sage is perennial. So next year the sage will come back and continue getting bigger, so should have the container to itself.



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