A question from a fellow grower:
Keep up the good work! I ran across your website some months ago and think you are doing a wonderful job. I’m a first-time grower who has had an amazing amount of fun growing my first serious crop, many thanks to you. I am growing everything outside in pots, in a very secluded garden in South Africa, with plenty of sunlight, warm weather … great conditions.
But that, unfortunately, is where the good news ends. Within an astoundingly short time - 3-4 days - my most wonderful bush has died, or almost so. I would really like to ask your insight into the most likely causes of this sudden deterioration (I have my owns suspicions, but would appreciate the benefit of your experience).
Symptoms include something that looks suspiciously like the Claw, after which everything on the branch presumably dies and begins to dry out.
I am sending a couple of pictures - the first one is from last week monday, the last ones I took today. The plants are growing outside in pots. pH is a high 6. I don’t know about nutrient strength - I just used whatever soil was in the pot and added a bit of fertilizer when it seemed necessary! Temperatures here are about 10 -25 C (50-77 F?). We are in our dry season, but we have recently had unseasonable rains. The plant itself was really happy until about a week ago - now it looks dead. I really hope you have some idea as to what is going on so I don’t make the same mistakes next time…
