Leaves Darken on the Tip

Leaves are dark on the tip. The tips appear brown in color. This is a form of necrosis called Leaf Tip Burn.

Leaf Tip Burn is almost always associated with a nutrient imbalance. This may either be due to an imbalance of a specific element or to a general overload of fertilizer. While the treatment is the same in all cases, you may still want to select from the list of additional symptoms in order to search for the precise cause of your African Violet's symptoms. Keep in mind, however, that due to the complex interaction between plant nutrients, pinpointing the precise cause will probably be very difficult. Often, an excess of one element will cause a deficiency in one or more other elements, and vice versa. Thus, short of sending your plant to a laboratory for testing, you will probably have to be satisfied with simply knowing that your African Violet suffers a nutrient imbalance without knowing exactly why.

• Complete list of possible causes.

Additional Symptoms

• Leaves pale. Chlorosis may appear on the edges only, or it may be general, i.e., the leaves are almost uniformly affected. The chlorosis may affect all of the leaves or only some of the leaves, i.e., in the crown only.
• Leaves are deformed or twisted. This symptom is probably most prominent on the younger, smaller leaves of the crown.
• Leaves curl up on the edge.
• Leaves are brittle or cracked.
• Leaves have orange crystals clinging to the plant hairs. These orange crystals are particularly visible in the crown.
• Leaves and stems have lesions where they rest on the rim of the pot.
• Variegated leaves turn entirely green.
• Not flowering.
• Buds do not open.
• Flowers drop off.
• Flowers are smaller than normal.
• Crown pales. It appears yellow in color.
• Crown deformed. It may appear tight as the newer, smaller leaves of the crown curl up and grow together.
• Plant growth is rangy. This symptom will be mostly the result of elongated stems.

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