EasyBloom Forum

And finally, a general question about tip burn. I was reading that tip burn in plants can be caused by excess salts, dry soil or flouride. In regards to a couple of my plants that get what I think is tip burn (the tips of the leaves turning brownish), how can this be fixed/prevented? Should I not be watering my plants with our city water from the tap? How do I know if my plants have too much or too little flouride, or the same for our water supply? Does too much or too little flouride cause the tip burn? So now that I've picked your brain on everything that I can think of thats ailling my plants I will give it a rest.

Hello Kadra, In regards to this question I would guess the browning is either from the excess Fluoride from the tap water or from a build up of excessive fertilizer salts in the soil. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem like you are using fertilizer to much degree right now…..correct? So in my mind that leaves the factor of fluoride as being the main culprit. You can find out how much is used in your local water supply by calling your local water utility. But in the mean time you probably need to flush out your planters with an extended slow flow of water to flush out excess salts and fluoride (probably around 5 minutes or so for each plant). So I hope I’ve been helpful in regards to your questions. Please feel free to inquiry about anything I have posted, or any new questions that may come to mind. Thanks so much, and look forward to a better future for your favorite plants! Best ~ Ian Hall

For flushing out my plants, I suppose that using the water from the outside spiket isn't going to be much more helpful in decreasing the amount of fluoride build-up. If I were to buy water from the store, which is preferred? Spring, drinking, or distilled?

Hi Kadra, For the initial flushing you can certainly use the tap water because it will ultimately dilute the build up and just leave a concentration close to what is in your tap water once it leaves the spigot. It would take way too much bottled water to flush out the excess fluoride build up. But from here on after yes bottled water should probably be used for regular watering. Spring and or drinking water is good because it contains some micro elements that can be beneficial to the plant. Best!~ Ian