hi,
All my verbenas has started to die out. The leaves in the lower portion of all plants has died and the problem is moving towards the tip. All plants in my collection have been affected... Can anyone please help me in solving the issue?

Could you give us a bit of history to help - have they been growing in these containers all season, what is your approximate location, have they been fertilized and if so with what?

One thing I notice from the pictures is that there is a separation between the potting mix (or is it garden soil?) and the side of the pot which suggests a problem either with the mix and/or insufficient moisture.

They have been growing in these containers all season... They have been fertilized with NPK 19-19-19 about once a month. The location is Kerala, India with tropical climate... The mix is garden soil...

I've had problems keeping these going myself so am probably not the best person to comment but I think at least part of the problem is that garden soil doesn't work well in pots, it is too dense. If you want to keep them going, I'd be inclined to cut them back and repot in some container mix. Has your weather pattern changed there recently, rainfall or temperature?

Hi Pegasus,

Sue's comment about garden soil being not the best medium for pots is good, and possibly a factor in the problem. The problem is likely a nutritional one. Do you know if your 19-19-19 fertilizer contains trace elements?

Also, what do you know about the water that the pots get? Is it rain water or tap water or what? Doing a soil test of some sort of the soil in the pots could help, even if it was just a pH test, using an indicator paper. Verbenas need the pH to be in the range 5.5 to 7.0. A pH outside that range can affect nutrient availability, regardless of what fertilizer you supplied.

ZM