These purple stems are only due to one thing, and that is a phosphorus deficiency.
Phosphorus is the second important building block of the plant, and a deficiency of this results in a different chemical reaction of nitrogen in the plant.
The causes of the phosphorus deficiency can be:
- Cold. At a temperature below 20 ° C, phosphorus travels less in the plant and almost no longer at all below 17 ° C. The phosphorus simply stops, causing a shortage. The plant therefore hardly grows below 17 ° C. Note: A plant also grows at night and the temperature should never be lower than 20 ° C. Every time the temperature drops below it means a loss in the end yield.
- Too high pH. If the pH in the medium rises above 6.0, the phosphorus decreases included. If the pH in the medium rises above 6.5, phosphorus is almost completely not recorded.
- Poor plant nutrition. Phosphorus comes in all kinds of different qualities and that has to do with the origin of the nutrient (what the phosphorus is made of). The quality determines the absorbability, concentration and miscibility. Most food suppliers use cheaper phosphorus, which means that high concentrations are not possible and they quickly bind with other substances. Think of: crystallization, gypsuming and crusts on the medium. Deficiencies are often supplemented by using a phosphoric acid as a pH.