I am pulling my hair out on this one. This is beebalm. It was very green when I brought it home. Several of my perennials in my new garden are turning weird colors. The leaves started getting pale and then yellowish then orangish, then PURPLE! I believe my Ph is normal. I am doing some spoil tests [very difficult] and what I know so far is nitrogen is very low. I know that can cause leaves to yellow, but PURPLE? ...will post another photo of a young tree that is doing the same thing.
I don't know if I'd worry too much about the purplish color, I've seen that happen from cold, sun, things like that but never really hurts the plant. I'm more worried about the yellowing that you can see on the lower leaves, often yellowing lower leaves can indicate a watering issue, most often too much water but could also be too little.
The purple leaves can also be caused by nutrient deficiencies. I'd give these guys some complete fertilizer. They need more than nitrogen. There's phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, etc, etc..... Different plants react differently to the lack of elements, but I seem to recall that the purpling is usually attributed to a lack of phosphorous....
Are you doing your own soil testing? Those kits can be way wrong. Call your county's cooperative extension service for a soil sample kit. It will tell you how to get a proper sample, and where to send it. (It will be your land grant university.) They will issue you a report that will tell you exactly what is lacking in your soil and how to correct it. If you choose to do this, don't fertilize first. And then wait for the report. It shouldn't take more than a week....
Yes, I did my own soil test but I also sent 3 samples to our county. I am still waiting. I heard the soil test kits were not reliable but I bought a couple anyway. After posting this, I read the lack phosphorous can cause purplish/redish leaves. I must have read dozens of NPK nutrient information but only one talked about this specific problem. I guess it pays to read from as many sources as possible. Thanks.
