Watering in hot weather

What do you think is going on with these strawberries? Pay special attention to the marginal leaf burning, especially on the lower leaves.

There had been hot weather recently, but the day we visited wasn’t particularly hot. 

The EC being fed was confirmed to be 1.6, while the drain EC was up to 2.8. 

When it’s hot weather, plants need to transpire to keep their leaves cool, kind of like humans when we sweat. But unlike human sweat, plants don’t get rid of salt when they transpire. As moisture leaves through the plant leaves, the media dries out, and the nutrients in it get concentrated. This causes a salt build up, which shows up as a lower leaf marginal burn.

The way to avoid this is to monitor the drain EC. If it starts to creep up, indicating that plants are “sweating through” more water than normal, water with clear water on those hot afternoons. 

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