My plants have dried, burnt, brown, dead, crunchy, or crispy leaves - what's wrong?

There are lots of ways you might describe this on plants older than sprouts (when sprouts turn yellow or seem to wilt, there can be different explanations than when this occurs on more mature plants).

Most often, the outer tips or edges of leaves may seem to dry out while the rest of each leaf seems okay. Other times, you might be seeing whole leaves turning yellow, brown, or shriveling up. In either case, this isn't typically a major issue - read on to understand why, and what you can do about it.

This is most common on certain lettuces and leafy greens, but it can happen to other plants as well. Common reasons for this include:

• Infrequent or late tank top-offs/tank refreshes

  • Fresh water and balanced nutrients are the backbone to keeping your plants healthy. The longer you wait to top off or refresh your tank, the more your plants try to recycle the same nutrients, which naturally grow unbalanced over time. This can then cause poor growth.

• Not using Gardyn Plant Food, or not measuring/dissolving Gardyn Plant Food correctly

  • Only Gardyn Plant Food (available in your app shop and eligible to purchase with member credits) is specially designed to meet the wide variety of Gardyn plants' nutrient needs and life stages while also keeping your device running as smoothly and cleanly as possible. We cannot guarantee plant health, device cleanliness, or proper hardware function if you use another brand's plant food in your Gardyn.

  • Always dissolve your plant food into water before adding to your tank, and follow Kelby's instructions for what amount you should be dissolving each time. This ensures all of the nutrients remain accessible to your plants, as unbalanced nutrients can cause poor growth, just like infrequent tank top-offs and tank refreshes.

• Low humidity in your Gardyn's room environment

  • Check your Gardyn app settings to see your room's environment from time to time. Aim for temperatures in the 65-82°F range and humidity levels in the 50-75% range. If you have chronic low humidity, you might consider adding a small humidifier near your Gardyn.

If you see the outermost or lowermost leaves of plants start to yellow, shrivel, or fall off, this typically means your plant could be harvested sooner! The more often you harvest (while leaving 1/3 of the plant behind for continued growth) the more new growth you'll see. On plants like peppers and tomatoes, it's also normal for the leaves lowest down the stem to shrivel up as the plant focuses its energy on newer growth further up the stem.

If you start to see these leaves fade, simply trim them off so your plant can focus its energy on healthier leaves and new growth.

In the vast majority of cases, the answer to this is no. Kelby will let you know if your plants need more or less light, and you can also check your light schedule rating to see how you're doing. Typically, however, these symptoms indicate one of the other causes discussed above.

Your Gardyn is designed to provide different amounts of light based on how the light from the bulbs reaches each slot on the columns. We do suggest an ideal light zone for each plant in its Plant Book page on the app, corresponding to the light zones for Gardyn Home here and Gardyn Studio here. Rest assured that there is also flexibility in most plants to grow in a range of conditions, just like in nature.

The one zone you should pay the most attention to is the center of your Gardyn, which makes up the high-light intensity zone. Most fruiting plants like strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers require a high-intensity light to flower and form fruit, so strive to keep these plants in the center of your Gardyn.

Questions? Reach us at support@mygardyn.com, or chat with us! We're here to help.