Took me 6 weeks to figure out why my balcony basil kept turning yellow

Turns out the afternoon sun was bouncing off the white wall behind the pots and basically slow-cooking the roots - anyone else run into weird reflected heat issues in a tight spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

jasonp7116d ago

Oh man, that's brutal. I had something similar happen with peppers on a south-facing balcony. The wall paint was dark gray and it turned the whole area into an oven. Took me forever to figure out why they looked scorched but weren't getting direct sun. You don't really think about how much heat bounces off surfaces until you see the damage. It's like those plants are getting hit from every angle. I ended up putting up a cheap bamboo shade between the wall and the pots, and that made a huge difference. Hope your basil bounces back now that you know what's going on.

rubyreed15d ago

Slow-cooking the roots" makes it sound worse than it was. Plants handle heat fine if watered right.