I bought daisies a week ago from the local nursery and planted them in a large pot with good quality soil. I water them every two days but the leaves are starting to dry out at the tips, especially the older ones. Is it a lack of water, too much sun, or some kind of pest?
It's most likely a watering problem: daisies with dry tips usually means water isn't reaching all parts evenly or there's salt buildup in the soil. Even if you water every two days, what matters is that the pot drains properly. Does it have drainage holes at the bottom? If water sits there, the roots suffer and the leaves dry out. Plus, if the soil holds too much moisture, fungus can easily show up and block nutrient absorption.
My advice: let the soil dry out a bit between waterings (stick your finger 2-3 cm in and only water if it feels dry). Daisies are pretty tough and handle drought better than overwatering. If the pot doesn't drain well or the soil is too compacted, repot it with fresh, more porous substrate. You could also check if the nursery used hard water or if the soil came with a lot of mineral salts.
Sun usually isn't the culprit unless it's brutal direct light for 8+ hours straight nonstop, but daisies are outdoor flowers that normally handle quite a bit of light. Pests don't usually leave such uniform dry tips either, so I'd rule that out for now. Try adjusting the watering first and check again in about ten days: if it gets better, problem solved.
Don't change the substrate yet or increase watering without first checking the soil moisture a few centimeters down, because daisies hate wet feet and waterlogging kills faster than drought. What's probably happening is that this new soil, even if it's good quality, might have a pH that's a bit high or it's holding a lot of moisture in the lower layers while the upper ones dry out, which stresses the plant. Try watering thoroughly but wait until the top two fingers of soil are dry, and check whether water drains well through the holes at the bottom - if it comes out slowly, the problem is definitely drainage and not lack of water.
When you get dry tips on daisies after a week, it's almost never because of lack of water - actually, watering every two days is pretty frequent and could be rotting the roots without you noticing. What you're seeing is typical transplant shock: flowers freshly taken from the nursery are used to that controlled environment and need a few days to adapt to your pot, even if it has good soil. Cut back on watering a bit, feel the soil about 5 cm down, and water only when it's dry to the touch - you'll see them bounce back in a week or two.
don't water anymore without checking the soil moisture inside the pot first, because what you're seeing is probably stress from chronic waterlogging, not dryness! daisies are drought-tolerant plants and two days in a row of watering is plenty for a pot, especially if the soil doesn't drain well. try letting it dry out more between waterings and stick your finger in about five centimeters: if it's moist, wait a few more days. the dry tips will disappear slowly once it gets back to a more natural watering rhythm, so give it a week or two without doing anything!
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