23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Have you fertilized? How long have they been in the growing? How long were they producing?

Rodney

Good question. I've just harvested a pile of butternut, and wondered if that was it for the patch. The greenery is pretty healthy, and there are occasional (male) flowers still. I have to assume that a huge amount of energy has been going into the fruit, and I'd like to believe the plants would kick back into productivity now that the fruit are harvested. The plants have been in the ground since March. I've done an occasional top-dressing with compost, but otherwise have pretty much left them alone.

I've seen PM on squash late in the season, but never on my okra. Those white spots on the leaves are most likely bug bites... spotted cucumber beetles or flea beetles often do that to mine (and to nearly everything else as well).

The white spots are actually egg shells. I took the pic before I brushed it off of the leaves.

My problem with planting at 1/4 inch was that the seeds came to the top of the soil no matter how lightly I watered. Planting at 1 inch became my insurance.

I'll add some soil to my stocktank gardens next year.

You can buy mustard seeds and seed them over affected area. Make sure you seeded them nicely spaced but evenly , to give the plants space to grow, but cover the whole area. When plants started to flower, you need somehow crash them and dig them into soil. I usually cut the greens, put them in 20 gallon bucket in portions and go through them with weed wacker. Then spread the chopped greens over soil in dig them in. Water well to make soil wet deep enough, cover with plastic and let it stay this way for 3-4 weeks. All process of chopping should be very fast - like an hour before all greens are in the soil. The gas that crashed greens produce kills nematodes. It called bio fumigation You can plant you plants not earlier then 3 weeks after that.
I did it once last year in the area nematodes were not that bad, carrots are growing OK so far there. And this year I am treating a really bad spot. The mustard already in the ground, the soil waiting for right time to plant fall carrots. The results unknown yet)

Here is a link that might be useful: Where you can buy mustard seeds for bio fumigation

You're referring to solarizing the soil. Which can do the job if done correctly. This means tilling in some compost in the hottest and sunniest time of the year, thoroughly drenching the area with water, and then covering up with clear plastic 4-6 mil, making sure to tuck the plastic in to create a seal. Sand and/or bricks work well. 6-8 weeks later and you'll have sterile soil, so re-add more compost to get the microbes and worms back going again.

Kevin

That issue (rain) is why ferric phosphate is used. It is practically insoluble in water, where iron sulfate is very soluble.

Last night added new bait (old stuff had dried from sun). Checked it in morning. Hardly any SS. No new damage on plants either. I guess that one night of bait eradicated them until more invade from the neighboring areas. I guess once a week application would perhaps be more appropriate to keep them in check.

Also I think you need good soil/nutrients to grow cukes.

At least for me, zucchini is kind of a benchmark in terms of growth - one plant grows huge. Pole beans are similar - lots of production. Then cucumbers, which are a bit slower and more difficult. Bell peppers are much slower and smaller.

"If the cucumbers are "burpless", most varieties are parthenocarpic. That means they produce fruit without pollination, and have no seeds- thus "burpless"."

While some parthenocarpic cucumbers are burpless, the presence (or lack of) seeds is unrelated to whether or not the cucumber is burbless. Many burbless cucumbers are long Asian varieties which develop seeds.

If the cucumber in the photo is of a parthenocarpic variety, then it should develop normally regardless of pollination, and there are other issues causing the curling (which is my suspicion anyway). If it is a conventional cucumber requiring pollination, then it is possible that lack of pollination could cause deformity. In my experience, though, cucumbers tend to abort unpollinated blossoms very quickly, at a much smaller size.

My plants develop cucumbers that curl like that when they are under stress (due to heat or lack of water), or late in the season when the vines have already been producing for a long period. It appears that there is mulch around the plants, which would be my first recommendation. They might respond to more water, and to a light application of fertilizer... but if the curling is being caused by heat, then new cukes should begin to develop normally with a return to more moderate temperatures. Until then, pinch off all deformed fruits.

That's amazing growth for 1 months time. Hopefully you can keep things going for a while longer and get a good harvest. This is after 3-4 months of growing.

@Kelly,

These potatoes are still growing the harvest is of last year. i keep them in container till their leaves dies, to make sure potatoes are mature.

@edweather,

Good harvest, keep growing..!!

Here's an idea. Clip all affected leaves but make sure you leave the center ones alone. Kale grows back so fast, you'll probably only go a week without. Besides, you look to have enough plants to feed the whole town. Looks like you could use some heavy mulch also.

That hose end sprayer... trash it or save it for dormant oil spraying on a fruit tree or something. Or something else. Foliar feeding is not recommended in my book unless it's something like worm tea or compost tea. And ESPECIALLY not recommended with synthetic ferts.

With kale, feed the soil early with organic matter and MAYBE a side dressing with more later in the season. Or... if you really feel you need some, maybe some fish ferts and or a dash of organic meals. Kale with do well in pretty poor soil.

The pesticide you used sounds like it's broad spectrum. I recommend against them since they kill the good bugs also.

Good luck

Kevin

Thanks Kevin! All your advice has been great since this is my first season growing kale I still have a lot to learn. I started it all from seed and expected a lot of it to die but of course everything lived so I have a ton. I'm starting to freeze the extra and I'm going to use it this winter for kale smoothies. I'll remove the odd leaves as you stated and see what condition the plants are in afterwards. If there's more trouble I'll let you know. Thank you again

Another potato leaf... this plant has curled leaves and has always looked less healthy than the others.

Agree with Dave. Overwatering(tons of rain) will cause the paleness and leaf drop. The tip burn is caused by too much fert in most cases. Burning in the middle of the leaves--- did you foliar feed or splash by any chance?

"I will try to avoid the chemical ferts alltogether in the future."

Good idea. You did what is best for MOST veggies needs... feed the soil early. Past that, veggies like maters and peppers and most others fruiting types just need side dressing of more compost, worm castings, compost tea or ORGANIC ferts, etc. after each "flush" of fruit starts. Why ruin that nice looking soil with chemical ferts?? Save it for container plants.

Not sure about the potato blight thing. I don't know what it looks like. Looks like burn also. But the same as above applies to taters -- feed the soil early and get some bone meal in extra early( long before planting) since it takes so long to break down.

Do the same with BONE MEAL with other veggies also. I'll use it in side dressing but I don't expect THAT application to come into play until I till the soil in the winter for my winter/early spring veggies. It's a consistent sprinkling of it every 6 months so that FUTURE plants can take advantage when it's usable.

Back to the peppers --- it's difficult to control water with RAIN. But maybe you can set up tarps to divert SOME of it in the future if you're expecting deluges. Dave is spot on about watering peppers -- they like to almost get bone dry in between. Water thoroughly, let get bone dry, water thoroughly, let get bone dry, and so on.

Good luck.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Sat, Jun 28, 14 at 13:24

Sounds like your PH might not be right for carrots..do have your soil tested, then adjust for carrots.

I planted carrots this year in a new 5x10' raised bed of very soft soil. I had large bare spots where no carrots emerged. Germination was excellent in other areas. I replanted where the bare spots were and had some germination but not good. I have concluded that there is some soil organism feasting on carrot seeds or the vulnerable feeder roots. Quite possibly Symphylans as I know them to be present in my garden, but could be some other culprit. I suspect you have a similar issue but even worse. Raised beds with high organic matter content that are moist all year round can breed large populations of leaf-litter-loving bugs. Some of these bugs also love chewing on young, tender roots when available.
Dealing with below-ground pests is much worse than the ones above ground.

Wow! All I can say is inspect the underside of the leaves for any sign of insects.
Is this all of your peppers or just one plant?
If it were a fungal type disease, usually they start at the bottonm leaves and work their way up..hard to tell from your pics, but it looks all over to me?
Have you had cold snaps in the last couple of weeks?..Could be cold damage.
Or...did you fertilize heavily recently?

9 times out of 10 it is caused by herbicide exposure. Even the slightest drift of it on the wind can cause this.

The one time out of 10 that it isn't herbicides it is caused by a severe infestation of aphids on the underside of the leaves.

Dave

I have not grown them myself but I was researching the matter. On Mother Earth News I found an article from a gardener who grows them in Canada:

Grow Sweet Potatoes Even in the North
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-sweet-potatoes-zm0z11zsto.aspx

The author said the trick in the northern regions is to use clear plastic to warm up the soil before planting.

On another link, a blogger from Seattle related his experience in trying to grow them--he was not very successful.

http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2011/01/growing-sweet-potatoes-in-seattle-is-it-possible/

However he did relate in the article that you can ALSO eat the leaves and they are quite nutritious. He said he planted his in black pots but the year he did it for--Seattle had a particularly cold summer. My guess is that it would be worth a try but warm the soil first.

A gardener here on Olympic Peninsula and close to the water grew them. He likes to experiment with things at least once. I took 4-Hers on field trip to his garden in October and he saved his peanuts and sweet potatoes to harvest when they came. The sweet potatoes were only a little smaller than those in store and about 6 to a plant. They were planted on the south side of a stone/ concrete foundation of his greenhouse outdoors.