24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


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


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.

I figure on early July as the last chance to plant warm-season crops like cucumbers, summer squash and bush beans. This is actually a good time to plant parsnips, especially if you pre-sprout the seeds in damp paper towels.
The wet weather pattern is frustrating, but I'll take it over drought anytime.

Planatus, thanks for that suggestion on pre-sprouting the parsnips. I will try that. I have already dug a trench for the parsnips just now, but I will cover it, because it is supposed to rain again. (That trench is just to make the soil for the parsnips nice and friable, so the seed can grow deep and long: I am not going to plant the seed at the bottom, in case you are worried!) And you're right about being grateful for the rain.

Here is another post on this forum where folks are discussing the same issue.
Here is a link that might be useful: Pepper leaf curl

Should have just added this to your previous post about this plant rather than starting a new post so I linked it below. That way all the info is in one place.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Your previous post of this question

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?

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.



I have to agree with you zeedman, in amongst the rat tail seed I planted one plant is producing short fat green pods, Madras? Whatever it is it's quite succulent and nicer than the long skinny purple ones, I still like them but not as much as the short fat green pods. In any case I received my Madras seed from Bountiful Gardens today and have already planted a few seeds. Thanks for the heads up on this one.
Annette


Agree - sounds like lack of pollination with the shriveled fruit. You can self-pollinate - see the link below.
Here's a list of yellow leaf possibilities:
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/why-squash-leaves-turn-yellow.htm
Here is a link that might be useful: Hand pollination of Squash

That's probably it. It is used for livestock feed and in bird seed mixes (among other things), so I wouldn't doubt it would be included in hen scratch, too. You can read the package and see if it's listed specifically as an ingredient. This part of your garden will be for the birds!


I plant a modest fall crop of potatoes about Labor Day for an early December harvest here in Gainesville, Florida. I then plant my main crop of potatoes (using freshly bought seed potatoes) in mid January for a late May harvest. Anything harvested from my main crop that is starting to sprout by Labor Day gets planted for the fall crop since fresh seed potatoes are not available locally at that time of year.
The first frost of the autumn generally occurs here between Thanksgiving and the first week in December, which allows about 90 days for my fall potatoes to mature. You would need to adjust your summer planting date accordingly -- I would guess around mid to late July for the Atlanta area. Just don't count on a huge crop of fall potatoes. I use them as a supplement to my main crop, which is planted in January. If you want to grow lots of potatoes, then plan for that to be the spring crop.
If finding seed potatoes in mid summer is problematic for you, you can always try grocery store potatoes that have sprouted or stash some spring bought seed potatoes in the refrigerator until you are ready to plant them in July.
This post was edited by courtneych on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 5:50

And onions shouldn't be dried all that long in the direct sun either.
If your onions weren't finished (matured), were harvested early - which in PA I would think it is too early to be harvesting them - then they will go soft no matter what you do.
Onions are left in the dry ground until the tops fall over and the necks turn dry and brown. Then harvested and dried out briefly in partial sun or even shade as it is the air circulation not heat you are after.
Now what to do to try to save them. Soak the carrots and beets in ice water for several hours - a cooler full of heavily iced water will help firm them back up some. Then either can or freeze them as they won't store for long as is.
The onions can be chopped and then either dehydrated and stored in jars or frozen in pre-measured amounts in freezer bags and used for cooking.
Dave

If you post where you read that it might be more clear...
Lots of thing can be pulled early but needs to be in the fridge and used quickly. Onions and garlic can be pulled and used before fully formed, but should not be dried/cured as what you may have read until the tops brown and dry while still in soil as Dave pointed out.
Carrots and beets need cool storage asap...i've used the ice water bath method after forgetting a harvest but it was in shade.
I don't pull much of that until much cooler september weather...carrots lasted through the holidays in cool storage...anything i pull early in summer heat goes right in the fridge...
Maybe you were reading about a completely different growing zone....but the carrots and beets does not compute for anywhere.




While your plants have some disease issues they also have nutrient deficiency issues. You don't mention what if any thing you have been feeding them or what nutrient amendments were added to the soil before planting.
Your pics show marked phosphorous deficiency - the purpling - as well as nitrogen deficiency. The odds are that the soil pH in your bed is heavily skewed out of line so any nutrients there can't be absorbed by the plants. A quick fix feed of a balanced liquid fertilizer will fix the issue IF your pH is ok. If not, if the plants don't improve, then you need to get a professional soil test done. Contact your local county ag extension office.
When plants suffer from a lack of sufficient nutrients they are susceptible to all sorts of disease and pest problems.
Feed them and see if things don't improve with new, good colored new growth.
Dave