24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Drought stress is too little water.
May be wet or moist soil and still be drought stress because of a hot, dry day and/or extra bright day. (Treatment: Rig temporary shade.)
This is not powdery mildew.
And your symptoms don't match that of pix posted by digdirt.

Runner beans are actually tender perennials, so they know to take all kinds of weather. They may not bloom strong in the heat, but will remobilize in fall. The blossoms and pods are sensitive to heat, but the plants do okay. You will not want to eat the pods set in NC summer anyway, too hairy and bitter, but everything changes when cool weather comes in the fall. The quality of the young pods improves about a thousand percent in cool weather. Go for it.


Bald seedlings can be the result of planting too deeply, especially in heavy soil. I've also noticed that older seed is more susceptible to emerging bald. Starting beans in pots overcomes this issue, but it only makes sense for pole beans, where you get a high yield per plant.

< Peppers seemed to tolerate lots of water...>
Just the opposite. Peppers prefer to dry out between watering. Over-watering them leads to yellowing of leaves, leaf drop, root rot, and fruit abortion. And slugs and pepper plants don't play well together.
Dave


From what I have read about them - no claims to accuracy - they can be pole (both tall and short climb), bush, half runner, etc. and all mixed in the same row according to one grower I read on another forum. They aren't stable genetically and it all depends on the genetics of the particular bean planted what type of plant you get. I get the impression they are mostly pole type but so few grow them that it is difficult to get accurate info. You be the tester on this one and report back to us as to what happens. :)
Dave


Thanks, LoneJack! You're spot on when you say that growing my own plants would be a lot cheaper than buying transplants. The only problem is that I tried that 3 years ago but, while I had good germination, the little seedings got very leggy with very weak stems. Knowing that they just weren't going to make it, I found Packman plants locally and stuck with that variety until this year. Supposed to get to 94 degrees in Omaha tomorrow and 93 on Wednesday. If the headless Green Magic plants can make it through that, the temps are predicted to fall back to the high 70s to low 80s over the following 10 days. Getting the feeling that I'll be stuck with store-bought broccoli until next spring. Darn!

I planted them out May 18 (frost free date is supposed to be May 10) but there was frost several times, I covered them with small flower pots at night but may have forgotten once or twice. Then there was no rain for three weeks (I did water every couple days) followed by nothing but rain for a week. So maybe all this is why they are not growing as quick as I remember from previous years. Maybe they will catch up as weather evens out.

Find someone in your area that raises rabbits. Bunny berries are "MAGICAL" for a garden. I raise rabbits and literally mulch my plants with the bunny berries. I feed the rabbits hay and they waste more through the bottom of their cage than they eat, so when I clean out the barn I have a 50/50 mixture of hay and manure. It goes straight to the garden and I mulch my plants with it. Rabbit manure is not "hot" like horse or cow manure. It will not burn your plants...



I grew nice dill last summer from seed. But the best herbs in my herb garden are perennial. I have Oregano that is like a weed, a nice Thyme bush, Sage that is good year round, Fennel that comes up every year. I'd recommend these for a long-term haul from the herb garden.

Basil is annual, germinates very quickly and grows quite fast too. It loves heat so I think that one will work well.
Chives are perennial and don't grow particularly fast initially. If it bolts it's irrelevant because it will live for years whether it flowers or not.
Parsley is quite slow to germinate and is biennial.


Most all squash varieties will pollinate each other with no problems and produce whatever the plant is supposed to produce. I have used all sorts of varieties to pollinate each other over the years. It is only an issue if you try to save the seeds for future use.
But your situation is a good example of why I never plant just one of anything. Two plants will quadruple your pollination opportunities whether by hand or insects. :)
Dave

I'm embarrassed to say I only knew of MiracleGro when I started, so I've been using it every few weeks. It seemed to be doing fine until lately. This morning I looked and the yellowing leaves are starting to dry out and turn brown on the end, and it seems that some of the higher up leaves are starting to get slightly yellowish patches. Any recommendations?

Yeah it is either rootbound in the container (very likely) or it is suffering from salt build-up in the soil from all the MG (also quite likely). You can use MG on containers if you wish, your choice and many do, but you have to use it at a very diluted rate (1/4 strength or 1/2 strength max) or you end up with salt damage to the plants.
Just get what fruit you can from it and then let it go. It won't survive transplanting now. And meanwhile start another one. Next time use a bigger container.
Dave

Get the test. This time of year, as you suggest, their turn around time shouldn't be too long (you can call them and ask.) The info on the results should be fairly easy for you to make sense of.
As far as buying anything, well, if the turn around time is fast, and the plants haven't really grown large, and that "etc." in your comments includes soil, then what you have should support the growth at least until you get the results.
Not all compost is created equal. Some has sufficient nutrients, some - well, not so much. The peat basically has nothing. But, even a cheap soil should have enough nutrients for a week.

If it is a new bed that you've never used before, or especially tested before, get it tested ONCE by your university extension. Excellent investment. Don't waste your time with a self test. The reliability of those is suspect. That information from a professional test could be profoundly valuable, if some real deficiency is identified. You could match that deficiency with symptoms that you see in your plants, and amend using those symptoms as an indicator of your success in treating that deficiency. To the extent that test reveals things that you really can't treat well, like soil alkalinity for example, you at least know what you can't grow.
You might talk with your neighbors, who may have had the test done, and probably share the same type of soil.
If you feel like you need to fertilize, then sure, use a general purpose fertilizer. For many people, fertilization is a treatment for the psyche of the gardener more than it is for the plants. But go easy on it until you know the results from your soil test.





I have had a hard time getting zucchini, cucumbers and melons to start growing this year too. But my problem is with the outside plantings. The seed has rotted. I have planted twice and with all the rain we have got, they rotted in the cool soggy soil. I punted and started over 1,000 in 50's and will have to transplant them all in a few weeks. They are growing very nicely in the high tunnel.
Jay
BTW, I didn't mean peat pellets, personally don't like them, I use peat pots which you then fill with your personal choice of soil, has worked for years and gives a much bigger plant to set out, and you just bury the whole thing, less root disruption.. Here's a "generic" link.
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/jiffy-peat-pots/jiffy-peat-pots
Ev