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sbarnes144

New Vegetable Garden Failing!!

sbarnes144
9 years ago

Ok so I am sort of new to vegetable gardening, I only had one other vegetable garden before this one and it was fairly successful but with the help of miracle grow. Now I am organic gardening and I am having some issues.

Background: I started growing my plants indoors about 2 months ago. I used- 1. the small black seed starter containers. 2. Organic Miracle Grow Potting Mix for the 1st batch. and 3. Mushroom compost/peat moss/vermiculite mix for every batch after that.(I think my portions are way off). 4. There was a few plants that I experimented with adding worm castings, azomite or both to see which helped with growth.

Current: Some of my plants I have transplanted to raised beds out side with my mushroom mix (that is problem ill-portioned). And some of them are still in there starter containers or slightly larger containers.

Problems: 1. Its been 3 weeks and The ones in the raised beds haven't grown at all with the exception of one tomato plant that grew 2 inches. 2. Some of my plants indoors have developed damping off and when i was transplanting i noticed the roots were very skinny, weak, or non existing. 3. I noticed on the plants in the raised beds the leaves are turning white. So I know that one of my problems is overwatering, another may be my soil mix, and a third may be lack of fertilizer. PLEASE HELP. i posted pics below.

Comments (15)

  • sbarnes144
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    these are the other pics they didn't post for some reason, sorry its so big i don't know how to fix that.

  • sbarnes144
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I can only seem to post one picture at a time due to the size, even when i select more than one picture.

  • booberry85
    9 years ago

    "1. Its been 3 weeks and The ones in the raised beds haven't grown at all with the exception of one tomato plant that grew 2 inches. 2. Some of my plants indoors have developed damping off and when i was transplanting i noticed the roots were very skinny, weak, or non existing. 3. I noticed on the plants in the raised beds the leaves are turning white. So I know that one of my problems is overwatering, another may be my soil mix, and a third may be lack of fertilizer."

    Problem 1: It takes about two weeks for the plants to recover from transplant shock.

    What is underneath your raised beds? Is it bare soil? Grass? or is there a barrier?

    Problem 2: It sounds like your overwatering or the soil is holding too much water and not draining. Wait until the plants start to wilt before watering.

    Problem 3: The leaves turning white could be a couple of things. Did you harden off your plants before planting them? They could be burned from the sun. They also might not be taking up nutrients due to overwatering.

  • howelbama
    9 years ago

    First thing. Don't let this discourage you.

    Now, did you harden off your seedlings at all before transplanting them?

    Mushroom compost, peat moss, and vermiculite is a virtually nutrient free mix. Mushroom compost is great for adding beneficial fungi and bacteria, but contains little to no nutrient value.

    Overwatering, underfeeding, and not properly hardening off could be some of your issues.

    I would suggest giving some a balance liquid fert of some sort and see how they respond.

  • LaDonna Hilton
    9 years ago

    Any time I've encountered white leaves it is cold damage.

  • ltilton
    9 years ago

    Sometimes it's sunscald.

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    I see lots of potential problems in your background paragraph but that is a different forum - Growing from Seed. You'll want to do some research there before trying this next year to avoid setting yourself up for problems.

    So sticking just with the current issues/problems - you have identified all of them. "So I know that one of my problems is overwatering, another may be my soil mix, and a third may be lack of fertilizer."

    Over-watering - easy to fix. Quit doing it. Do not go be the surface appearance, stick your hands deep in it to feel for moisture. What is under the beds? If that is plastic or something that slows the drainage it needs to be removed. Water is just pooling in the bottom of the bed and drowning the roots.

    Bad soil mix - and there is clearly still plenty of room in the beds to fix that. Can't tell you how as I don't know what the proportions are currently but adding some dirt, some soil, can only help.

    You are obviously doing Sq Foot Gardening so did you use their recommended mix? If so then you still have to add nutrients as there are none there. Check out their forum here for tips. It is basically a form of dry hydroponics and requires regular nutritional supplements for the plants to survive.

    Nutrients - there are umpteen organic nutrient sources available on the market. The liquids work better and faster than the powders/solids do simply because a new bed has no established soil-food web in it to convert the material to a form the plants can use. Look into adding one of the many forms of soil activators and beneficial bacteria to speed the development.

    You can't just build a new bed and jump into organic gardening blind. It takes time, seasons, for healthy soil to develop. Until then you have to carry it and that usually means regular weekly nutritional supplements.

    Hope this helps.

    Dave

  • sbarnes144
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    To answer some questions, and to ask some more:

    1. There is a lot of grass under the raised beds, and brown paper(most of which came up when I was mixing the soil).
    2. The sunscold is possible since that area of my land gets at least 10hrs of sun a day.
    3. I did harden off the first batch for at least a week, but the second and third that I put out was hardened off only for a few days. (the seedlings I currently have, Ive been putting out side everyday for over a week now and putting inside at night, I am just waiting to finish tilling the ground to put them in the ground).

    4.What should I add to my dirt peat moss, compost, or vermiculite or all 3?
    5. For fertilizer you said its best to add liquid so Im guessing worm castings tea would be good right? How often do I apply it? (by the way how does casting tea have more nutrients than worm castings if its watered down???)

    Thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it.

  • dhromeo
    9 years ago

    I'm going to have to disagree with some of the posters here, and say that you look like you are in fact overwatering, but the white spots look more to me like sunburn than anything else.

    I just had a batch of Green beans and Cucumbers that sat inside the shed for 4 days when I forgot about them, the lack of light when I transplanted them a week ago made most of the leaves on several of the beans and cuckes fall off, but the stem did what it does and shot up brand new leaf shoots, ones that will be accustomed to full strength sun 12-14 hours a day.

    As for your overwatering, you only want to water heavily, every couple of days, for the first week after transplanting. Don't water at all if you get a good soaking rain. The idea is to encourage root development to deeper in the soil profile, by keeping the top dry. You might think you're skimping on water and depriving your prized veggies, but you are actually helping them by making them adapt to less water in the top of the soil, which is what the plants experience in the summer.

    Holding back on water as much as you can stand it in the wet spring is the best, because it encourages that kind of deep root development that we love to see.

    Last spring, here in central Illinois we had 11 inches of rain in the middle of April alone. Hopefully this year is shaping up to be slightly less wet.. knock on wood.

  • bardamu_gw
    9 years ago

    I just wanted to post that "Mushroom compost" is actually very rich in nutrients... typically. Depending on the ingredients. Certainly not nutrient free.

    I don't like how vermiculite interacts with peat moss...way too soggy. Root rot not unexpected.

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    As I said above we can't tell you what to add without first knowing what is in there. Did you use the standard Sq Ft recipe of peat, compost and vermiculite? There are specific ratios of them required so that the pH is balanced. Or did you just make up a recipe of your own? If so then you have no way of knowing what the pH is. Or is it all just mushroom compost? Was any soil, any dirt mixed in? If not then it sure needs some.

    But whatever is in your mix you still have to cut way back on the watering. Water only when the soil at the root level feels dry. Over-watering kills more plants that all other things combined. When in doubt, don't water.

    best to add liquid so Im guessing worm castings tea would be good right? How often do I apply it? (by the way how does casting tea have more nutrients than worm castings if its watered down???)

    Think about it. It can't have more nutrients. It has what it has. But they are nutrients the plant roots can easily absorb. Plants take up nutrients with water so nutrients in the form of liquid/water are readily available to them. Solids just sit there until watered down. Plus, again, no soil bacteria to convert them to a useable form. Basic principle of organic gardening - an active soil web of bacteria is required. Until it develops you have to feed the plants.

    Worm castings are only 1 option of many organic fertilizers available and there are others that are better balanced and contain micronutrients as well as NPK. But the choice is yours and if that is what you want to use fine. It is normally made into tea that is steeped for several hours and then diluted to 1/2 strength, and applied weekly as a root drench when watering.

    The sunscald is from the plants being poorly hardened off first. Guaranteed when one tries to rush or skip the process of hardening off properly. And proper hardening off includes nights too not in and out and in and out. If it is too cold for them to remain out at night then it is too soon to be hardening them off.

    Sometimes the plants recover, sometimes they don't so be prepared to replace some of them.

    Dave

    PS: And while some mushroom compost may contain some nutrients they are of no benefit to the plants without and active soil food web. That requires soil - dirt - and time to develop.

  • gardener_mary
    9 years ago

    I'm wondering how deep your beds are. It's hard to tell by a picture how wide the boards for the beds are and they seem to only be filled about half way. I may be seeing things wrong, your soil doesn't look very deep. That may not be what is causing your problem now but may cause more issues later. I always fill a new bed to the top and then a bit more because the soil will settle quite a bit.

    I'm also wondering what you are growing.

    Good Luck and Good Gardening, Mary

  • bomber095
    9 years ago

    I concur w. the sunscald theory. However, last year, I had four broccoli plants that had horrendous sunscald damage, and I gave them up for dead. Imagine my surprise when they were anything but, and I had my best crop ever

  • gardenper
    9 years ago

    Sometimes I have noticed that plants that didn't get a lot of top growth will actually be doing something else -- getting a lot of root growth.

    An example of this is when you buy starter packs from the stores. They may have remained at 4-6" at the store, and even at home when you bring it home and didn't transplant yet. But when you finally get to it, boy oh boy, there is a lot of roots in that little starter cell.

    Same case for when you buy starter plants, transfer them to you yard, but the weather is still not yet optimal for growing. They sit in your yard for a while and look like nothing is happening up top, but they are definitely growing roots down below.

  • booberry85
    9 years ago

    I just wanted to revisit problem #1 again: "Its been 3 weeks and The ones in the raised beds haven't grown at all with the exception of one tomato plant that grew 2 inches."

    You mentioned that there is grass under the raised beds. It may take a while for the vegetable plants to take hold. Sometimes when I've covered grass for 3 weeks, its still popped back to life! It takes a while for the grass to die. In the meantime, your poor seedlings are fighting to get through the grass and establish their roots. The grass (and then the dead grass) actually will temporarily form a barrier, inhibiting root growth until the grass is dead and decaying.