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mosquitogang201

Please help this newbie diagnose bean and cucumber plants

mosquitogang201
9 years ago

I had some leftover topsoil from another project which I used to raise up a garden area. So far only beans and cucumbers have come up and they are not looking too well. Can you help diagnose them? To my untrained eye this looks like weed killer damage, which could have only come with the soil. My neighbors do not spray and the straw in the pictures is alfalfa. But I'm also a newbie so don't know a whole lot about gardening.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Comments (17)

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    These first two were transplants

  • CaraRose
    9 years ago

    What zone are you?

    The plant looks relatively healthy to me.

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The last two were directly sown

    This post was edited by mosquitogang201 on Thu, Apr 17, 14 at 17:14

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I'm in zone 8, middle of Georgia.

  • CaraRose
    9 years ago

    The transplants look good to me. The seedlings, not great.

    Are you sure that the alfalfa might not have been sprayed? What's the weather been like?

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Is it normal for bean leaves to grow assymetrically like the first two pictures? Maybe I'm expecting too much perfection from nature. The weather has been relatively nice lately. We had one night this week drop down to the mid 30's, but the seedlings were looking rough before that. I started about 15 beans in potting soil which all came up nice, but of the 20 or so that have sprouted in the topsoil, at least half have looked like the picture or even come up with no leaves. Alfalfa's a legume so I'd assume broadleaf weed killers would not be in it but who knows.

  • little_minnie
    9 years ago

    Once in a while a seedling will come up ugly like that. The rest look fine. I wouldn't worry too much yet.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Zone 8, mid GA ?

    I have gardened in North Atlanta/Fulton.
    It can be still be cold for cucumbers and beans in early April. Your plants look pale, meaning not getting nutrients, because of cold or poor soil. (cold stress) Cucumber seeds need to be sown deeper in a hole, in a very fluffy starter soil. In the hole they stay warmer and as they grow you hill them.

    I would let it get a bit warmer and re sow some more.

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I did soak the green bean seeds in water before planting. The first batch I soaked for 8 hours but the second was in water for probably 20 hours before I got them planted. Could soaking them too long have resulted in the deformed and missing seedling leaves?

    The cucumbers are new so it's very possible the cold snap this week got them.

  • jean001a
    9 years ago

    Both beans and cukes need consistently warm weather, both day and night.

  • bardamu_gw
    9 years ago

    Could be wrong but under watering comes to mind. First from the top leaves being discolored, and second from the mulch.

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    That soil doesn't look very well aerated. Extreme compaction can result from saturated (soggy) soil that dries out too quickly or just doesn't have any organic matter.

    If this is the case, and your plants do not take off, and your seedlings stay pallid or wither, (okay, maybe I'm trying too hard to say this nicely), you may have to till that dirt, work that mulch into it, add some pelletized lime, and plant again. In any case, you'll want to start building that soil up for all the planting seasons yet to come.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Soil forum

  • pnbrown
    9 years ago

    Agreed it temperature is probably an issue for bean seedlings in north GA, still, with cold nights and hot days. However, most of the seedlings in the photos look very poorly, some with clear signs of nutrient deficiency. Not surprising given it looks like it is pretty much unamended GA clay. Southeastern clays are heavily leached and nutrient poor, and as well the seedlings may be stressed from poor drainage.

    My guess is nutrient deficiency as a result of low ph (legumes are extra sensitive) primarily and possible water logging. Easy solution in that case is mix some good quality compost into the beds and re-sow.

  • galinas
    9 years ago

    I had couple of years when beans came up like that and not of them survived... I also soaked them before planting.. Then I found somewhere online that it is not good to soak beans, so next year I didn't soak them. Not all of them came up, but what came up was much healthier then before. So now I do not soak, but instead plant double and thin if too many come up.

  • planatus
    9 years ago

    Oh, dear. Beans are the only seeds that should never be soaked before planting. It injures the embryo which explains your leafless sprouts. You can soak peas, but not beans. They need a good supply of oxygen during the germination process.

  • planterjeff
    9 years ago

    I am In Atlanta, and I can say that our weather has been having a few uncharacteristically cold nights of recent. And by recent I mean all month. I think you will see them grow healthier over the next three weeks when our soil temps get well above the 60 degree point. Right now our soil has been hovering around 45-50 which can be a little cold for them. Especially if you started them indoors.

  • mosquitogang201
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the help everyone. I will look into amending the soil and plant again in a few weeks. I have always had good luck growing ornamentals and trees in my soil but this is my first year vegetable gardening.

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