In the pic of your cucumber, it looks like the newer leaves are healthy and the older leaves dying off - is that what you think is going on? Cucumbers don't like being transplanted and maybe it's a bit of transplant shock?

Did you grow in this same area last year, and if so did your vegetables do well? If you haven't had a soil test you might want to at least test the ph. The kits are accurate enough to at least give you an idea what your ph is.

I'm sure that someone more knowledgable will chime in. Good luck.

Did you plant them in the pots?

The year I put alot of dead leaves in my garden, it didn't do well.

Are you close to someone else's property that may have used chemicals?

This post was edited by catherinet on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 19:46

Thanks mdfarmer and catherinet for the responses

mdfarmer I don't think its transplant shock but I guess you never know. I did rotate the locations for the plants in relation to last year. I might try to pick up the ph kit as well.

catherinet I did plant most in the cardboard pots that are supposed to break down. Some of the others were in the plastic pots that were removed. In both cases they seem to be having the same problem. As far as the neighbor goes, they are aways away so I dont thing the chemicals should be a problem.

I might try additionally pulling a few of them out, washing the roots, then planting in a pot with some store bought potting mix, just to see if my soil is the issue.

My first thought was the leaves and general "uncomposted compost" in the bed. The soil looks dry and unhealthy. Have you done anything to amend it?

More than likely, the plants are dry.

How long are you watering with your drip system?
And what is the output of each dripper?
Where is each dripper placed in relation to the root ball?

Critical info: When you first transplant, you must hand water the individual rootballs until the drip system can do any good.

Actually, a soaker system works better than individual drippers for an intensively planted bed such as yours.

Was there any walnut leaves mixed in with the other leaves, Walnut leaves will kill some plants, Looks like maybe too much nitrogen or under watered, Some look like they may have a fungus, If you haven't used any fertilizer then I would give them some and spray with a fungicide.

I always tear away the peat pots from the plants.

Also.....I really think all those leaves aren't good. Can you pull some of them off? I think uncomposted leaves pull something out of the soil (nitrogen?) in order to break down, and it pulls the nutrients away from the plants.

Thanks everybody for the responses. Some answers to some questions.

Not sure on the dripper size I'll have to check. Its the laser hose. They ran for an hour a day at first getting the beds wet. They then have been on 30 minutes a day.

The soil looks dry on top, but the areas where the plants are are wet. The drippers are right at the plant base.

The leaves in the bed are almost all poplar. No walnut leaves. The only amendments to the bed besides the compost were the leaves which sat there all winter, a couple bags of steer manure per bed, as well as some peat moss. Then it was all rototilled in

They were planted in the cardboard cups. I actually just went a few minutes ago and pulled one of them out of the ground. The soil was wet down to the bottom. After pulling off what was left of the peat pot here is how things looked:

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This post was edited by iceman_1000000 on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 22:31

I've been watching this post closely and have been hesitant to answer without knowing all the facts. The roots of the plants speak for themselves. You can see by the roots circling around that they had nowhere to go. The peat pots are an issue. And a plant that size should have more and better looking roots than it has.

Watering for 30 minutes every day seems like a lot of water. Yes, I know that it's drip but when you say that it's wet around the plants I assume you mean saturated. Not good. Plus if the drip emiters were dripping into the pots then it's even worse. Even though the pots are porous it takes a while for the water to move through them if they didn't have holes in the bottom (or the bottom taken off completely).

The uncomposted leaves could be tying up the nitrogen in the soil. A dose of a nitrogen rich fertilizer will help with this temporarily.

The peat moss that you mixed into the soil could very well be an issue. It could have made your soil too acidic. Only a reliable soil test done at a lab can tell you this. Home test kits aren't very accurate and aren't worth the money.

For now what I would suggest is taking off the peat pots, use a fast acting liquid fertilizer, water the entire bed once, then let it dry out for a little before resuming the drip irrigation only when necessary (as in, no daily watering schedules; water only when the plants need it). And get a soil test done at a lab. It will tell you most everything you need to know.

Rodney

Now it is almost certain to me that planting in peat pot has been the cause.

Too late to correct it at this stage, unfortunately.
I have also noticed some Powdery Mildew on some. But still planting in peat pots did it.

Thanks Rodney as well as seysonn for the responses. I talked with someone tonight who was much more experienced than I am. They had the same thoughts on the nitrogen nutrient deficiency as well. Tomorrow I will do what I can to try to remedy things in that deparment. Hopefully that will help the plants get a jumpstart on mending what they still can! I'll probably forgo the peat pots next year as well. It seems like they aren't breaking down as well as I hoped.

I think it must be that the roots were drying out inside the peat pots despite the water outside. Those peat pots are generally a really bad deal - they only work if they are kept soaking wet all the time, as they are in nurseries. I don't think I've ever seen a worse case of plants going from looking good to looking bad.

You might save them by carefully take all the pots off like you did on the one, loosening the roots, re-plant gently and keep it all moist until there are signs of new growth. Might help to snip back a lot of the dead leaves first.

I've had trouble with those peat pots as well. Even when i made cuts in the pot walls when i did my transplanting, the roots seemed to have trouble breaking free of the pots. Now if i'm transplanting something like cucumbers or zucchini, i just use regular plastic pots and try to be extra careful with the roots.

Hopefully you can salvage things. You may want to try a liquid fertilizer and or some liquid kelp as a quick nutrient boost. There are plenty of others, but I use Biolink 3-3-3 and an organic liquid kelp from Peaceful Valley. When i spray on my seedlings, they turn a nice dark green within a few days of applying. Good luck!

Good luck Iceman!

They had the same thoughts on the nitrogen nutrient deficiency as well. Tomorrow I will do what I can to try to remedy things in that department.

==>>> its the peat poots..

and your response.. is to amend the soil in regard to an alleged soil deficiency ...

thats a non sequester in my world ...

in essence.. you are 'feeding' a plant.. that is stressed ... it wont work .. IMHO ...

at this point.. i would dig them up.. preferably on a cloudy/rainy day.. and get rid of all the peat pots.. and skip soil amendments ..

the issue is the diversity of your soil form the peat interface.. which is not allowing PROPER WATERING ... the peat is wicking usable moisture from your plant roots which are captured inside of it ... so get them out of them ... and loosen the root mass a bit.. to encourage them from circling ...

its not a great time of year to do this ... but i suspect it is better than doing nothing.. and much better than adding nitrogen.. for a watering issue ...

if you could rig up shade for a few days after the insult.. all the better ...

i tried peat pots only once.. it was a complete and total disaster ... much like yours.. never again ...

ken

ps: you can fert.. a couple weeks after transplant shock is over ...

Looks very much like a soil issue. Something toxic...that could be attributed to many things...
looks like fertilizer burn. Not saying that is it but what would be the outcome if an overdose of fertilizer is spread all over the soil, on top, and not tilled in or double-dug well in advance of planting...

Lets back up a couple months...(because your raised bed soil looks very much just like your surrounding yard soil)...and the fact that this in not your first garden season...
A month or so before planting, add your amendments of choice, double dig them in and rake and pull any sneaky weeds...this will evenly distribute additives and airates your soil....nice and fluffy...give it a good wet drink and rake smooth. Avoid stepping and compacting. I then cover my beds with a weed barrier that allows rain water in, not plastic.

That just preps my beds for a good planting week...plants that like cooler weather go in often a month ahead of others like peppers, cukes, tomatoes...
I mulch a week or two after everyone has settled in.

I don't think it is the peat pots. You've got others in plastic and various suppliers. Bonnie, etc.
I avoid them like others...but did purchase a bonnie this year...at least it has a plastic sleeve...and i pulled a bit of the peat away to inspect the roots before buying...just takes one inattentive employee assigned to watering to stress nursery starts by giving barely a sprinkle and not a soaking...so your plants could have been stressed before you even brought them home...(why many of us start our own plants and can only blame ourselves for failure and even then can have unexplained disasters but it does not cost money, just time and effort)

A good soil analysis with some of your leaf matter included will solve any mysterious fungal issue...remove your plants...they look not so good by the dried up roots...may recover in a deep tray of pro mix? Not so sure...but i would double dig your bed...with a spade, one end to the other, flip your soil and water it soaking wet...while you wait for test results.
Then add what is needed...
So sorry, but their is still hope and plenty of time for a good growing season...

While I agree about the peat pots being a problem, I don't think they could have caused THAT much of a problem to plants that young. Something else is going on. The curcubit leaves in particular make me think of something like spider mites or some sucking insect killing the plants. The idea that a newly-purchased plant introduced into this environment will immediately begin to show symptoms is highly suggestive. And the plants looked healthy enough in the pots before setting out.

I think there's a bad problem out there in that garden that needs to be identified.

This post was edited by ltilton on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 8:59

I agree, it looks like the peat pots are part of it, but not all of it. It's suspicious that this has shown up with all the plants, in each bed. That makes me think of a soil issue, and it would have to be something that is different since last year if plants did well in the beds last year. Maybe the compost, the manure, or the leaves were contaminated with herbicide? Sometimes that can happen. Do you know the source or were they purchased from a store?

Wow when I got on today I didn't expect to see this many responses. Thanks everybody for the help. I appreciate it. So just to answer some of the questions:

The only thing added to the soil this year was compost made purely of my leaves mixed with my grass that had decomposed over the winter. No fertilizer was on that grass. The leaves are all poplar. The only other things put in the bed was a couple bags of steer manure. No fertilizer at all.

As far as the peat pots go. I think they are a detriment. They don't seem to be breaking down very well. However I don't believe that is the main source of the problem. The main reason being is that some of the plants with the same issue didn't come in peat pots. So that leads me to believe it isn't the culprit.

That being said today I added a liquid nitrogen fertilizer with minerals, along with some rock dust. Also while I doubt it will do any good, I added some superthrive that I had gotten for a hydroponic experiment. I I gave everything a good watering in. I will now try to leave it alone for a few days to see what happens.

Additionally as an experiment, I removed a couple of the plants with the issue, pulled off the peat pots, washed off what soil I could. Then I replanted them in some store bought miracle grow potting mix. I then placed them in a shady spot. I did not add any fertilizer like I did to the other plants.

Hopefully I can watch both groups to see which fares better. I will also try to get a soil test done as well. It will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks again for all the help from everybody!

I don't think the soil(neither in the pots, nor in the bed) was to blame. The plants were happy in the pot. Secondly the plants root never managed to get out of the pot.

About Cucurbits:
They are very cold sensitive. I don't know what your climate is like but they did not die of cold, although it could have contributed.

At this stage, you should either start anew from seeds or get new plants. EVEN IF you are successful in reviving them, they are so badly stressed that any plant started from seed today will come and surpass those. Just within last week I lost some of my cucumbers to cold. There is no or little hope when cucurbits are stressed. I am going to re-seed again.

Maybe something funky in the steer manure? Maybe you could have your soil tested at your local ag extension office?