I had great success last summer, but now all my beans and squashes seem stunted and yellow? I'm using beneficial nematodes in the soil this year, and we have also had a lot of rain recently, which I think is related. any ideas? should I pull, or can they bounce back?
by furiously_sleeping
9 Comments
How wet is the soil? Yellowing can indicate root rot. I’m assuming the bottom of this bed is open to the ground, right?
Yellowing can also indicate a nutrient deficiency. Have you used any fertilizer?
That’s got to be one of the emptiest beds I’ve ever seen. Why not fill it up?
swear i just saw a post really similar to this and it seems it is a nitrogen deficiency, probably cuz of all the wood at the bottom which is fine. however, what will most likely happen is you’re gonna have a struggle this growing season because of that nitrogen deficiency since the wood will be taking up all the nitrogen. usually you amend with high nitrogen fertilizers such as blood meal or chicken manure. if you’re on a budget i would suggest getting green materials like grass clippings and make a tea using some type of 5 gallon bucket and filling 2/3 with green materials, and then mixing daily to add oxygen. this will create a high nitrogen solution that can be applied after like 3 days at least in order to add nitrogen back to the soil. using stuff like leaves or grass clips as mulch too for the soil will add nutrients. overall i would just keep trying to add organic matter back into this raised bed with whatever you have like leaves or clippings in order to revitalize the soil while the wood breaks down
Needs significantly more soil.
Probably nutrient deficiency. If you’ve had a lot of rain even more likely, if you left your soil uncovered in between seasons even more likely.
Generally, it’s best practice to incorporate a good half inch of compost into the top layer of your soil in-between seasons especially if you had heavy feeders like fruiting crops in that bed beforehand.
At this point though, just top dress with some compost and start using water soluble fertilizer to add nutrients.
The soil level also isn’t great as the side of the bed may shade out the crops when sun is not directly overhead. If you don’t have the ability to fill the whole bed it’s probably just better to build an inground bed (which I tend to prefer anyway).
New beds are difficult and although I understand the price of filling that size of bed, by having the plants that far down you are going to have issues with air circulation which might overheat the plants. I don’t know where in Texas you are, but we’ve been have mid 80s full sun days, and without a breeze those baby plants are going to have a hard time. I think your main problem is soil health, new beds take time to settle no matter what, but the heat and the way you’ve trapped the plants inside an oven isn’t helping.
Your soil is lacking in nitrogen. Do you have a lot of chunks in your mulch/compost? If so, they are leaching nitrogen from your soil. Buy Urea (nitrogen) and add it very quickly.
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Probably nutrient deficiency and or lack of uptake because your soil is too high in wood content like many cheap soils. Possibly over watering or not enough drainage which can also lead to poor nutrient uptake.
Try some fertilizer, focusing on nitrogen for this early stage of growth