GAH! I'm able to get 5 and 6 yo kindergarteners to grow the most beautiful
peppers, tomatoes, and sunflowers from seeds in less-than-perfect
conditions. Such as having to train 33 kinders that they should not be
making their garden-areas into rice paddies -- "But Mr. Ranger... Plants
like water." Temperatures that were often lower-than-seasonally expected,
"Today's high will reach a stunning 50°F! Wear a sweater." And my favorite,
"It looked like a weed so I pulled it out." Over 60 plants were successfully
grown and, given recently emails, producing buds this week.

So given the boost of confidence I attempted the same in my own patch of
garden. Planted tomatoes (Early Bird, Granny Greens, Beefsteak, and Green
Zebra), peppers (Jalapeño, Serrano, Tequila Sunrise, and Purple Wonder), and
sunflowers (Sunbright, Valentine, and Florenza).

Everything started out GREAT. I used Miracle Grow garden as my base. The
germination of the seeds were immediate and every one of the shoots showed
strong potential. Daily sun is gradual, with the morning being shadowed
until around 11 and then direct sun from 11 to 6. Temperatures have also
been favorable with nothing too low (60s) and nothing too extreme (nothing
over 100). Recently, the plants came under attack from insects but nothing a
little night-time intervention couldn't control. I lost a few of the
sunflowers' leaves but nothing too major from the remaining plants. Two days
ago, I noticed several of the sunflowers starting to wilt. I checked the
soil and noticed it was damp but not soaking or spongy. I checked pH and it
was within the range I'd found. Yesterday, I noticed every flower wilting.
Today the entire batch are crashed and browned with several showing
predation. Worried, I looked over at the peppers, right next to the
sunflowers, and see the same thing occurring: predation, wilt, crumpling in
on themselves...

The soil isn't soaking. I haven't added _any_ fertalizers. They're starting
to bud and I'd like to save what I have left.

HELP!

The Ranger

PS: For the member that mentioned I am not an experienced gardener, he was
right. I'm not. I normally purchase already-grown plants and simply keep
them growing. This season I wanted to try it from scratch and it's not
looking promising.

Two (well, two-ish) separate questions:

Did you mean to write that you used Miracle-Gro Garden *Soil* as a base
and, if so, what is the soil under that like?

Are there any walnut or butternut trees near the garden?

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much less desirable than
morning sun followed by afternoon shade, but you've got to work with
what you have. (I'm working on my neighbor to get him to agree to
cut down the weed trees on the fence-line, with me footing the bill, so
I'm speaking from experience here.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"So, it was all a dream."
"No dear, this is the dream, you're still in the cell."

email valid but not regularly monitored



The Ranger said:


GAH! I'm able to get 5 and 6 yo kindergarteners to grow the most
beautiful
peppers, tomatoes, and sunflowers from seeds in less-than-perfect
conditions. Such as having to train 33 kinders that they should not be
making their garden-areas into rice paddies -- "But Mr. Ranger... Plants
like water." Temperatures that were often lower-than-seasonally expected,
"Today's high will reach a stunning 50°F! Wear a sweater." And my
favorite,
"It looked like a weed so I pulled it out." Over 60 plants were successfully
grown and, given recently emails, producing buds this week.

So given the boost of confidence I attempted the same in my own patch
of
garden. Planted tomatoes (Early Bird, Granny Greens, Beefsteak, and
Green
Zebra), peppers (Jalapeño, Serrano, Tequila Sunrise, and Purple Wonder),
and
sunflowers (Sunbright, Valentine, and Florenza).

Everything started out GREAT. I used Miracle Grow garden as my base.
The
germination of the seeds were immediate and every one of the shoots
showed
strong potential. Daily sun is gradual, with the morning being shadowed
until around 11 and then direct sun from 11 to 6. Temperatures have also
been favorable with nothing too low (60s) and nothing too extreme
(nothing
over 100). Recently, the plants came under attack from insects but
nothing a
little night-time intervention couldn't control. I lost a few of the
sunflowers' leaves but nothing too major from the remaining plants. Two
days
ago, I noticed several of the sunflowers starting to wilt. I checked the
soil and noticed it was damp but not soaking or spongy. I checked pH and
it
was within the range I'd found. Yesterday, I noticed every flower wilting.
Today the entire batch are crashed and browned with several showing
predation. Worried, I looked over at the peppers, right next to the
sunflowers, and see the same thing occurring: predation, wilt, crumpling
in
on themselves...

The soil isn't soaking. I haven't added _any_ fertalizers. They're starting
to bud and I'd like to save what I have left.

HELP!

The Ranger

PS: For the member that mentioned I am not an experienced gardener, he
was
right. I'm not. I normally purchase already-grown plants and simply keep
them growing. This season I wanted to try it from scratch and it's not
looking promising.

Pat Kiewicz wrote in message
...
The Ranger said:

[snip]
Everything started out GREAT. I used Miracle Grow
garden as my base.

Did you mean to write that you used Miracle-Gro Garden
*Soil* as a base and, if so, what is the soil under that like?

sigh Yes... I did mean to include "soil" in the original note... =8^\


The drainage layer is limestone rock. The plants are in 8" X 48" red oak
planter boxes.

Are there any walnut or butternut trees near the garden?

There is a monsterous liquid amber (curse my municipality for planting this
giant weed!) but that was taken into account when I originally put the
plants in their current placement.

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much less
desirable than morning sun followed by afternoon shade,
but you've got to work with what you have. [..]

sigh I'll move the remaining cluster of plants to the back today. Morning
sun is only of very limited duration, though; four hours versus the seven
they get out in the frontyard.

At this point, I'm willing to give anything a try!

The Ranger

In article
,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much less desirable than
morning sun followed by afternoon shade

Can you explain why that is, Pat? The afternoon sun gives more heat.
Not being testy, just curious.
--

- Billy

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who
learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and
find out for themselves.
Will Rogers

http://www.map-uk.org/regions/opt/news/view/-/id/348/
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn

Billy wrote in message
...
In article ,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much
less desirable than morning sun followed by afternoon
shade

Can you explain why that is, Pat? The afternoon sun
gives more heat. Not being testy, just curious.

This is convenient.

My neighbor, the gentleman I mentioned from a past post that provided me the
tree netting, warned it looked like I was "scalding" the plants' roots by
the extended exposure to the afternoon sun. He thought because I water at
night the soil is retaining enough water that when it heats up from the
afternoon blast, I'm essentially "cooking" the plants.

I moved the remaining plants to the backyard so hopefully this addresses the
problem at hand.

The Ranger

In article dth,
"The Ranger" wrote:

Two days
ago, I noticed several of the sunflowers starting to wilt. I checked the
soil and noticed it was damp but not soaking or spongy. I checked pH and it
was within the range I'd found. Yesterday, I noticed every flower wilting.
Today the entire batch are crashed and browned with several showing
predation. Worried, I looked over at the peppers, right next to the
sunflowers, and see the same thing occurring: predation, wilt, crumpling in
on themselves...

The soil isn't soaking. I haven't added _any_ fertalizers. They're starting
to bud and I'd like to save what I have left.

Likely fungal root rot.

Soil sulphur, let go a week, then add soil flora.

Good luck! This is how the local nursery helped save my Ivy with the
same symptoms...

Your first mistake was "Miracle Grow".
Switch to Medina products. Hasta gro is one good one.
--
Peace! Om

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
-- Anon.


Subscribe:

In article dth,
"The Ranger" wrote:

Billy wrote in message
...
In article ,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much
less desirable than morning sun followed by afternoon
shade

Can you explain why that is, Pat? The afternoon sun
gives more heat. Not being testy, just curious.

This is convenient.

My neighbor, the gentleman I mentioned from a past post that provided me the
tree netting, warned it looked like I was "scalding" the plants' roots by
the extended exposure to the afternoon sun. He thought because I water at
night the soil is retaining enough water that when it heats up from the
afternoon blast, I'm essentially "cooking" the plants.

I moved the remaining plants to the backyard so hopefully this addresses the
problem at hand.

The Ranger

Sounds unlikely, unless you are in Phoenix, AZ. If you are concerned,
mulch (verb [ intrans. ]). Most people expose their plants to the
afternoon sun, accruing great benefit.
--

- Billy

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who
learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and
find out for themselves.
Will Rogers

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/1/headlines#4
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn

Billy said:


In article
,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I will say that morning shade followed by sun is much less desirable
than
morning sun followed by afternoon shade

Can you explain why that is, Pat? The afternoon sun gives more heat.
Not being testy, just curious.

It is more stressfull for the plants to go into sun during the hottest part
of the day than to go into shade.

I have several clumps of Japanese forest grass. The lushest one gets
morning sun. The next best gets a bit of sun in mid-day. The clump
that gets afternoon sun struggles.

In my vegetable garden (now that those weed trees have grown up on
the fence line), part of it gets shaded until mid-day. What's planted
there shows signs of stress when the sun blasts on them. The hotter
the day, the more they wilt. I end up misting them on those days to
help them recover.

(Plants that get full sun all day don't wilt every single afternoon.)

On the other hand, since the start of my veggie garden, I've had a section
which gets some afternoon shade. Any edible that can tolerate a bit of
shade does well there.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"So, it was all a dream."
"No dear, this is the dream, you're still in the cell."

email valid but not regularly monitored

The Ranger said:


Pat Kiewicz wrote in message
-
september.org...
The Ranger said:

[snip]
Everything started out GREAT. I used Miracle Grow
garden as my base.

Did you mean to write that you used Miracle-Gro Garden
*Soil* as a base and, if so, what is the soil under that like?

sigh Yes... I did mean to include "soil" in the original note... =8^\

OK, Miracle-Gro garden soil is not meant to be used in containers.
By their own discription, it is for in ground plants and is meant to be
mixed with soil.

It is far too heavy for use in containers and your plants may well be
suffering from root-rot.

The drainage layer is limestone rock. The plants are in 8" X 48" red oak
planter boxes.

Container plants don't need a drainage layer of rocks. That's a planting
myth that just doesn't seem to die!! (And limestone rocks would be a
doubly bad choice as limestone is very alkaline.)

http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%2...Horticultural%
20Myths_files/Myths/Container%20drainage.pdf

or, http://tinyurl.com/l2b9dm

Do your planter boxes have drainage holes at all?


--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"So, it was all a dream."
"No dear, this is the dream, you're still in the cell."

email valid but not regularly monitored

Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
[snip good information]
Do your planter boxes have drainage holes at all?

Yes; six, 1" holes per box.

The Ranger