TreeSpirit28
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Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:43 pm

I'm a beginner at gardening trying to do it all organically

I have recently started a small garden of which all my plants are in containers. I am growing 1 green bell pepper plant, 1 red bell pepper plant, 1 gourmet orange bell pepper plant, a ghost pepper plant, 1 Roma tomato plant, 6 cherry tomatoes, 1 yellow pear tomato plant. 1 sugar baby watermelon, 1 cantaloupe, 1 Italian Parsley, 1 peppermint, 6 crooked neck yellow squashes, 6 cucumber, 6 zucchini, 6 sweet corn, over 20 radishes, 6 onions, 1 tom thumb pea plant, 2 strawberries, 1 raspberry. I live in Phoenix Arizona and I know people who have grown all this here before but are unreachable for help. they are planet in my back yard up against the house my backyard is a east facing yard so that they don't get the hot afternoon son just the morning till about noon then they have shade. Well my concern and my problem is that my strawberries were extremely happy before I transplanted them into a deep above ground planter box about 20 inches deep and after a divider the Raspberry is planted in its own space but in the same planter box. My strawberry about 1-2 days after transplanted it started drying out on some of the tips of its leaves. They don't turn yellow first they start to shrivel and then brake like thin chips if touched. They are also very droopy. where before they were thriving. Also my raspberry in the same bed is doing the same thing it was about to start blooming before it was transplanted and now the really green thriving bush is all drying out every leaf is crumbling. I was watering everything once a day. because the heat dry's the soil out. also the top soil will be super dry but about an inch down its moist not very wet but you can see that its darker and a little moist is it not moist enough should I make sure that I keep watering daily due to them all being in containers. Each container is able to drain well. All my other plants are doing extremely well with the exception of my strawberries, raspberry and my pea plant that I will get to in a minute. The fertilizer I bought was Kellogg's brand called Patio Plus for above ground planters and container gardening for both flowers and vegetables it was recommended to me, but is it giving my raspberry and strawberry what they need or is it to harsh on them. Its nice because its an all natural fertilizer and 5.97 a bag so that I can afford it in large quantities. I haven't fed the garden yet. With the exception of my strawberries and the raspberry plant all the others were planted about 2 1/2 weeks ago and about 4 days for the strawberries and raspberry. I have since put up a shade cloth in front of the raspberry thinking it was getting to much sunlight. I would really appreciate and help I can get. This garden is making my husband and I so happy but we are heart broken at what has started happening. Now for the Pea plant its growing and blooming but the bottom of part of the plant started turning yellow about 2 days ago. (not enough water?)....... Thank you everyone in advance. I am going to try an upload photos below. - ........ I have also watered the plant itself I thought it would like its leaves wet, was that wrong?

Here is a link to some pictures so that you can see the plants in question.

https://s1144.photobucket.com/user/kodak ... t=3&page=1

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I don't know about raspberries but strawberries like a slightly acidic mix. Patio plus has been pH adjusted up with poultry manure, oyster shell and dolomite lime and bag guano. It is not causing your immediate problem though.
There are a couple of things that might be going on.
1. It sounds like your soil is drying out on the top faster than the rest. Unfortunately when you plant plants, not seeds their roots are at the top. I think they are not getting water often enough. You could try watering 2-3 times a day at least until they become established. You will need to poke your finger in the soil to guage how fast it is drying to determine how often you need to water to keep plant roots moist. If it is windy not just hot, the top may be drying faster because of that and mulching will help retain soil moisture and slow the top from drying. Strawberries are prone to fungal disease so you want to water early enough so the leaves can dry off.

2. Make sure you plant strawberries at the right depth. If you bury the crown , they will die.

3. You just planted the strawberries in the box a couple of days ago and they were fine. They may not have been hardened off enough. Plants will burn if they were in a shadier spot and they were not acclimated to more light first or there might be some transplant shock. I live in hawaii and my strawberries don't really like to be in full sun all year so I grow them in hanging baskets so I can move them around. Besides the snails just love them. In the cooler months I can pretty much keep them in full sun, but when it gets closer to summer I move them to partial shade. In the middle of sumer, I cover them with mulch and they multiply under the mulch and around September there are babies everywhere when the mulch is moved off. The ones I have in pots are heavy feeders but will die a fungal death if I don't keep repotting them frequently into new soil.

https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-strawberries/

TreeSpirit28
Full Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:43 pm

Thank you so much for your reply. I feel that number 1 may be my problem, I was only watering once a day and not very much, I was afraid of drowning them. I put my finger into the soil and it is barely moist at all. I was just so concerned that the edges of my strawberry leaves were burning due to using the wrong soil. You have made me feel better about my plants. I just really hope its not to late and I can save them. The containers all drain really well so maybe I have to water more frequently.

Thanks again for your help. :)

I will also take a look at that website. It looks like I also could have buried them to deep.

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

I clicked on your link and got this:

Sorry, the requested page does not exist.
Please check the URL for correct spelling and capitalization.

Sounds like the top part of your soil is drying out too fast. Mulch helps with that.

Incidentally, huge blocks of print like that are really hard to read on line. People will be much more likely to read everything you wrote if you break it up into short paragraphs. Thanks

TreeSpirit28
Full Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:43 pm

I'm sorry about how long my post is. This is my first time posting anything in a forum. Thank you for your advice.
I will also check my link.

I tried using the copied URL from the page with my pictures and that didn't work so I copied and pasted. I'll have to try something else. Thanks.



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