organicme
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Need major help with vegtable garden

I have a raised garden bed that is a 95% compost bed.
The squash and cucumber both died and my radish won't grow.
Is it because of the compost?

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rainbowgardener
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and your carrots aren't growing either. Nothing grows in that bed, it sounds like it probably is the compost. As I asked in your other thread, where did this compost come from? If it is something you bought in bags, there is little regulation of that and you don't really know what might be in it.

I think what you need to do is send a sample of your "soil" to be analyzed, so they can tell you what nutrients are in it and what might be missing.

imafan26
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If the compost you are using is not finished cooking, it will compete for nutrients, especially nitrogen with the growing plants.

I cannot use more than 20% compost in my garden because, it ends up holding too much water for me and killing my plants.

Compost by itself has a low NPK, a soil test is a good idea. If you are testing compost, label it as compost. What else did you add to the garden bed?

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applestar
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Yes, please explain exactly how you built the raised bed -- location, sun exposure, what is under it and how you prepared the area, height/depth of the bed, and what was used to fill it. More details will make it easier to trouble-shoot.

Photos of the bed and plants will help too.

organicme
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It is all organic, It is bagged organic compost and compost from a local farmer I got at whole foods.
It is actually a "vegtrug" and it is in a very sunny area. I thought I was watering it too much, can that cause all of the symptoms I stated? forgot to add the vines of the squash look orange and burnt But the tomato and pepper plants are doing great!
How do I get my soil analyzed?

thanks!

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rainbowgardener
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Overwatering can cause yellowing and wilting, but nothing should die of it unless you turned your trug into a swamp. It does have drain holes, right?

How did your squash die, what did it look like, what happened to it? There's a very destructive pest of squash (and sometimes cucumber) called a squash vine borer. The adult moth lays eggs in the stem of the plant. The eggs hatch into larvae, that eat it from the inside. They destroy the circulation channels through which water and nutrient go from the roots out to the rest of the plant. So in the matter of 48 hrs or less, a big healthy squash plant turns into a wilted, collapsed mess.

organicme
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It just got all yellow and all of the leaves fell off.

lynn60
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Sounds like over watering. But I agree you need to have your soil checked. Some local colleges or even your town might be able to help test your soil. You can also go online and send a sample through the mail.

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applestar
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Veg trug is actually kind of shallow, so it could have dried out in the sun.
I'm concerned about number of plants that were in there too, considering the ones that have been mentioned.



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