Novice needs help with arugula and boston bib

[mayoutze]

Hi,

I recently started planting a vegetable garden in a raised bed in Austin Texas. I planted amongst other things, arugula and boston bib. Both sprouted, grew somewhat and now are dying. I suspect bug as well as mold due to incessant rains these past 2 weeks. I pasted pictures below.

I am trying to remain fully organic, what are your thoughts and what can be done to help save the plants??

Thank you!!

This is the bib:


and the arugula

[applestar]

Hmm I'm wondering if it's too hot now to grow lettuce and arugula in Texas? So hard to judge when we are just now getting out of 40's and 30's overnight lows here. Hopefully other members from areas closer to you can clarify.

[imafan26]

Sorry, I could not open your image. Your temperatures mirror my own. This is getting to be toward the end of the really good lettuce growing season. Lettuce and arugula will bolt, get bitter and get tip burn when the temps go much higher than 85 degrees.

I am already seeing tipburn now.

Bib is heat tolerant, but it will still bolt and turn bitter unless you grow it under cover or in a place where it will get the morning sun but middday and afternoon shade. Arugula will just be bitter.

Most plants need good drainage and a soil that dries out in a reasonable time. Constant rain is going to be a problem.
If you have a lot of compost in the raised bed and you have a clay soil it will hold too much water. Lettuce will show that by stunting and turning yellow. Because they are short season crops it is hard to fix that. I usually pull it out and start over. In constant rain you will also have problems with downy mildew or grey mold the it is best to get rid of the plants rather than let the spores release.
BTW lettuce and arugula do like a lot of water and are suitable for aquaponic culture.

[applestar]

I was able to "right click" and use the Open Image option, but maybe you have to have a google account to be able to view.

google photos doesn't seem to supply display-able links, I couldn't find any to bring back and use.

[imafan26]

Thanks for the tip Applestar. I got it to open in another tab by right clicking. Lettuce is slug bait. Slugs just love it . Your arugula looks like it was hit by slugs.

Bib type lettuce should be planted 8-10 inches apart so the head will have room to form. Arugula can be planted closer 3-4 inches apart. Bib lettuce usually takes about 42-55 days to mature. It will mature faster in early Spring and summer and very slow up to two months in cool weather. You can pick out the outer leaves when they are thumb size but you only have a 10 day window to harvest the whole head. You want to harvest before it starts heading up.

[rainbowgardener]

The second picture shows a bunch of little holes. Some bigger ones that look like slug damage, but a bunch of small ones that look like flea beetles. Diatomaceous earth works against both slugs and flea beetles.

Here's some other suggestions about the flea beetles:

• Plant susceptible plants as late as possible to avoid the most damaging generation.
  Cover seedlings and potato shoots with floating row covers until adult beetles die off.
  Lightly cultivate the soil around plants before and after planting to destroy any flea beetle eggs and larvae in the soil.
  Flea beetles like to hide in cool, weedy areas. Prevent them from hopping onto your susceptible crops by surrounding the crops with a 3-foot-wide strip of frequently weeded bare ground.
  Confuse the beetles by mixing up your plantings. Surround their favorite food plants with flowers and herbs like Queen Anne's lace, dill, and parsley, which attract beneficial insects.

https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garde ... ea-beetles

[Allyn]

I'm in the same planting zone as you (8b) and I'm harvesting my lettuce now -- in fact I have been harvesting it for over a month now. Start it indoors in January for planting out in February or sow it outdoors starting in the middle of February. I'm thinking it's too late to start it now (my daytime temps are already in the low to mid 80s), but you might get something from the heat-tolerant varieties. I find fall to be a good time for lettuce. Start it indoors in late August to plant out in September or early October. Lettuce likes cool weather, the pests have left the garden in fall and I was harvesting lettuce right through to January when it was time to start the new plants.