Nickm62388
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:10 pm

Brown moldy veggie leaves ?

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I planted cucumber pickles, zucchini, tomatoes and they all turned out is way? What do brown leaves mean? I water routinely and some of the flowers sprout but don't harvest or give any vegetables. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Why are half the leaves so brown and "moldy" looking. You can see in the top pic all the nice yellow looking flowers on the ground but then the moldy leaves sitting in pot???

PaulF
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Posts: 910
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Brownville, Ne

First the plants in the pots: The pots are way too small to expect success. The soil in the pots looks just like the dirt on the ground. I would suggest using soilless mix in a container about three times the size of the ceramic pot for all your vines. If the tomato is in a container, it needs to have between 5 and ten gallon sized container.

Regular soil will compact and make growth very difficult. Vegetables in containers not only need a loose soilless mix that is watered regularly but every week or ten days need to have the nutrients replaced by adding plant food to the water. As you water the nutrients will be flushed out. Early on this can be the higher nitrogen formula but as the plant begins to grow you should switch to the lower nitrogen higher P and K formula often called "bloom booster" of some such. On the box it should have 5-20-20 for the formula. Too much nitrogen and all you will get is green plants and no fruit production.

As to the leaves, the top photo indicates lack of nutrients and compacted soil. The plant is being starved and strangled. It is done for. The bottom photo indicates the same thing but it is hanging in there despite the pot size and conditions. The tomato shows just how tough these plants can be. The leaves show that a blight is occurring as well as the other problems but still you have a couple of tomatoes. Not much production will ever happen under these conditions. Is the variety a salad sized tomato? In a container under the right growing conditions there will be fewer and smaller tomatoes than a plant grown in the ground, but you should be able to get plenty more than two.

There is an abundance of information on growing vegetables in containers on the internet. I would suggest a little more research for next year and you will have better luck.

Nickm62388
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:10 pm

Thanks for input I deeply appreciate it

ButterflyLady29
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Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
Location: central Ohio

Last year I had one single cucumber plant in a 10 gallon sized pot. While it did produce a few cucumbers it was not near as healthy as it should have been. I didn't water enough and I didn't fertilize enough. Many vegetables and fruits need really large pots, even if they are a variety bred for container growing. I would recommend at least a 10 gallon size tub for any of the plants you tried to grow. Those rope handle tubs are good containers for large plants. Drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage, fill with a good potting soil, then plant. Unfortunately the potting soil required to fill one of those containers will cost around $20, US. Then you need to get the supplemental fertilizer and nutrients. You can reuse the same potting soil for several years as long as you rotate crops and replenish nutrients.



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