kboada
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Joined: Fri May 26, 2017 9:10 am

Wilting plants after transplant

Hi,

I transplanted my herbs, tomatos and beans plants one week ago. They were growing perfectly and deep green, however some of the old leaves had wilted, but the new ones were perfectly right.
For the soil, I added 1 part shrimp compost, 1 part of cow compost and 15 parts of regular soil. I added a lot of water and I can see that the soil if humid but not extremely wet. The garden bed is wood made and it does not have holes at the bottom, however it is not sealed and I can see water coming out in between the wood.
Tomatos
Tomatos
In the picture we can see that the tomato plants are very affected, the bean plant is gone already and the persil is trying to recover.
Basil
Basil
In this one the basil leaves are getting brown and the cucumber plant is affected.
I don't know what is the problem and I have no clue about what can be done to recover them or avoid the new vegetables growing inside the house to have the same luck once transplanted here.
Please let me have your thoughts about it.

Thanks,
Last edited by kboada on Fri May 26, 2017 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I'm thinking they look sun burnt. Did you gradually acclimate them to longer direct sunlight exposure over several days?

kboada
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applestar wrote:I'm thinking they look sun burnt. Did you gradually acclimate them to longer direct sunlight exposure over several days?
They were on the window getting the light but not direct sun. What can I do to recover them? and what to do next time with more that I have inside the house?

Thanks

bri80
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Location: Portland, OR

As applestar said, plants need to be gradually acclimated to new conditions, especially when going from indoors to outdoors. This includes light, temp, and other things like wind and insects. As easy way to do this is to put your indoor starts at their new location while still in their pots for 1 hour the 1st day, 3 hours the 2nd day, 6 hours the 3rd day, etc, until the plant can handle their new conditions without any signs of stress. It usually only takes a few days.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I see soil and compost holding too much water and probably too alkaline to boot.
Tomatoes are most affected, they need the most acidic soil. Although your bed drains, the heavy mix may just be staying wet longer.

Try rebalancing your bed. Take out the mix you have from the bed and pile it somewhere. You might be able to use it later if you want to mix up another batch of soil based mix, but you should have the soil tested first. You will be able to fine tune your recipe that way. Your bed is 80% soil, but you don't know the quality of that soil and with a soil test, you will get advice on what nutrients and in what quantity you should add it.

If you are making a bed for the first time, I would always recommend starting with a soil test. Adding a 2-3 inches of blended compost doesn't hurt. You should know what your soil needs before you add manures and fertilizers. How much drainage material you need depends on the soil you have in the first place. If the soil is sandy you won't need as much but with clay soil, adding organics will keep it wet longer so aeration is more important. People like to sift soil into beds, but while it makes things soft and looks good, you need all the different particle sizes in the soil to help with aeration.

You can use a tried and true recipe:
On a tarp mix up
1 part peat moss
1 part compost (not just manure, a blended compost)
1 part vermiculite
Fertilizer = Vegetable tone. Or you can use bone meal, blood meal, greensand and a little manure (no more than 1/2 inch over the surface of the bed and tilled in 6-8 inches deep.)

Compost and peat moss add organic matter. Compost however, can be very alkaline and they keep soils wet and heavy. If you also have a heavy soil, it is not a good combination. Being soft and water coming out the bottom are good qualities but air space between the particles of soil is even better. Peat moss is acidic and counters the alkalinity of the compost.

Organic matter holds a lot of water and can compact, when it does that, the air spaces between the particles of soil are compressed and water fills the space for a long time. Roots need to breathe. You need to add drainage material that will help to keep the soil fluffy and airy. Vermiculite, coarse sand = builder's sand, or cinders does that. These materials are hard, irregular in shape and do not break down much. They help to separate the particles of soil and increase air space.

Compost is not fertilizer.
Composted manures are a mix of compost and fertilizer but you cannot add a lot of manure, it also contains salts and some can have a high pH like chicken manure. It also packs down and if you have too much it can still burn plants.

Compost should be blended from 5 or more sources. Manure can be one of the sources but it is better that it is not the only source.

Think of a raised bed as a large container. Manures and composts don't work well in containers if you add too much. Containers need to be well drained. Your bed doesn't have any drainage elements (vermiculite or sand) and your compost is manure based.

Until you know what your bed needs it might be better to go with a blended compost for organic matter but use Vegetable tone for the fertilizer. Organics do not have a guaranteed analysis since it will vary from batch to batch. Organic fertilizers are usually low in numbers and need to be converted by soil bacteria. Until you get a soil test and know how much organics you need to add for your conditions, it is best to go with a commercial fertilizer.

https://learn.eartheasy.com/2014/04/3-us ... ised-beds/

Making a mix from scratch is possible but you do have to make sure you get the elements and proportions right.

If you want to make it easier you can just use Promix with Micorrhizae, ORGANIK and just use it to fill the bed. It has a lot of drainage and the micorrhizae bacteria to help the roots absorb the nutrients. You can just add the Vegetable tone for fertilizer.
https://www.pthorticulture.com/en/produc ... e-organik/



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