Home Garden Problem

[jenna]

Hi,

I have a Small Kitchen garden . I used to grow Tomatoes , Brinjal , Onions , Lettuce there .

However since past 1 year or so nothing seems to survive. I have tried several time . They all seems to grow fine for a while , then their Growth stops . Their Leaves become crooked .

I really don't know what to do .

[rainbowgardener]

So the tomatoes, eggplant, etc used to grow well there and now they don't?

In that case, it would be important to try to figure out what is different between then and now. Was it different temps/ rainfall the years it did better? Have you done anything to replenish the soil fertility that is used up by growing crops?

From the picture, the first one looks like it might be a lot of slug damage causing all the holes in the leaves. Have you seen slugs? Go out at night and check for them. Certainly that much damage would be enough to slow plants down. They don't have enough leaves left to feed the plants.

Also your soil looks pretty dry and hardpacked.

Tell us more about how you have cared for your plants and what the conditions have been like and we will try to help more.

[jenna]

Hi,

Thanks for your Reply. As far as i can remember , I got New Soil put in and after that i was not able to grow virtually anything . But that was about 1.5 years ago .

I have tried to Grow Eggplant , Chillies , Potatoes , Onions may times now . it starts off fine .. the plant shows normal growth and seems quite healthy . but after certain time things change drastically ... the Leaves become Pale and drop off...and slowly it becomes what you have seen in the picture above .. and the complete think gets spoils.

Some of the the Eggplant have Small Black eggs underneath so it might be Spider Mites , what do you think ... But the Chillies plant doesn't seem to have them still they die out ( check the Images ) .

Is there any specific Medicine i can use .

Chillies

[hit or miss]

You mention not being able to grow anything after you got New Soil put in the garden, to me, that is the key to the problem. I would have a soil test done pronto! It looks to me like the pics show very wet, heavy soil. I thought I could even see some moss growing on top in a few pics.

Get the soil test done and then you will know what to add to make it better. I'm just guessing but I would say a heavy dose of compost worked into the soil will solve plenty of problems for you. I would also mulch on top of the soil with a good non-wood fiber type of mulch too. It'll save you plenty of water in the long run and add to the soil structure.

[gumbo2176]

hit or miss, pull one of the plants and look at the roots. Are they are nice and stringy and have lots of offshoots or are they looking like they are knotted with bulbous growths on them. If the latter, you may have a problem with nematodes. These are soil born parasites that destroy veg. crops at the root level and are very active in warm/hot weather. I had a problem with this many years ago after getting a batch of garden soil from a not so reputable dealer in the New Orleans area. It was to bad, I gave up gardening till I moved to my current house.

I surely hope it's not nematodes.

[gumbo2176]

OOOOPPPSS, it was not hit or miss that posted the problem. My apologies.


Jenna, the last message I sent was meant for you.

[jenna]

hit or miss, pull one of the plants and look at the roots. Are they are nice and stringy and have lots of offshoots or are they looking like they are knotted with bulbous growths on them. If the latter, you may have a problem with nematodes. These are soil born parasites that destroy veg. crops at the root level and are very active in warm/hot weather. I had a problem with this many years ago after getting a batch of garden soil from a not so reputable dealer in the New Orleans area. It was to bad, I gave up gardening till I moved to my current house.

I surely hope it's not nematodes.

Hi,

Lets Take the Worst case scenario and say it's nematodes . then what ? is it the end of the road ? there has to be something i can do ?

[gumbo2176]

Hi,Lets Take the Worst case scenario and say it's nematodes . then what ? is it the end of the road ? there has to be something i can do ?

When I had them many years ago, the preferred method of treatment, according to the local nursery owner, was to take all plants out of the garden, turn over the soil and spray with a product called Vapam. After spraying the area, they recommended it be covered with heavy black plastic to help it cook for several days. After several days, uncover the plot, turn the soil over again and cover it again for another week or so. They also recommended companion planting with marigolds. They told me nematodes were repelled by marigolds for some reason.

I had a flower garden with all types of flowers and roses planted in it but they weren't affected by the nematodes. Seems they really do like food crops for some reason. My plants would grow beautiful foliage early on and never set fruit and the hotter it got, the worse the plants started looking. Once I pulled them to check the roots, they looked just as the nursery owner described----all gnarly and had bulbous growths all along the roots and the root ball itself was very stunted when compared to healthy plants.

I finally gave up gardening because I didn't like the idea of that much toxin in the soil and they were never totally eradicated and came back over and over again.

Like I mentioned in my first response. I hope it's not nematodes.

[jenna]

hit or miss, pull one of the plants and look at the roots. Are they are nice and stringy and have lots of offshoots or are they looking like they are knotted with bulbous growths on them. If the latter, you may have a problem with nematodes. These are soil born parasites that destroy veg. crops at the root level and are very active in warm/hot weather. I had a problem with this many years ago after getting a batch of garden soil from a not so reputable dealer in the New Orleans area. It was to bad, I gave up gardening till I moved to my current house.

I surely hope it's not nematodes.

Hi ,

As suggested i pulled a few roots. they seems fine . They were small in proportion to the overall plant . There were a few bulbs and knots but not many. can you check the pics . a few knots are good right? means the plant is storing nitrogen.

Situation is I want to remove everything and plant Bermuda Grass in the whole area. would Bermuda Be affected by the problem .

[gumbo2176]

From the pictures you posted, I'd say I didn't see any outright signs of nematode damage to the roots.

That last picture of what appears to be an eggplant showed a real leggy plant with not much of a root ball. From looking at the pictures, it seems like RBG may have hit it on the nose. Your soil looks like it is really hardpacked and that will affect good root development and that in turn is what the plant depends on for good growth and production above ground.

If I were putting in sod, I'd first loosen up the ground a couple inches deep to give the root something loose to grab onto when it starts to take root.

I hope you're not considering this due to your gardening results this year. You know, we all don't hit homers in our gardens every year. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

[jenna]

Hi,

Thanks for all you help and replies. I notices small ant like bugs , concentrated at the bottoms of the leaves. they seems to be running very fast from root to the leaves. they are very small . Seems like Spider mites. I guess that's the reason for my Garden problems. I didn't knew they could do so much damage.

Also I want to experiment a little with my Graden. Here is what i plan to do now . Put in lots of Compost and loosen up the ground . I have got hold of a few Dionaea muscipula , Drosera intermedia and Bermuda Grass seed . I would try the Grass on one portion where i have put in the compost.

I bought lots of perlite , so at one end would put in the perlite mix and try to grow the carnivorous Plants.

and if all goes well would try the Eggplant sometime later.

[HBiscuit]

Jenna,

I have a similar problem with just one end of my garden. Not sure how long it was your garden was actually used to plant something but mine had been a barren wasteland for decades.

Luckily, my next door neighbor was able to shed some light on the subject to the problem I was having. It seems that when my house was being gutted and redone by the previous owner the port-a-john was at that end and emptied more than once The ground at that end is pretty much evil. A soil test proved it for me. I am sure if I worked with it I could make it up to scratch again, but since the rest of the yard is fine we are now putting in a lovely flagstone covered sitting area there