My baby Zucchini plant is dying - buds dying BEFORE opening

[tanny]

Hello,

I am new to gardening and I started an organic container garden on my patio a few months ago, South Florida. I planted the Zucchini seeds in March and the plant was doing fine until a few weeks ago. A few of the leaves started turning yellow and dying and now the tiny flower buds are also dying before opening. I transplanted to a larger pot a few days ago and checked for root rot and other pests but no obvious signs. I get about 3-4 hours of sunlight per day. Below is a link to pictures of my plant. Please help!! This is disheartening for a new gardener!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35574258@N05/

Thank you.[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

The buds are dropping off because it isn't really big/ healthy enough to be fruiting. If you planted those seeds in March, it should be at least twice that big, with big dark green leaves. Your plant is looking spindly and sickly.

To start with 3-4 hrs sun a day isn't really enough for squash. It should be getting 6 - 8 or more hours of sun a day.

What kind of soil is it planted in? How are you fertilizing? Other things that could be stunting it would be lack of nutrients or over-watering.

[tanny]

Thank you!

I planted in "Organic Mechanics" brand potting soil. I have used compost as the only fertilizer. I tried putting the plants in full sun for about 3 days and the leaves started to brown so I put them back on the patio (I thought the sun was killing them). I was watering every three days. I was trying to grow organic but if I need to use fertilizer I will. Is it possible to still save my zucchini? I have 5 other plants that seem to be growing rather slowly also.

[Kenzie]

I tried putting the plants in full sun for about 3 days and the leaves started to brown so I put them back on the patio (I thought the sun was killing them).

I'm probably not much help when it comes to saving your plant as I'm also a bit of a newb myself, but going from partial shade to full sun suddenly probably scorched it. You'll need to transition it slowly over a week or so.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree that they needed to be hardened off, gotten used to the sun gradually. But they do need the sun.

Organic Mechanics makes a number of different types of soils

http://www.organicmechanicsoil.com/prod ... -soil.html

But if you got the Container Blend Potting Soil, it is basically a sterile, soil-less mix :

Contains: compost, pine bark, coir, and worm rice hulls

It does have compost and you have been adding compost. But compost is low nutrient density for small container use.

NPK values of compost is somewhere between 1-1-1 and 2-2-2. Typical synthetic fertilizers are 10-10-10 or even 20-20-20. The numbers indicate the concentration of ingredients (NPK). For garden use, it doesn't matter that the nutrients in compost are lower concentration, because you can use it by the shovelful and it conveys a lot of other benefits, tilth, trace minerals and micro-nutrients, micro-organisms, etc. But for use in a small container, it does matter that your plant is getting a very low concentration of nutrients. I think you need to either plant it in the ground or get some more concentrated fertilizer.