Veg Why is our garden not producing?

Firebird

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Here, the past few years or so, our garden veggies just no longer seem to produce. Cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, just no production or stunted production that dies on the vine or plant. I’m in Florida, so almost year around growing season. Seems like these genetically modified plants are no longer viable. Growing up here, whatever you stuck in the ground would produce like mad, what’s the deal? Going to try some heirloom seeds for the winter garden
 

Chicken Mama

Veteran Member
People here are reporting the same. Me included. Experienced gardeners are all around this county and no one's garden is producing. So far I've gotten ONE zucchini, a handful of cherry tomatoes and two big boys. That's it. Something's fishy.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
We are having issues also. We can expect to meet last year's totals, but since we have doubled our production area, we actually expected an increase. Not happening.

Part of our issue is the following:
1) We had no winter last year, so the bugs are eating everything and I mean everything.
2) The weather has been all over the place with especially hotter than normal days so no flowers on the plants
3) Deer population is up, so harder to protect the garden and trees. Lost all the blueberries to deer this year
4) We use only heirloom, but even then the productivity just sucks.

Not giving up, but putting up more this year from the stores. I am glad we did can last year's extras so we can continue to make salsa, etc.
 

AlaskaSue

North to the Future
Don't look up north....we've had a spectacular (yes, spectacular) summer. So much that I have never had success with before. Not sure why but it's a bumper crop on everything (except those doggone pumpkins...I'm not sure what killed those off). It's seed-saving time right now...pretty fun really. We'll see how things go next season with 'em.
 

Jeff B.

Don’t let the Piss Ants get you down…
I'm going to go textbook, get your soil tested by the Ag Extension Service, see what they have to say. Get a couple of Organic Gardening books... as I'm in Texas, I'm partial to Howard Garrett, "The Dirt Doctor". Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening was a good reference too...

I'm a believer in adding organic materials to your soil to build up nutrients and tilthe... then I try to use organic materials and fertilizers. I have resorted to chemicals on rare occasion when something was way out of control. Lastly, gardening is very much about finding out what plants, varieties, etc., like it where you are. You may find a plant that's failing and slowly wasting that with a move to a different area of the place, flourishes. More light, less light, more water, less water... I learned a lot of that from my Mom who wasn't particularly organic, but wasn't a big fan of chemicals...

Hopefully there's something in here that will be of help to you! Good luck and don't give up!!

Jeff B.
 

Bps1691

Veteran Member
Were in East/south central Illinois close to the Indiana line.

Our big garden at my daughters had some problems this year, but the green beans, peppers did well. The corn and tomatoes not so good. Corn was hit just as it came up by rabbits. Replanted and then it got hit at the wrong time with a wind storm. Got some, but 1/2 - 2/3rds loss. Tomatoes are hit and miss. The OP Roma & red's she and I grew from seed for transplant did fair and all of the hybrids that she bought ended up with a blight (I suspect direct from the original grower). All in all about 1/2 a loss.

In my small garden (for grandkids) I have been fighting squirrels and rabbits since early spring. Multiple batches of green beans lost to the rabbits just as the real leaves start growing good. Re-plants they hit them again even with Seven on them. Finally got the third planting to go ok. Three planters of sweet corn got cleaned out just as it was a week from harvesting by the dam squirrels.

Carrots, Peppers, Yellow Zucchinis all gang busters but all of our green Zucchinis had just started producing good when all of a sudden they look bad and weepy. When I checked them out the main root stem was soft. When I dug deeper their were grubs in the stems and had riddled them. Should have used DT on them and didn't.

My herbs are doing super and have been harvesting and drying them for a while with bunch more still to do.

My winter squash are all doing fine and have some nice fruit coming at my Daughters and a spot I have between the back yard fence and the west field. Fall cabbages and sprouts are coming ok as well as the fall greens.

We didn't plant many, but the water melons are growing so slow I'm not sure any will finish before fall. Great vines and set fruit early but just slow filling out even with the extra watering we've been giving them. Their all OP I've used for years so not sure what is going on as have had good luck in the past.

Cucumbers aren't making much fruit. Lots of flowers for several weeks, but very few cukes taking.

All in all we've only canned or froze about 1/2 to 2/3rds that we get in a good year. The corn and tomatoes are what's short.

I check the ground at both places every fall and sweeten it with what the analysis shows it needs when we fall till to put the cover crop on. Then after tilling in the spring do the same thing. Already have composted cow manure and rabbit manure working in the large compost bin for next spring.
 

Grouchy Granny

Deceased
Have lost 3 tomato plants to some sort of blight - others finally producing. Cucumbers out my ears, we can't even give them away! Zucchini finally started producing and went out and trimmed it back this morning so I can see what is actually going on with it (may have 2 or 3 more small ones in a day or so) because I get tired of the gargantuan ones ( but I can either dehydrate them or feed them to the dogs who really like them).

Spaghetti squash is over the top! We'll have enough to supply all the friends who like it plus the entire neighborhood. Peppers are so so - my habanero's never got very big and not producing at all - have one ghost pepper on the plant, but plenty of jalapenos and Big Jims plus Numex.

Bad year all around in Colorado - it's just too darn hot!
 

Wildwood

Veteran Member
Here, the past few years or so, our garden veggies just no longer seem to produce. Cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, just no production or stunted production that dies on the vine or plant. I’m in Florida, so almost year around growing season. Seems like these genetically modified plants are no longer viable. Growing up here, whatever you stuck in the ground would produce like mad, what’s the deal? Going to try some heirloom seeds for the winter garden
We had the same experience last year and the year before so did the Mittleider treatment this past spring and amended the soil with fertilizer and a little top soil from the horse and chicken pens. It made a huge difference. I really think the Mittleider made the biggest difference. It's 5 pounds of lime, 4 ounces of magnesium and 1 ounce of boron or Borax all mixed together. I can't remember the exact amount per square foot but I pretty much ended up just doing my own thing. For exact amounts per square foot just do a search on you tube...there's a ton of videos.

Remember, most veggies are hybrids and not genetically modified and a hybrid is just a mixed breed. I do mostly heirloom but plan to try a few hybrid tomatoes next year but you can't reliably save seeds from a hybrid so it's good to always have some heirlooms for seed saving. You'll get viable seeds from hybrids but you never know exactly what you'll get.
 

TerriHaute

Hoosier Gardener
All good suggestions above, especially getting the soil tested. I would also suggest that you rotate the crops, which is a good practice even in a small garden. Planting the same stuff in the same place two or three years in a row increases likelihood of disease and pests as well as depleting nutrients in the soil. For example, legumes such as peas and beans add nitrogen to the soil, heavy feeders like squash deplete it. So, it's good to plant your squash where the beans were last year. Helps thwart the squash bugs too.
 

China Connection

TB Fanatic
Try a good hydroponic mix and spray it onto the leaves


How To Foliar Feed Your Plants

Robert Bergman
Robert Bergman
How To Foliar Feed Your Marijuana Plants

Foliar feeding can be incredibly beneficial for your marijuana plants. Although this tends to go against popular perception, marijuana plants require regular spraying and/or misting. Plants can and will absorb nutrients from their leaves with a nutrient solution mixture.
Foliar feeding provides a rapid boost to your marijuana plants, ultimately producing larger, better, and more bud-filled harvests. That being said, foliar spraying cannot replace a standard root feeding regimen. Instead, it provides a quick way to get supplementary nutrients to your plants.

Ultimate Grow Guide



Foliar feeding essentially means that you spray fertilizer straight onto the leaves. It provides nutrients via foliage rather than roots. The process has been the subject of a number of scientific and anecdotal studies, prompting many growers to use it in their growing programs. A regular regimen of spraying feeds the plant via its stomata—microscopic openings situated in the middle of two guard cells—with direct nutrients. Regular spraying also provides clean and open stomata for your plant. Alterations in water content around the guard and other secondary cells force the stomata to open and shut as a basic response to water status changes. Download my free grow guide for more tips about foliar feeding marijuana plants.
How-To-Foliar-Feed-Your-Marijuana-Plants How To Foliar Feed Your Marijuana Plants – Image powered by Zamnesia.com
Marijuana plants continue with the process of photosynthesis by mixing together a number of different ingredients in their leaves. Materials can be gaseous (e.g. carbon dioxide), liquid (e.g. water), and energy (light). Simply looking at the plant’s leaves gives you an insight into how they can create food. Stomata are vital for providing access to and from the plant for gaseous materials. Stomata are like tiny pores in the skin of your plant. If more carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis, the stomata will open. If the leaves overheat and need to let water escape during transpiration, the stomata will open, allowing the water to leave.
Foliar feeding comes with several advantages. Fertilizers that are applied via foliar feeding are usually 3 to 5 times more effective than standard root fertilizers. Foliar feeding can also mitigate any stress that plants feel because of their nutrition. Nutrients from foliar sprays also make elements like iron more accessible to your plants when they would not otherwise be available in the soil, water, or hydroponic solution.
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Clearly, foliar spraying is great for correcting nutrient deficiencies because of how fast absorption occurs through the leaves. The results will be almost immediate. The ideal time for foliar spraying is the early morning if you’re growing outside and whenever the light turns on if you’re growing inside. The stomata are open when the light is on them. It should be noted, however, that a temperature of 80 degrees or more will make the spray less effective because many of the stomata will be closed.
Clones, young plants, seedlings, and every marijuana plant in vegetative state will experience extreme benefits with foliar feeding. Because clones aren’t rooted, they require foliar feeding as a means to develop roots and avoid yellow discoloration (a frequent problem for cloners).
When a marijuana plant enters flowering stage, it is advised that you stop foliar feeding. Marijuana will naturally secrete a resin for insulation when the environment is hot and dry. This keeps the plant cool. If you use foliar feeding during flowering, then it’s important to decrease the temperature of the plants to avoid mixing fertilizer with the resin. Indeed, foliar feeding is only recommended from vegetative state until about two weeks into flowering. You also don’t want your plants to have any residual nutrients on the surface when you harvest. It will result in a heavy, nutrient-infested smoke.
How-To-Foliar-Feed-Your-Marijuana-Plants-1 How To Foliar Feed Your Marijuana Plants – Image powered by Marijuanagrowershq.com
Any fertilizer that is created for soil or hydroponic systems is perfect for foliar sprays (especially ones that have trace elements, or micronutrients). In most cases, you should mix the fertilizers at reduced strength to avoid fertilizer or nutrient burn. A spray with a strong mixture of nutrients couples with bright, intense light can produce light reflection from water droplets that causes your leaves to burn. Foliar feeding is ideal with mist-style sprayers. Small particles will result in a better response from your plants. You will also have to use less fertilizer to achieve the exact same result.
A Brief Overview:
  • Spray with a fine-misting spray bottle.
  • Mist or spray at least once per day in the early morning (or when you turn the lights on)
  • Mix root (nutrient) fertilizers at 50% of their described strength. Something like Grow Booster
  • Spray the entire marijuana plant.
  • Foliar feed clones, seedlings, and plants in vegetative state.
  • Stop foliar feeding two weeks into flowering.
  • Watch “em” Grow
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China Connection

TB Fanatic
Botany
What would happen to a plant without carbon dioxide?





John Flavin

, Geologic and Engineering Advisor (2011-present)
Answered May 12, 2018 · Author has 2.5K answers and 9.2M answer views

Originally Answered: What would happen if a plant didn't have carbon dioxide?
Autotrophs make their own food. As an autotroph, plants require CO2 in order to live and grow. Photosynthesis is a process that requires light, water (H2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). These constituent materials are broken down in order to make glucose, or food for the plant.
Photosynthesis is the process that separates carbon dioxide and water into their individual molecules and recombines them into new products and byproducts. Once the process is done, the plant releases oxygen. Without CO2, life as we know it on planet Earth, could not continue. If the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide were to dip below 1.5 ppm, plants would die and then all animal life would follow suit.
5.5K views

 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
Everyone's tomatoes here look the same! Some type of blight. I started my own seed this year and put our beautiful plants. I ended up buying tomatoes to can and I got those green! The place I go to is picking them green to keep them from rottening on the vine. I had good corn, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and peppers this year. The deer made a comeback this year and ate my okra to the ground so its not doing much. My beans while LOADED with blooms didn't do what I expected either. I'm getting ready to clear most of the garden out and put some fall things in. I may try that mix you posted Wildwood.
 

dioptase

Veteran Member
After reworking the raised beds (removing redwood roots) I got the garden in late. It took forever to start getting any cucumbers even though there were/are tons of blooms, and pollinators (honeybees and carpenter bees) around. So far I've harvested all of 3 cucumbers. I don't know what the problem is there.

The first couple of tomato plants produced like gangbusters (but we had to compete with the rats for them). The second pair of plants has ripening cherry tomatoes on it (but DH says he doesn't like them!). The last pair of tomato plants (one large, one cherry) has tons of foliage but not many flowers or fruit. I know this last sounds like the result of too much nitrogen in the soil, but we treated the soil the same as everywhere else in the garden (compost, organic fertilizers). In that same bed as the last pair of tomatoes, where I planted the struggling, non-productive peppers, a volunteer tomato plant as sprung up as if by overnight. I don't know what to do with it at this point, but at a minimum I'm going to have to move it somewhere before it gets even bigger. (I grew 'Stupice' in that bed last year, so I would be thrilled if this was another one, but I am doubtful we'll ever get a harvest because it is so late in the season.)
 

BeeMan

Just buzzin along
One thing we plan to do for the fall garden, is to till in some mushroom compost.
IMHO, Most of the mushroom compost for sale is being sold because it has been depleted of nutrients. It is still great for the “organic matter”, and to add “tilth”, but of little nutrient value. So, plan on adding some fertilizer (organic or not, up to you).
 

Galoutofdixie

Contributing Member
I used to try to give my gardens a "jubilee", every seven years. A small garden more often. Say every 3rd yr. Late Summer/early fall, put in a good cover crop, of crimson clover or whatever is recommended in your area, and is easy to cut/till, etc. When that is done, take the rest of the year to add various organic matter, leaves, compost, manure, etc. Not everyone can do this, especially if necessary to live off your garden, but if you can, it's a great practice. Used to have a neighbor with 2 garden spaces. They would rotate growing in one or the other every year. Really seems to help with the soil fertility, and the pollinator population.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Here, the past few years or so, our garden veggies just no longer seem to produce. Cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, just no production or stunted production that dies on the vine or plant. I’m in Florida, so almost year around growing season. Seems like these genetically modified plants are no longer viable. Growing up here, whatever you stuck in the ground would produce like mad, what’s the deal? Going to try some heirloom seeds for the winter garden

From one Floridian to another, get your garden area tested for nematodes.
 

Rabbit

Has No Life - Lives on TB
As Kathy said. One part of my garden won't grow anything worth a darn. I'm pretty sure it's nematodes. I know there is a cure but moving my garden to another location is probably easier.
As old age begins to stomp on me I'm thinking of reducing my regular garden and growing more in containers anyway. I guess it's time.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
As Kathy said. One part of my garden won't grow anything worth a darn. I'm pretty sure it's nematodes. I know there is a cure but moving my garden to another location is probably easier.
As old age begins to stomp on me I'm thinking of reducing my regular garden and growing more in containers anyway. I guess it's time.

Cover the area with a tarp and let the sun cook 'em dead. Easiest way I know to deal with those little demons.
 
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