ms,

When you stick your finger down 4 inches deep, is the Mix moist to the touch? I don't know the wicking basket, opening, etc. that you have to help diagnose, so can't help you there. My only thought is that the plants are not getting enough moisture, or it is indeed a fungal disease.

As you have BOTH Peppers and tomatoes, cukes dying at the same time, something else seems to be going on. Try pulling one of the dead plants and look at the root system, is the potting mix surrounding it moist (or bone dry?), and let us know what you find. The 3:2:1 Combo Mix is working great in both my EarthTainers and EarthBox, so I think we can rule that out for the moment. Have you tried doing a water drench on them to see if the wilting responds?

Just some random thoughts. Good luck!

Raybo

The mix is not soaking, but is definately damp to the touch, even just below the surface. I wonder if it is staying TOO moist, but to me, that wouldn't account for one plant thriving and one not within the same container.

If the Mix is moist and not wet, then I think you can rule out the Mix itself as well as the wicking basket and container design. The 3:2:1 combo Mix was blended to be "light and airy", so it should be well draining - - which was the problem with 100% Potting Mix alone.

It sounds more like fungal, as neighbors spraying or fertilizing would cause the plants to curl - not completely wilt. But again, very strange that Peppers AND tomatoes AND cukes would be affected all at the same time.

Do you have a local Ag. Extension Office near you that you could take some samples to for analysis?

Raybo

And to clarify...My "wicking chamber" is a 16 oz plastic drink cup, with 4 slits in it top to bottom. It's taller than the reservoir, so by putting the top bucket into the bottom, it "squishes" the cup, and opens up those slits a little.

I've made sure the reservoirs are full, and watered from the top, and neither one seems to have changed things. One my largest tomato (BigBeef), is mostly healthy, but the leaves are somewhat curling and wilty just one one side of the plant.

I always suspect too much water when SWCs are involved. I see some black on your tomato stem that looks like a disease, but I've seen the same thing on plants that drowned.

I've found one of the best ways to determine moisture level in a dual bucket SWC is to lift up the upper bucket and feel the weight. It's somewhat subjective, but if it feels heavy for its' size, then it's likely too wet. If it feels unexpectedly light, it's too dry (and in the middle is just about right). A 5 gallon bucket is very deep, so you can't judge the total moisture level by just the top 4 inches of mix.

Did you recently have a heavy rain/s? If so, your mulch cover may have actually funneled too much water into the crown of the plant, the smaller plants would be more susceptible.

Are your drain holes low enough? HomeDepot buckets vary in design depending upon region, so if you used the GB measurements you need to double check and make certain that the drain hole is at least 1/2 inch below the bottom of the soil bucket. Make sure that buckets are relatively level and if not, rotate the drain hole down hill.

Lift out the soil bucket and look at your wicking cups. Make certain that they didn't get crushed or split, allowing too much water in. What size cups did you use?

The cucumbers may not do as well in Raybo's 3:2:1 mix as tomatoes and peppers. I have a Zucchini that's doing gangbusters in straight Sta-Green potting mix, and another that's not doing that well in the same mix my tomatoes love (3 parts Dr. Earth potting soil, 2 parts Fafard Aged Pine Bark, 1 Part Pearlite). My point is that it's possible that there are different things wrong with the cucumber vs. the tomatoes/peppers.

You can't rule out water problems just because one pepper plant died and one survived in the same container. One plant could have received too much water at the crown (mulch cover funnel), the other could have been large enough to withstand deluge, or could have been better adapted to the wet conditions.

What brand potting mix and pine bark did you use?

And to clarify...My "wicking chamber" is a 16 oz plastic drink cup, with 4 slits in it top to bottom. It's taller than the reservoir, so by putting the top bucket into the bottom, it "squishes" the cup, and opens up those slits a little.

There's your problem. Those slits opening up is allowing too much water to wick. I know it seems counter intuitive, but closed slits really will allow plenty of water to wick. Try the weight test, and you'll most likely see that the worst buckets are the heaviest.

As for solutions, once you verify your buckets are super heavy (and therefore way too wet) the first thing you need to do is drain the reservoirs. Come back the next day and you'll find more water has drained into the reservoirs (dump that out too).

You can also try removing the cord around the mulch cover, and lift it up, tuck, or tie out of the way to get as much air to the soil surface as you can. This will help a lot unless it rains.

To fix the bucket design, you could either replace the cups with something of the correct height, or raise the soil bucket up so it doesn't crush the cup. I sometimes cut a bucket in half and use the top half as a riser to increase the reservoir. You could also add some blocks or other spacers in the bottom of the reservoir to raise up the soil bucket. I saw a recent post where someone used bolts through the sides of the bottom bucket to keep the soil bucket higher.

Well, I took off the black plastic "mulch," so we'll see if that helps or hinders. :) Thanks again for all the help and advice.

Removing the mulch covers won't help enough if you have other issues causing too much wicking, and could make things worse if it rains.

I checked the drain holes, and they're definately at least 1/2" below the bottom of the top bucket. They're all good and level, and there's about 5 holes in each bucket, so there's always one on the "downhill" side. We had pretty heavy rain a couple of weeks ago, but we're into the dry season now and won't get much rain until August-ish.

I can check the wicking chamber in the buckets with the small stuff, but my toms are too big to move. I don't really have the option of doing major modifications on the buckets I want to save (which are the big toms, peppers, etc, too heavy/fragile/awkward for me to move much), so I'm hoping that the smaller change of removing the mulch will help keep things alive a little while longer. If worst comes to worst, I may just cut off the wicking chamber and put the top buckets straight on the ground and return to a traditional container with them.