What are you using for fertilizer? How often do you apply it?

yours look like mine :( I hope we can figure it out!

Just planting them in MG soil is not enough. I would add at least 1 part perlite to 3 parts MG. Then you would need to fertilize at least every 6 weeks. I'm learning it's better to fertilize with a diluted solution every time you water with container plants otherwise the nutrients get diluted and washed away every time you water.

Thank you for the replies. We used the Miracle Grow Potting Mix which said it had time-released fertilizer good for 6 months. We haven't added anything else.

If using the Miracle Grow isn't enough, I will try the perlite mixture. Do I mix it in a separate container and add a little to the each bucket of water when I water the plants?

I appreciate the help.

Monica

It looks like you have 5 gallon buckets. You could be over watering causing root rot if you water everyday.

Perlite is a substrate used to improve drainage and keeps the soil from compacting as quickly as it would without. Mg alone is too water retentive. Your buckets may have good drainage but the soil used for containers also needs to drain well. It's really too late this year to do anything about the soil but you will know next time. Get a water soluble fertilizer with the numbers 10-10-10 or something similar and follow the mixing directions. Then you can either water with this solution every 4-6 weeks or mix that equally with 3 more gallons of water and water with that every time you water.

OOPs! I forgot to comment on watering. As gicore has mentioned and because of the soil mix, watering every day could be too much. Stick your finger as deep in the soil as you can and if it's moist then wait until it feels dry to water. Being in a container you need to check it at least daily until you have an idea as to when it gets dry enough to water. Once you have done this a few times you can set a watering schedule. Daily temps will also have a lot to do with this schedule. Good luck!

so this is a nutrient/water thing? not a disease is that correct?

Hello,

Just thought I would post a follow up. After the last post, I clipped all the damages leaves off. I arranged the cucumber vines on a small make shift lattice and watered them just once a day. Before, when it was so hot, I would water them a second time before I went to bed. They are doing so much better now. The cucumbers are shaped better, also. Here are a few pictures. You can see on the left the vine that had the most leaves clipped off.

Thanks again for all the replies, I appreciate your time and effort.

Monica

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Hi Monica, thank you for the follow-up post. I'm happy for you and the fruit looks absolutely adorable! taz and gjcore all gave great advice, while I'm not good at container gardening I learned the hard way to use tarp or something big when mixing soil. Something to think about before the next season.

Fantastic! The plants look good. The soil also looks better(dry on top). Glad we could help.

I don't claim to be a container gardener but I know I have better results when I water from the bottom - to keep from flushing the remaining nutrients out of the container. Make something to hold the water.

ps. If the leaves have a white powder it could be powdery mildew which is airborn and difficult to combat. A milk spray worked for me but so did adding baking soda to a spray bottle. Bot are temporary.