We are having the same problem with squash leaves turning yellow. Planted in a half wine barrel. Getting drip irrigation one gallon of water every other day. Sonoma County California 90 degree days with low humidity and 50 degree nights.

Yes, organic I am fertilizing with a general 5-5-5 fertilizer. I just give a little bit every other week. It's organic stuff from Gardners Supply Co. and says it won't burn. But I don't know if thats sufficient or not? It may not be if I'm overwatering. Anney, the plants are a good 3 to 4 inches tall. I have about 4 to 5 true leaves on each of the plants and the 2 to 3 remaining leaves look green and healthy. But the bottom 2 leaves look wilted and yellow. My Garden Oasis cucumber (1 plant) looks worse than my Diva Cucumbers (2 plants). But all of them have the same problem - they look good except those bottom two leaves. I'm also using Gardner's Supply seed starting trays. They are the foam trays with the wicking mat on the bottom. But I got them into cowpots within a week or two after they sprouted. I admit, I probably started these seedlings too early. I didn't realize that some of these plants would get so big so early. Already made of a note of this for next year. :-) I try and stick my finger in the pots to see if it's moist, but I do it more on the outside of the cowpot instead of the center. After your post, I attempted to stick my finger in the bottom through the tiny hole and it seemed somewhat moist to me. It's a bit deceiving as the top of the soil is very dry. So I think it's fair to assume I may have overwatered them. I did kinda pull one out of the cowpot to see if it's root-bound and it does not appear to be the case just yet. Do you think I should snip off the yellowing leaves or will that not make a difference at this point? I can easily go ahead and start some new seedlings to cover myself. It sounds like you think it will not make it another 3 weeks until it can go outside? Thank you both for your input! Sue

Which leaves are turning yellow, the young leaves or the older leaves? How long ago were the plants transplanted? The leaves that are yellow, is the yellowing between the veins or in the veins and not in between or all over? Since you did not add fertilizer to the second plot (symptomatic plot) then you probably have a N deficiency, just fertilize and you should be fine. I would also get some gympsum or calcitic lime and add that as well. The gypsum is very soluble in water and can supply Ca to the plant fast whereas the calcitic lime is relatively insoluble and will be slowly available to the plant but will offset any of the acidity that the compost has added. If you do a pH test on your own you are only going to get half of the story, so be weary of the results. The pH of the soil is affected by many things, the plant, the soil type and the organic matter. The plant and the organic matter can be measured the simple way but the soil part you need to do something different (namely an exchange) in order to get the value. The soil clay acts in the same way as your water softener, in that it has the capacity to hold a variety of positively charged ions (Ca, Mg, K, H, Na, NH4)and will exchange those with the soil solution thus making them available to the plant. themedicinalpepper.com Here is a link that might be useful: The Medicinal Pepper

Your organic ingredients (manure and leaves) should be well composted before adding them to the soil. The best garden soil is often comprised mostly of native soil with appropriate additives only as needed. Additives like peat can really play havoc in a garden because of pH, drainage, and water management issues.