Old time gardener needs HELP!! :)

11 years ago

Hi

I mostly lurk around here but now I really need help or explanation. I was hoping that someone else would post a similiar problem so I don't look so foolish.

To get to the point it seems I can no longer grow anything.

I have started plants of all kinds this year in all kinds of soil, bagged,garden,peat pots and on and on under lights, direct sown. You name it. Nothing germinates or if it does it just sets there. I have plants that are the same size they were in May.

I buy seed from 6 different places and the results are the same. My germination rate is about 10% if that. No matter what I plant in what medium or under light or direct sown.

I have been a gardener for 50 years. Never really had a problem starting plants. SO i have no idea of what is going on. The fall planting of fall vegetables i turning out the same.

I sometimes think that one of those helicopters from Nam flew over with a defoliate except the weeds are doing fine. Oh and I might add so are the volunteer vegetables. some I know are two years old. as I rotate

thanks to one and all with ideas

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Comments (17)

jean001a
11 years ago
It's difficult to make suggestions without knowing what you do. Jot down everything you can as to the following & more:
- soil prep
- kind of soil
- water -- how, how much & how decide to repeat
- start seeds indoors or out?
- prevailing temperatures at that time
- lighting conditions
- fertilizer, if any
- - kinds
- - dosages
- - when repeat.
- and whatever else you can think of.
lonmower
11 years ago
maybe something with the water
well or city?
well...aquifers are constantly changing. Maybe something is up.
city...are your neighbors having the same problems?

signed,
Just Guessing
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gardenlen
11 years ago
g'day slim,

can only suggest you check our web page and see our presentations there maybe some help there for you or should i say inspiration, i'm also hopeless at germinating seeds, if i put 6 seeds in nothing grows if i put the whole packet i get a forest or seedlings way more than i can use all a waste, but i think maybe that is by design by the suppliers?? chuckle.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden
JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)
11 years ago
Do you get compost from the city or bags. We had a problem in San Diego due to pre-emergent herbicides in the free city compost. Bagged compost is increasingly likely to be made from green waste collection programs, too.
glib
11 years ago
I would vote for pesticide in the compost. It has happened in many places around the country. Do you have any soil that has not been contaminated by store bought or city compost? Or, do you have any compost where you controlled the inputs?
slimshavings
Original Author
11 years ago
It really hasn't made any difference what I start them in. I've tried peat pellets which I normally use. Peat pots with compose. with yard dirt with topsoil. I've direct sown.Nor has the water. I ve used bottled,rain,old rain and tap.
I've had lots come up look really good get a couple leaves then die and its not damping off
After 50 years I'm pretty familiar with the common problems. what ever is going on is not common. as far as neighbors I'm a hermit on a dead end road in the foot hills of TN and have no close neighbors. And most don't garden anyhow. Thanks
edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
11 years ago
Are you using any liquid fertilizer in the water. I was killing my seedlings this spring with too much fertilizer. When I stopped, they germinated and grew fine. If seedlings aren't growing for me it's uaually something I'm doing wrong.
colokid
11 years ago
quote:
It really hasn't made any difference what I start them in. I've tried peat pellets which I normally use. Peat pots with compose. with yard dirt with topsoil. I've direct sown.Nor has the water. I ve used bottled,rain,old rain and tap.
I've had lots come up look really good get a couple leaves then die and its not damping off
After 50 years I'm pretty familiar with the common problems. what ever is going on is not common. as far as neighbors I'm a hermit on a dead end road in the foot hills of TN and have no close neighbors. And most don't garden anyhow. Thanks
" That leaves only 2 things, water and air. What is your water. city or well? The only thing I can think of is pesticide in the water. Or a high level of some thing they do not like.
KennyP
lonmower
11 years ago
water...

"back in the holla" in Tenn. you might have a spring box
check your water...soon!
jean001a
11 years ago
If you still have some affected plants, can you post pictures?

Helpful are pix of them, their surroundings, their pots or the garden area.
elisa_z5
11 years ago
Hey slim, do you have enough sun in that there holler? Or have shade trees crowded your garden over the past 50 years?

The older volunteer veggies are doing fine . . . a potential clue for all sleuthers.

What do you fertilize with? Could it be chemical fertilizer killed off the soil food web?

guessing and mulling . . .
elisa_z5
11 years ago
Oh, and a soil test may well shed some light. University of Massachusettes does a thorough one for 10 bucks -- you can get the form online and then mail in your sample.

Also, do you water? Could it be an overwatering issue?
glib
11 years ago
I am sorry for being so ugly, but is there any fracking going on in your area?
kai615
11 years ago
Are you on well water or city water?

If you are on well water, I would have your water tested. You never know if some tank has leaked somewhere or something has spilled into your water supply since the last time you had it tested.

I know you said you have used bottled water and rain water, peat pellets and garden soil, but I am wondering if maybe something has contaminated the water and in some combination the water has contaminated everything else.

My husband does say I am a little paranoid about our well water though, so maybe that is why I think that first. We are only about 20 minutes from Aberdeen Proving Ground and they are making news every other week for contaminating everyone's wells up there.

The fracking is also a very good question also.
cheapheap
11 years ago
Can you list the general types of crops you planted?

The problems that you are having started this year?

You said that you had problems with germination but could damping off be part of the problem? - I know that everything has worked fine before but there is a reason that so many precautions are taken to prevent it. - Everything can go swell for quite a while planting in whatever, but eventually it will happen.

About the peat pots. - there is an understandable aversion toward using plastic in gardening but IMO that does not compensate for a lack of utility in alternate products. Peat pots dry far too quickly under normal watering, which is probably why the label on commercially available transplants in peat pots are plastic and cover about two thirds of the pot.

I would clean everything and use a packaged seed starting mix in new or sterilized plastic cell packs and see how that works.

Hope this helps, best of luck!
SoTX
11 years ago
Interesting you mention the fracking--I am slam in the middle of it here & watching 13 years die around me. Hard to deal with. Any ideas? I'm another old-time gardener & stymied.
beeman_gardener
11 years ago
I have been suffering with miserable growth on a lot of my plantings,finally figured it out with the help of Lab professionals.
Corky Root Rot. The plants start out looking good, then when they're ready to start producing fruit and the first warm spell they start collapsing, from the bottom up. Then recover slightly, but grow poorly.
When you examine the roots, instead of being a healthy white growth they're brown and sparse.
It has taken 3 years to establish the problem as we've all been looking at the foliage, instead of looking at the ROOT of the problem. Sorry for the pun, if you don't laugh at your problems, then they become like the mountain, insurmountable.

Old time gardener needs HELP!! :)

Comments (17)

jean001a

lonmower

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Old time gardener needs HELP!! :)

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