Need help with dead zucchini, squash, melon plants in Central FL

15 years ago

Note: I posted this in the vegetable gardening forum, but someone over there said I'd have more luck talking to fellow FL gardeners so I should post it here....

My first garden was last summer. I planted tomatoes, all sorts of squashes and peanuts. All the squashes died instantly - the zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, cucumber, etc. I bought seedlings from the garden center and within 10 days, all were dead.

This time I bought seeds and decided to do my own seedlings. I grew the seedlings on the patio in little pots so I didn't have hardening off issues. I'm in zone 9B in Central FL. We have very sandy soil, but the Ph is good and we mixed in old manure over a month ago.

My tomatoes are doing great.

My corn looks fine.

The radishes look good.

My leeks look great.

I planted my zucchini and watermelon seedlings and the SAME THING HAPPENED! All dead within 10 days. What on earth is going on?

If you want to see before and after pics, I have them here on my gardening blog -

http://gardeningwithoutskills.blogspot.com/2009/04/gardening-sos-is-there-master-gardener.html

This isn't some pathetic ploy to get blog readers - LOL - I just really want some advice. All the pics are 800 pixels wide, so a bit much for this forum, but they're smaller on my blog if you want to see them.

Any ideas? Anyone? I have a handful of more seedlings ready to transplant into my garden but I'm hesitant to move them in until I realize what I'm doing wrong to cause this quick plant death with these types of plants!

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here to see my before and after pics of my dead plants

Comments (6)

countrynest
15 years ago
Western sun exposure may be too much. Just morning sun
might be the way to go. You have gotten a lot of good information exchange from your bloggers. Hope you succeed.
I Liked your blog.
Felix
mizadventure
15 years ago
Hey there, I also replied over in the veggie forum but in case you don't get that one, I have some zucchini, squash, and cuke plants already started (and doing great!) to take to the Deland swap. I'm sure those folks wouldn't mind a couple less if you want them. You probably have time to start anew but if you'd rather not since you haven't had too much luck I'd be happy to give them to you. Email if you're interested and we can set up a pick up or drop off of them. That is if you aren't already attending the swap! And have you tried growing them in containers? I have mine in 5 gal buckets with no problems with cutworms and these are pretty compact varieties. Just a thought- and good luck!
Sarah
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You may not be hardening up your seedlings enough also . I use a growing medium of five parts peat moss and one part washed sand , dampened thoroughly with a weak miracle gro solution. Pack full without tamping , into a large peat planter ( 12 oz. pot?). Three melon seeds per pot . If you're starting under lights , after two weeks you need to start getting them outside ,occasionally at first, only during favorable conditions , left still in their peat containers , of course , moistened with good rain water if possible. By doing this , by the fourth week you should have hearty seedlings , that should survive if transplanted when the weather permits. Thats another thing , watch the low temps . You'll gain nothing trying to plant them if the night avg. temps dip below 45 degrees . I think zones 5 and 6 you need to wait until after about June 6th to plant.I'm growing in Redvale Colorado at 6,500 ft above sea level . I experienced a 2 in 5 survival rate because of the late spring cold spells in the four corners region . Nontheless I now have a good melon patch going . I am trying Extra summer sweet , a Japanese variety from Evergreen Seed Company and Maverick Melons from Johnnys Seed Company. In the future I will use clear plastic tents along with black plastic ground covers to give them an optimum start. This year I dug a deep trench and threw in some old composted cow manure and covered it from one side making a semi-dirt-covered-manure ditch . I used this ditch to pin the one side of the black plastic and heaped the other side with the soil that was excavated from the trench . This formed a slight mound with one side deeper than the other . The deep side I flood irrigate . I have used this same method for years , and it works pretty good.Its probably too late for melons this year.You still may have some luck with Zukes . Just throw a whole packet in a small spot . You're bound to have something come up . Just thin them out some. And you know what , you could try that with the earliest of earliest of melons , Maybe minnesota midgets or butterscotch . You can make a tent for them to extend the season. Good luck Dave
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jonnys
15 years ago
It really is a mystery. If it were cutworms you should be able to see where they cut through the plant. To me it doesn't look like damping off, though it could be. But what sounds most likely is what Felix said, too much sun. I know it sounds crazy, they're supposed to be grown in full sun, but sometimes its too much. Where you planted the dead veggies, does it get sun all day long? If so I would say thats too much for small transplants.
You might try leaving them in their containers, and placing them in another location to see how they do. If they are showing signs of wilt then move them to shade and give them some water. This should help you determine if it is too much sun/heat or not. Another thing I have though of is it could be the fact that those veggies just dont like to be transplanted. I am not sure with the melon as I haven't grown any myself, though I do know zucchini can sometimes be finicky about being transplanted. They send a huge taproot out from the beginning. But I have been successful in the past transplanting zuch's, I have also lost a few in the process. Best of luck to your florida garden!
an_ill-mannered_ache
15 years ago
some fungus or wilt. i don't put my cukes or squash in the ground, or even transfer them into big pots, until the are well established. i also start them pretty early--they don't start growing until it warms up, but they seem to get established pretty well. just within the last week, they really started spreading, but i planted them back at the end of february.

and felix is right--if they have w exposure (as mine do) you need to shade their roots a bit. i do it with big pots or shade cloth. whatever gives them relief from direct, full late-afternoon sun. the sun + ambient temperature can prove too much for cucurbits.
tclynx
15 years ago
I've got lots and lots of plants from that family growing. They seem to do really well for me when planted in mounds of mushroom compost and provided with good drip irrigating to keep the roots moist and cool.

Only struggles I seem to have with them is potassium deficiency which tends to make them more prone to powdery mildew and I'm trying to combat with maxicrop. I have also had some trouble with caterpillars, vine borrers and squash bugs (actually several types of bugs in the same general group squash bugs, stink bugs, and leaf footed bugs) but there is little to be done about them. The caterpillars I can battle with thruicide. The main problem I'm guessing for your poor little squash might be the vine borrers. They can kill off a whole plant pretty quickly. The moth (or whatever it is) lays an egg near the base of the plant or along the stem. When the larva hatches it eats into the stem and then eats along the inside of the stem killing any part of the plant above the larva within the stem. They can cause really quick death of a plant if they start boring in near the base of the plant. You may find a hole near where a leaf meats the stem and if the whole plant isn't already dead, you can use a pin to stab the larva inside the stem or just split open the stem to find the larva and kill it so it can't develop and re-produce. BT or thuricide isn't very effective against vine borrers since they only eat a small hold into the stem and then are safe inside the plant. BT only really works if the caterpillar eats the stuff.

The comments about the sun are good. Most squash and cucs I've known don't like complete full day sun though I have some doing ok in mounds of mushroom compost with drip irrigation in my back yard (however they were direct seeded and not transplants.)
happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand
15 years ago
My squashes and cukes are growing in full sun all day long. They are flowering and getting little fruits on them. I saw her pictures and it appears to me that there is not enough compost and mulch to keep the plants evenly moist.

Like tclynx said, lots of compost works wonders.

Christine

Need help with dead zucchini, squash, melon plants in Central FL

Comments (6)

countrynest

mizadventure

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jonnys

an_ill-mannered_ache

tclynx

happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand

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