Ok, I'll try to address several of the issues, though not necessarily in order - sorry! The silver/gray color on the zuchinni leaves is normal. Many squash/pumpkin have that. Not all though. Powdery mildew, which looks similar, can come along, usually later in the year. It is more obvious - a grayish-white powder on the leaves. It is usually a symptom of stress, often too *little* water at the root. It has nothing to do with getting water on the leaves. It's not that kind of mildew. As long as the plants are fed and watered well they will avoid the problem long enough to mature the fruit. The stem damage looks like mechanical damage to me, so it may have been the tie. Those are definitely thrips you are dealing with. They're nasties that are not that big a deal outdoors but much worse inside, so may not be an issue when you transplant. Not sure about the browning on the edges of the bean leaves. Looks like possibly an over/underwater issue or perhaps a nutrient deficiency. Wild guess though... Good luck!

I suppose its possible, but then I would think that I would be having that problem everywhere. I bought the ties at the same place (Menards) each year, but they were slightly different. Because of a slight size difference (8.5' length as opposed to 8' last year) I did put the new ties along the area where the beans are struggling. The old ties from last year are still around the old garden and cap the new section. This happens to be where the peas are doing well.

Image shows a indeterminate tomato plant in a 15 gallon pot. I grow my tomato crop in gardens but I did some full size tomato plants in containers this year just to settle a friendly argument. Soil consists of approximately 70 percent REAL honest-to-goodness dirt dug on site and 30 percent cheap Schultz Potting Soil Plus from the big box store. I also mixed in a bit of peat to keep the soil loose. I never use rocks at bottom of pots - there are discussions about this on GW. Plant is in full sun, sits on a hot concrete slab, and is watered twice a day. It has been fertilized once with cheap generic water soluble blue stuff mixed at half strength. The plant is almost eight feet tall (pot included). Plant has not been pruned, all suckers remain. Based on the amount of blooms and fruit set this container will get top heavy and will tip over eventually so I will top it at some point. It is my observation that a 15 gallon pot is a bit on the small side for indeterminate plants but may be o.k. for determinates. I will go larger for both if I ever do this experiment again. My point is that IMHO I think you are trying too hard. I never even heard of most of the fertilizers you are using. Your "soil" contains no actual "dirt" - bagged store-bought stuff is mediocre (although I use it) and none of it is actual dirt so it is only useful as an ingredient in the final soil mix. (Bagged "top soil" is often contaminated - I would never use.) Have plants in as much full sun as possible but only if you can maintain soil moisture. If you cannot maintain soil moisture then shade plants during the hottest part of the day. Do not over water but try hard to avoid plant wilting between waterings - IMO plant stress affects fruit quality. Always have spare plants. I always do this. If any plant shows signs of problems I simply yank it and move on. By mid-season, if all survive then you can keep the best and toss or give away the rest or you can give away the extra bounty during harvest. Growing stuff is not as hard as most gardening newbies think, they just lack the experience to know how to do things and thus often tinker with their plants to the point of damaging or destroying them. This is understandable but hard to teach people - they have to learn this on their own by educating themselves, doing research, and, ultimately, having successes and failures out in the field. Good luck. Don't give up, keep at it, but remember that gardening might not be as difficult as you might believe it to be. -Tom

Hi Denise, Welcome to the exciting world of gardening in this hot and dry state. You know, sometimes it isn't as hard as it is this year (and last year). In order to provide answers to your questions, we need answers to these questions: Do the leaves turn from green to either yellow or tan/brown before they drop? Look at the green beans that are turning white. Are they exposed to full sun because the leaves are dropping off? Also, are they full-sized and looking 'lumpy' with beans inside or are they still young and thin? Are the bead pods bleaching out white from being green previously or do they have a dry, white talcum powder-like growth on the outside of the green pods or foliage? (If so, that is powdery mildew.) If it is rust, you'll be seeing rust-colored spotting on the plants. The fungicides approved for rust on green beans generally are effective. However, you need to read any product label very carefully to make sure that product can be used in high temperatures. Many products cause leaf damage once the temperatures are above 90 degrees or higher. So, read labels before using!! There's products I'll use in typical March or April weather, but not after it is hotter. Whether the fungicides are safe for consumption varies with your idea of safe, and with each fungicide. For each product, there is an MSDS that details the risks of using it. Google and find it and read it before selecting a product. A lot of research up front can prevent a lot of misery later. Pythium blight on beans usually manifests as root rot of young seedlings. Sometimes you'll see it on mature plants. If that is what your plants have, you'll see a white, mold-like growth on the stems down near the ground because pythium lives in the soil. The only time I've ever seen pythium on beans is in the forum for damping off in times of heavy rain when bean seeds are just recently sprouted or are sprouting. Most products will not affect the soil, but sulfur can alter soil pH, so be careful when using sulfur as the fungicide of choice. It also can burn foliage at high temps, and that can kill your plants. Without knowing what your plants have, we cannot tell you whether you're dealing with a disease issue that could become permanent and recur annually. However, there are not a lot of bean diseases that I'd worry about. Beans grow well in most of Oklahoma most years. Since you're in SW OK, you may find beans to be strictly a spring or fall crop and not a summer one. In general, pulling out diseased plants is always a good idea. Then, either dispose of them off the property or compost them in a hot, not cold, compost pile. If you can tell me a little bit more about your green beans, I'll try to figure out if your plants have a big problem or if they're just heat-stressed and drought-stressed. Are they bush beans or pole beans? When did you plant them? How long have they been producing? How often are y'all getting rain? When it doesn't rain, how do you water? Hand-held water hose? Sprinkler? Drip irrigation lines'soaker hoses? Flood irrigation? Finally, look at the underside of the leaves that are dropping. Do you see any tiny insects about the size of the dot over the letter "i"? Any fine webbing? Anything that looks like spider mite damage? I am inclined to think your bean issues all relate somehow to how hot and dry it is, whether they are disease-related or pest-related. Just so you'll know what a MSDS looks like, I've linked one for Bravo, a common fungicide with chlorothalonil as its active ingredient. Whenever I am tempted to spray my plants with a chemical fungicide, I read the MSDS and change my mind. That's just me, though, because I do not like using chemicals. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Example of an MSDS