lettucebabies, you have not killed any of the plants...yet. Here are my thoughts. Lettuce: the seedlings appear to want more light. They seem to be growing towards the right and front of the container. You can rotate the container or expose the whole (gradually!) to more hours of sunlight. The watering seems to be OK because of the color of the soil surface and there is no evidence of water collecting in the saucer. The seedling at 'one o'clock' appears to be suffering most. The one at 'five o'clock' might be a different variety from the rest and may be the type most suited to the conditions that you provide. Incidentally, there is a fungus (damping off) which attacks seedlings at the soil line. One way to protect the seedlings is to sprinkle a thin layer of sand over the soil surface right up to the stem of the seedling. This keeps the stem dry. You might try that now as a precaution. Lettuce is a 'leaf crop' (the leaves are useful) and a 'short crop' (30 days or less to maturity). Therefore nitrogen is the most important element. One choice is to apply a slow release all purpose fertilizer at transplant time or else apply a liquid fertilizer at weekly intervals. I favor "Osmocote" 14-14-14 at transplant time. Zucchinni: There is nothing noticeably wrong here. The 'seedleaves' have brown edges but this is normal. Their function is to provide nourishment until the true leaves begin to function; they then wither away. The true leaves are well-formed, nicely green and the youngest ones are 'clean and green'. The dark coloring of the soil around the plant indicates that watering is concentrated in this area. I would suggest that the watering be spread more evenly over the whole surface of the container. It makes for 'better use of the water used'. Basil: The only explanation I can think of is "sunburn". Is it possible that the plants were exposed to bright direct sunlight for even a short time? This can happen on the trip from the nursery. The plants are put on the floor of the back seat in full shade. But during the journey home they get some exposure which can be enough to cause sunburn. Although its leaves are the useful product, this is not a leaf crop; treat it like a tomato or pepper seedling as far as watering and fertilizing are concerned. The holes on the leaves are caused by insects, typically beetles. The leaves develop their fullest flavor when grown in full sun and not over-watered. The "Earthbox": In my opinion the symptoms on the plants are an indication of conditions in the box itself - set up and operation. It can sometimes be difficult to get the fertilizer spread according to the instructions; it can also take some time before the water distribution functions properly. Sometimes top watering is necessary. The very sick seedling nearest the watering tube might be suffering from moisture stress or fertilizer burn or both. The seedling next in line appears normal and healthy (just look at that growing center). Then the third in line looks wilted. Only you can know if the fertilizer was applied in the narrow band down the middle of the box and whether the soil mix was put in to promote even watering from the reservoir and if the refilling has been adequate and timely. But in time the system settles down to a routine of adding water to the reservoir and keeping a sharp look out for pests. You should get a very good crop of beans; indeed I think that you will have to remove every other plant in order to obtain quality beans. But time will tell you if that will be necessary. I only wish that my first attempt at growing black-eye peas was that successful; I over watered the container and earned an "F" in Gardening. Will you please tell Mr. Griffith how far I have come? That is, if you yourself think so.

Thank you, thank you -- all of you. I am going to try to post some pics I took today. I am hoping they will be more revealing. Sorry that last one is so blurry. Berndoodles, thanks for the pics of leaf hopper damage. I think I certainly have that, don't you (referring to the pic with the lovely bugs)? I also found some webbing, so I think maybe I have spider mites. Oh, joy! And I also think I have powdery mildew. I would love anyone's advice. I sure wish I had a flatbed scanner. My daughter has one, but she is out of town. And I wouldn't mind if we had a Bug Man out here in Colorado. However, I took samples to my local nursery and the very nice rose lady there confirmed that I have several separate problems. She thought that the drooping rosebuds were caused by thrips and told me to go home and cut all of those drooping buds off and dispose of them. She thought I had powdery mildew, too, and also spider mites. She advised that I use Bayer All-in-One spray, so I bought that, but after reading the instructions, I decided to try Neem Oil because the instructions said not to use when bees are active, and they are very active on Ballerina, at least during the day, but maybe I could use it at night. I sprayed yesterday very thoroughly with Neem oil and will repeat in 7 days. However, since my roses are so badly infected, and with multiple buggies or whatever, maybe I will have to go toxic. Another problem with me using a toxic spray is I have large pots of herbs close to Ballerina, in fact right beside it. I think I could cover the pots with black trash bags or something. But I also have black raspberries whose vines are kind of intermingled with one of my New Dawn climbers. I'm not sure if I can cover all of them enough. Maybe if I used a hand sprayer rather than a hose-end sprayer it would be easier. So what do you think? Thanks again. Marlene

1. fcbs.org 2. yes but not direct burning midday sun 3. its best to try to duplicate rainforest conditions, either mist daily or hit with the hose "rainshower" style daily. Try to keep the water in the cup of the plant fresh. Don't water the soil directly, just let water from the cup "slop over" or you may rot the plant 4. if the cup is full when you leav, should be okay for a week if it isn't immensely hot, best to get someone to plant sit

Well for starters congrats on the one pepper. The 3 on the right are weeds but are edible Chenopodium album We usually pull them immediately because they seed around so much. The plants in the middle could be Sonchus but difficult to see clearly. They are weeds though.