1. It IS leafminers. You can remove the leaves (if they are old) or squish them to kill the leaf miners.

2. Birds?

3. The tomato plant is stressed. Too hot? Mine do that too. No need to remove curled up leaves, just see if there is something that you can do to fix the problem.

Linda

Agree with 1 & 2 above. Birds love to sample fat seedlings like this. They find little of interest and move. If melons are like squash, they need to be pollinated on the same day that hey opened... too late now.

I have bird netting enclosed around the garden, so it couldn't be birds.

Agree.

1. Leafminers.
2. Could be birds but the damage is minor so a non-issue at this point. (Didn't see the bird netting comment when I was typing.)
3. Leaf roll possibly due to underwatering, heat, or some other stress. The plant might need a feeding for the purpling.
4. Cucurbit flowers only open for a day. After that they are done and if the flower wasn't pollinated then the little fruit will fall off.

Rodney

Will the melon plant continue to make more male and female flowers? What else could be eating the cucumber leaves?

Yes the melon plant will continue to make lots of flowers as long as it is healthy.

I wouldn't worry about the cucumber. Or the leafminers - pick off and dispose of the affected leaves.

Give the tomato a feeding if you haven't been.

But the fly which is responsible for the larva will just keep coming back? If i spray the leafs with a soap, will the fly stop landing on it?

No, soap will not stop the fly but it might hurt the leaves. If the damage is minimal just pick off those leaves. If it begins to mount up use crop covers.

You mean it might hurt the larva in the leaves, or the hurt the leaves themselves?

I said 'it might hurt the leaves' and I meant 'it might hurt the leaves'. The larvae inside the leaves would be completely unaffected, until of course the leaf died from the soap.

Agree with all of the above. Leaf miners pose no threat. Just ignore them for the most part. They are one of the things that if you try to fix the problem you only make it worse.

The tomato plant needs to be fed a well balanced fertilizer and watered more carefully. It needs the moisture level in the soil to remain consistent rather go wet-dry-wet-dry-etc. That is difficult to do when growing in such a small container.

The cukes are bird pecks - classic. No real threat to the plant but the only way to keep the birds from doing it is to cover them with bird netting.

Dave

Hi Dave.

I have a bird netting up already, so it couldn't be birds. Any other ideas?

Also floral, I read that the soap itself dosen't harm leaves?

Can you provide your source? Then we might know what you mean by 'soap' and we can discuss it.

Sure. I am using this one.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-Nature-s-Care-24-oz-Insecticidal-Soap-0747210/204631793?MERCH=RV--rv_search_plp_rr--NA--204631793--N

Right, so that is insecticidal soap, not simply soap. Some people use household or dish soap in various homebrews and they often run into trouble.

If you read the information on that website it tells you what pests the product will kill and it doesn't list leafminers. It also tells you that the insects themselves must come into contact with the product. So it will not prevent flies coming to your Brassicas and it will have no effect at all on leaf miner larvae which live inside the leaf.

I see... but it won't *hurt* the leaves themselves, right?

No, if used in the amounts listed on the bottle, it shouldn't hurt the leaf. But.. why put on a chemical you don't need right now? Leafminers are inside the leaf, you can't touch them with insecticidal soap, it won't help at all. In order to kill leafminers you would need a much stronger chemical, a systemic which is taken up through the plant itself and brought into the leaf, but you don't want to use a systemic on food plants because you would be eating the chemical since it can't be washed off, because it resides inside the plant.

Leafminers in my area have 3 hatchings a year, the first is the worse, they do a little damage, the plant grows out of it, maybe you get a little damage later but they really don't hurt the plant in the long run.

That insecticidal soap won't hurt the leaves but won't do anything to address the leafminer problem either for reasons Floral and Jeyne pointed out. If you feel you must do something then go to a fabric store and buy some tulle, use some cheap wire coat hangers to make hoops over the plants, then cover the plants with the tulle. The tulle will keep the flies from laying eggs in the first place.

Rodney

I agree with all the responses. Every problem you presented is fairly common, and none is serious enough to take action that could make things worse. Remove damaged leaves (from leaf miners and tomatoes, but not cucumbers) and relax. Watch and wait. This is nature. Learn from it.