What's wrong with my squash, pumpkins, and tomato's...

s1rGr1nG0 9/29/2013, 2:48 pm

Our pumpkin and squash seem to have a problem. The lower leaves on both are turning yellow. This is the second planting in this particular bed. In the spring/summer we had watermelon and cantaloupe in this spot. Here are a couple of pics.

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Also, one of our tomato plants is not looking too healthy. Sorry for this pic not being too clear but hopefully someone can make a suggestion.

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And finally....something is chomping on another squash plant. I'm pretty sure its some form of caterpillar. I can see some "spider webs" clinging on what's left of the leaf. Would 7 dust handle this?

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What can I do about the yellowing of the leaves in the 2 pics above? Thanks guys. I appreciate any and all the help!

**camprn** 9/29/2013, 3:14 pm

Lower older leaves naturally expire. however, I think you need to feed your plants. My recommendation, top dress with good quality compost or use compost tea.

I would get it was some type of beetle that ate that leaf.

Sevin will kill everything in the garden, I do not recommend it's use.

2SooCrew 9/30/2013, 12:53 pm

If it is a slug problem, I've placed beer in a plastic margarine container lid and it attracts them, and I remove them daily.

Is the soil dry?

Windsor.Parker 9/30/2013, 1:51 pm

camprn! +1
What time of day, and for how long do you water your plants? How is watering done, overhead by hand or directly to the plant's root zone?

audrey.jeanne.roberts 9/30/2013, 4:18 pm

How often is it appropriate to apply a compost tea solution? Once a month? Bi-weekly? Weekly? I don't want to over do it and was curious Very Happy

Windsor.Parker 9/30/2013, 4:31 pm

@audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:How often is it appropriate to apply a compost tea solution? Once a month? Bi-weekly? Weekly? I don't want to over do it and was curious

imho, weekly is okay!

s1rGr1nG0 9/30/2013, 7:35 pm

Ok, got home from work and found part of the problem. These things are chomping on my squash. We went to Lowes last night and got some organic insecticide but apparently it doesn't work on these.

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Also, I noticed that one of the pumpkin plants is totally wilted this evening. The soil is not dry and I'm wondering if these critters are also working on it. They plants are close to each other.

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While looking at the rest of the plants I noticed this tomato plant is not looking as healthy as it should. Is this some kind of blight?

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And lastly, (if I remember right), this is one of our 2 okra plants. What's wrong with it? Looks like we got some major issues with our first Fall plantings so far! Sad

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Marc Iverson 9/30/2013, 11:14 pm

Re your tomato plant, it may have a different problem than I'm thinking of, but perhaps it also is missing a bit of nitrogen lately? If your wood chips are too fresh, it's possible for them to drain some nitrogen from the plant even when used as a mulch. Tomatoes, especially, will try to send out roots all the way up.

I say all this because I had a tomato in rich soil and heavy bark chip mulch look a bit like yours, and also because I read somewhere about an experiment that showed chip mulch can suck out some nitrogen.

That said, after a few months, even my pure bark mulch is starting to turn into black compost a few inches down.

**sanderson** 10/1/2013, 12:14 am

Photo #1
You can spray with a Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) mixture for caterpillar control. It should be available at any hardware or gardening store.

Photos #2-4 Don't know. I'm too new to gardening! Embarassed

I spray with Neem oil solution for persistent harmful insects or powdery mildew. Also baking soda solution for PM. Be careful with Neem, as it can harm bees.

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