Manganese deficient cucumbers?

Chuck Ketcham · March 9, 2015

Last year I grew cucumbers for the first time in an EarthTainer. I used a 6:2:1 grow media ratio rather than the traditional 3:2:1 as per the recommendation on this thread:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29567

After a while, I noticed the leaves didn't look right, so I searched the web looking for the reason. I found a picture on the Texas A&M cucurbit problem solver page that looked exactly like my cucumbers. Here is the link:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/v...se-deficiency/

This says that the cucumbers were suffering from a manganese deficiency. It also goes on to say that high PH soils often induce manganese deficiency by holding manganese in an insoluble form.

That doesn't seem right to me for two reasons:

1) My soil should have been a LOWER PH due to the high peat moss content (6:2:1 ratio). I did add some Espoma Garden Lime (2 cups) as per the Earthtainer Construction Guide, but I wouldn't think this would cause a highly alkaline soil.
2) I added 3 cups of Ferti-lome Tomato and Vegetable Food (7-22-8) which already has manganese as an ingredient.

So, could my problem be something else other than a deficiency in manganese?

Thanks.

March 9, 2015	#1
Chuck Ketcham Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: North Central Texas Posts: 3	Manganese deficient cucumbers? Last year I grew cucumbers for the first time in an EarthTainer. I used a 6:2:1 grow media ratio rather than the traditional 3:2:1 as per the recommendation on this thread: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29567 After a while, I noticed the leaves didn't look right, so I searched the web looking for the reason. I found a picture on the Texas A&M cucurbit problem solver page that looked exactly like my cucumbers. Here is the link: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/v...se-deficiency/ This says that the cucumbers were suffering from a manganese deficiency. It also goes on to say that high PH soils often induce manganese deficiency by holding manganese in an insoluble form. That doesn't seem right to me for two reasons: 1) My soil should have been a LOWER PH due to the high peat moss content (6:2:1 ratio). I did add some Espoma Garden Lime (2 cups) as per the Earthtainer Construction Guide, but I wouldn't think this would cause a highly alkaline soil. 2) I added 3 cups of Ferti-lome Tomato and Vegetable Food (7-22-8) which already has manganese as an ingredient. So, could my problem be something else other than a deficiency in manganese? Thanks.