My garden is stunted. Will Miracle Gro Help?

[MrSalvage]

Listen we have had a lot of rain here in Virginia for the month of may. We have also been short on sunshine big time. I see where few people are calling this the bathtub effect. So in a nutshell everything has way too much water.

Now we got lucky today and the rain bypassed us. We did get some sunshine. So my question is should I hit the whole garden with MG or should I wait and let it dry out.

They are still calling for more afternoon showers the rest of the week and then a new front is gonna blow in.

Err...

Ty
Bill

[Starlight]

When we get them days of rain that never seem to end, as soon as the rain stops I give my plants a day if possible to dry out and then I hit everything with MG and Epsom salt. Even if we get rain again a few days later, I figure the plants get a chance to get a few nutrients and help feed them before the nutrients get washed down and away, but that just me. Hopefully some of the other folks in them super rain soaked areas will chime in.

[Gardeneer]

I would wait a few days and let the excess water to drain out a bit. Feeding a very wet soil might not be a good idea. Firstly it will keep the soil wet even more. Secondly , most of the fertilizer will go down without being taken up by the plants. JMO

Gaedeneer

[seaeagle]

Absolutely not, I wouldn't put any fertilizer on your plants now, it would probably only add to the problem.Wait until the plants start growing again and look healthy before you add any fertilizer and the soil has dried out to somewhere near normal.

[gdaddybill]

I'm a fanatic about organic matter but I also believe in the judicious use of soluble fertilizers. Unfortunately when the roots are stressed with too much water/not enough oxygen they probably can't handle it. Wait for the soil to dry out a bit.

[MrSalvage]

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

Listen we have had a lot of rain here in Virginia for the month of may. We have also been short on sunshine big time. I see where few people are calling this the bathtub effect. So in a nutshell everything has way too much water.

Now we got lucky today and the rain bypassed us. We did get some sunshine. So my question is should I hit the whole garden with MG or should I wait and let it dry out.

They are still calling for more afternoon showers the rest of the week and then a new front is gonna blow in.

Err...

Ty


Bill

Yesterday...

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

Listen we have had a lot of rain here in Virginia for the month of may. We have also been short on sunshine big time. People are calling this the bathtub effect. So in a nutshell everything has way too much water.

Now we got lucky yesterday and the rain bypassed us. We did get some sunshine. So my question is should I hit the whole garden with MG or should I wait and let it dry out?

They are still calling for more afternoon showers the rest of the week and then a new front is gonna blow in.

Err...

Ty
Bill

I had to fix my post. Must of been my first cup-o-coffee.


Now...
I will go get a couple of pictures. They seem to tell the tale better.

[MrSalvage]

I took a chance and put one bottle of Miracle-Gro Liquafeed all purpose 12-4-8 down this morning before 7am. This bottle is for 400 square ft. I used the whole bottle on my 800 square ft garden. Which worked out perfect as a snack @ 1/2 strength.

Listen:
I just can't see how any nutrients whatsoever can be left in my soil at all. My plot is a 20x40 so based on that. I put in almost a yard of compost in late march. Then i added 9 lbs of 17-17-17 mid April. Now, It's has done nothing but rain since May.

Well my plant out day was May first. Which came and went with nothing but rain. I tried to plant the whole month of May. Anyway we finally did get a lot of the plants in. Which would have been the beginning of the third week in May. However it rained some more, even after we planted. lol

I wish they were a little darker green. Anyway i just want them as strong as possible. I need to do a bleach treatment & then some DE, soap and permethrin.

I know I can put 9 more lbs of 17-17-17 down in the middle of the season. I of course have more Compost, AF Fert & MG in different flavors. I thinking bout buying some TT Food & Calcinit as well for my arsenal.

So is it better to stick with one fertilizer during the summer or change them out? Would a diversity of fertilizer be beneficial to me?

Thanks ia...
Bill

[My Foot Smells]

doesn't look waterlogged to me. plants are upright and top looks dry except where you squirted the MG. maybe they been busy putting down roots instead of going vertical. my plants were kinda of puny d/t weather this year, but I think primarily more to do with the cool weather stretch of temps <50 degrees. when the weather warmed up, they sprang.

[Gardeneer]

Now that I see your raised rows, I don't think they can get water logged.
I would go ahead and feed them.

Gardeneer

[Worth1]

Let me explain my ideas on your soil and garden if I may.
All of the stuff you are using is fine I am not here to put any of it down.
But MG and other things are like crack to plants and the soil.
I have a big box of it myself.
Now if you were to take all of you clippings and leaves and start to put them in the area between the plants ans slow down on the chemical stuff like MG and so on.
You will in time and not a lot of time turn that soil int fine back soil that is full of microbes.
When you do this you want have a problem with the nutrients getting washed away.
They will be locked up/held in the soil it wont wash away.
This is why I dont have to fertilize all the time.
The organic stuff like Plant Tone may be pricey in the short term but will more than offset the price in the long term.

Think of it like this, are you happy because of drugs or are you happy because of the way you live.
The drugs wear off a good life style doesn't.
Plants are the same why.
That doesn't mean a person cant have a good toot every now and then.

Worth

[MrSalvage]

That's all clay and when you walk in the dried area's. They become wet again under foot. Clay holds the most water of all soil types right? That's what i have been reading.

So the ground is certainly wet.

As far as soil building it is my first year and i have a yard of compost in. At the close of the summer I will add another yard. I will also add another yard in the spring before planting.

I keep mowing all my grass up into piles so i can go down and get it for my rows. I just haven't gown done and got it yet. lol

I do need to put more in my compost pile. That thing has been living on coffee...

[MrSalvage]

Hey they are selling rolls of good hay for $45.00 & bales for $7.00
So I have my eye on a roll for the garden. Would straw be better?

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Let me explain my ideas on your soil and garden if I may.
All of the stuff you are using is fine I am not here to put any of it down.
But MG and other things are like crack to plants and the soil.
I have a big box of it myself.
Now if you were to take all of you clippings and leaves and start to put them in the area between the plants ans slow down on the chemical stuff like MG and so on.
You will in time and not a lot of time turn that soil int fine back soil that is full of microbes.
When you do this you want have a problem with the nutrients getting washed away.
They will be locked up/held in the soil it wont wash away.
This is why I dont have to fertilize all the time.
The organic stuff like Plant Tone may be pricey in the short term but will more than offset the price in the long term.

Think of it like this, are you happy because of drugs or are you happy because of the way you live.
The drugs wear off a good life style doesn't.
Plants are the same why.
That doesn't mean a person cant have a good toot every now and then.

Worth

I agree with everything you said, and have decided to go no-till this year for the first time, been sneaking over to the soil forum and reading a lot there too

I have aways tilled in many bags of leaves, so this year I am putting a layer of leaves and adding pine needles on top of them and some wood ash I always put down once a year.The pine needles will keep the leaves there and I don't have to massacre all the earthworms with tilling.Dug a hole today to plant a late tomato plant and 10 or 15 earthworms in the dirt.It is like that every hole I dig.

Will use fish emulsion to fertilize when needed, along with the compost I make.Here is the wonderful part, THREE EARTHWORMS will create ONE POUND OF FERTILIZER every year

[Worth1]

Be careful what hay you buy two things can happen you will bring in weed seeds Bermuda grass seed grass burr seeds nut grass seeds.

Some hay is just garbage.

Worth

[Urbanheirlooms]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Be careful what hay you buy two things can happen you will bring in weed seeds Bermuda grass seed grass burr seeds nut grass seeds.

Some hay is just garbage.

Worth

I agree with Worth on this one-I can tell you from experience. I have two garden spots and put down newspapers and straw over the paper in my first spot (very time consuming and a headache). When putting down the newspaper, the wind wanted to blow it away, so as I put it down, I would throw a trowel full of dirt on top of the newspaper to keep it in place until I put the straw down. I does keep the weeds out, but I have plenty of "wheat grass) growing where the dirt was from the seeds of the straw. It really doesn't bother me much as it is away from my tomato plants in the rows.

In my second garden spot (40 x 60') I started to put down the straw and newspapers, but my back went out on me and I had so much to do to get things planted out, that I decided to abort that plan and just till the rows to keep the weeds down. Yesterday, I went out to fill in some plants that the bunnies had messed up and noticed that the garden spot where the straw was in was still plenty wet. The second garden spot where there is dirt, was dried out to the point where I gave them a little drink (soaker hose at the roots).

I had used straw as a mulch in my beds before and it worked well for me as I did not have to water every 3-4 days even in the heat of the summer. You also need to be careful not to put it down too early as it will definitely slow down your soil warming up.