I'll know by Wednesday but......

[BVGardener]

I hear ya, Feldon. I think what bugs me the most - more than the poor performance of the plants - is that I had made so many improvements to the garden including a weed-free perimeter around the outside of the garden fence and about four large trees that needed to be cut down which increased the sunlight duration and coverage significantly.

bryanccfshr, prior to last week I had prepared the beds per usual and it was based on Earl's hole method which is slightly tweaked. Essentially, the only difference between his method and what I'm doing is that I don't dig holes. I've been very successful with this method. A typical bed would be as follows.

• Bed Size: 3' x 24' long.
• Six bags of manure/humus (240 pounds - .05.05.05)
• Tomato Tone (applied per package inst.)
• Bone Meal (applied per package inst.)
• Epsom Salts (essentially less than a handful per plant but this application actually covers a great deal more area than where the plant will be placed in the ground.

The above ingrediants would be well raked into the soil and the whole 3' x 24' garden row would be well watered. The row preparation would have begun the weekend of the 15th. Plants started going in on March 18th.

Ray, yes, I'll get some photos up soon. I started to do that yesterday but all I ended up doing was watering the plants and calling it a night.

dice, that photo in the link is exactly what I'm seeing on a few of the plants. The high sustained winds we have been experiancing has been beyond belief and this has been going on since well before I put the plants in the ground. Yesterday was no exception and was one of the most windy days yet.

I wonder if lifting the plants out of the ground and soaking them in a diluted MG solution would help?

Thanks Duane, hopefully we can figure something out.

Jay

[feldon30]

Wind...Wind...Wind! I am starting to think that all the nutrients and water in the world will not solve your problem.

I know it will look trashy, but at this point, I would seriously consider buying some wooden stakes, drive them into the ground, and staple clear plastic around them in a perimeter around your plants about 3' high as a wind break.

Or even some sheets of plywood, drive 2" x 2" into the ground and screw the plywood into the wooden pillars. There's got to be some way to deflect the wind.

When I put my plants out a couple of weeks ago, they were pristine. After 2 days of 20-30mph winds, they looked like CRAP. Fortunately the wind subsided and they are putting out lots of lush green growth, and I am picking off the old horrible looking leaves.

If your seedlings never get a break from the wind, they may never recover.

I'd start looking at buying and planting some Azaleas or other fast growing bushes around your garden as a wind break since you are having such problems.

[feldon30]

I am looking at your pictures and you've got a forest on one side and the greenhouse on the other, and your plants are still getting battered by winds? Wow. I dunno. I'm still thinking maybe try to put up more plastic or something to block the wind..

[bcday]

If windburn is the problem, Feldon has the right idea. You need a windbreak around each bed, or maybe around each plant (didn't look to see how many plants you have). You can use plastic, burlap, landscape fabric, row cover, or whatever comes in suitable lengths and is easy to fasten to a stake. Do make sure to fasten it securely so part of it doesn't come loose and hammer the plants into the ground while flapping in the wind.

I wouldn't dig the plants up, that would only damage the roots more and make it even harder for them to supply the plant tops with the needed water. Likewise forget the MG or any other fertilizer for now, all the plants need is moisture and the fertilizer would just be an overload of nutrients at a time when the plant can't handle them.

[barkeater]

In another thread you wrote:

"I planted until late last night. I had one of those headband flashlight things strapped to my forehead and worked well into the night. I'll finish up this afternoon. Close call with temps last night....got down to 33.9 degrees"

Do you see any difference between those planted that night and the ones planted the next afternoon?

If not, I think your problem is they weren't hardened off enough before planting. How often were they outside the greenhouse before they were planted?

If the answer is never, than there is the cause.

[zeuspaul]

Sometimes I use 3/8 -1/2 plastic mesh for protection from sun, wind and critters for young ones. I cut to about eighteen inches tall and long enough to make a 12 inch+/-dameter cylinder. Roll and attach the ends with plastic ties.

Then place around the plant and use two or three sticks to hold in place.

You can find the stuff at home improvement centers near the fencing or chicken wire.

Zeuspaul

[BVGardener]

Hey folks, thanks for the continued comments and ideas.

Fingers crossed, I walked outside and did not observe any significant wind. Still, the day is young.

I could fashion a windbreak around the t-posts fairly easily with plastic. That would enable me to create a windbreak that would protect a large number of plants. If you stand facing the side of the hoophouse that you see in the photos, you will be facing North. So I have some protection from North, South, and West winds but it's not full protection and there are many other angles the wind comes in at.

I don't see any difference between the ones planted late that Tuesday night and the ones planted the following day. The plants did get some exposure outside of the hoophouse but not full exposure.

I do believe this is where all of this is going....wind damage which is creating the moisture issues.

Thanks folks! With everyone's help, this will get figured out.

Jay

[dice]

I did not mention cold, because you seemed to be
monitoring that when you were describing initially
planting out. That could certainly bring them to a stop,
as others have said.

Anything with indole butyric acid (like shredded willow
shoots steeped in water for a couple of days and various
commercial rooting hormone products) would stimulate
root growth. Kelp probably has some IBA, too, along with
other auxins, etc.

I am thinking "attack the problem at both ends", get
the plant to grow more roots faster while providing some
relief from the wind and perhaps sun on top. The sun
by itself probably would not have been any more of a
problem than it has been in past years in the same location,
but in their weakened condition, a little shade may
help them recover faster as well. I don't know how well
fabric staples for row cover would hold in your loose, sandy
soil, you might need to weight the edges down with boards,
branches, rocks, bricks, chunks of recycled, broken concrete
(Craig's List), or whatever is handy.

[BVGardener]

Here are a couple of photos showing some of what I am experiancing. Be back later with more info.





And here is a photo of the roots from a plant I sacrificed.

[dice]

That looks like a pretty good root system for a small
plant, actually, but it is not a very deep root system
yet, and that soil looks challenged for holding water.
The wind is probably drying out the top of the soil
fast, too.

The picture does look a little like ammonia burn, too,
but the leaves are not that extreme deep, dark green
color and elongated like one sees in high-nitrogen soils.

It looks to me just like the dying lower branches on plants
that are out-growing small pots, for example. The roots simply
cannot supply enough water, and the oldest leaves die off
while the growing tip and newer leaves get most of the
moisture and nutrients that the roots can supply.

The composted manure could be off (not composted enough
and releasing a lot of ammonia), but I still think windburn
is the most likely problem.

[Suze]

Jay, I'm leaning towards windburn and/or lack of water. That soil looks awfully dry. The rootball from the plant you pulled up also looks dry.

My seedlings took a real beating from the wind this year for a couple of weeks before they got planted. I even almost lost some of my smaller seedlings, but they made it. Luckily, I had enough backup plants for the ones that looked the worst, so it was no big deal. Morgan also brought me a couple of Indian Stripe plants, which was good -- because mine just looked horrible.

The high winds did continue for several days after I planted out. However, because they took such a beating beforehand, they were already toughened up and did not shock further after I planted them.

Edit -- I may use Surround on my seedlings next spring if the winds are as bad as they were this year. I have used it when hardening off fall seedlings with good results.

[bryanccfshr]

After seeing your pictures I am now leaning towards dry soil and dessication from windburn ans the stems are drying from the endo of the leaf towards the stem, amonia burn would be more pronounced closer to the stem I think. Perhaps a good covering with mulch will help the soil hold water longer during the windy spells.

Seeing how wide open your planting area is for the Long term maybe you can plant some hedges or something that behaves the same and is evergreen on the perimeter of your garden to act as windbreaks to create a nice microclimate. Farmers used to use hedgerows in their fields for this same reason.

[barkeater]

Those are nice green leaves for plants that are supposedly dying. From the little I can see in the picture, it looks like much ado about nothing. Water good every other day until they take off and you're fine. Maybe add a little blue stuff next watering.

[BVGardener]

Dice, I hope your right. I hope windburn is all that it is.

Suze, my soil behaves a bit unexpectedly. The photo of the roots was taken yesterday but I pulled that plant a few days ago so the roots have been exposed to dry air and sun for quite a while. But if you were to take your hand and scrape back soil only a couple of inches down, you will notice a solid layer of moisture under there. I do need to get the mulch down but time has been elusive for me lately. Perhaps later today.

bryanccfshr, I never put much thought into a windbreak but this year has taught me a lesson.

barkeater, I hope it is much ado about nothing.

[dice]

Barkeater is right that it does not look fatal. They are
simply stressed by environmental conditions. If you get
a break from the wind, they probably perk right up and
recover.

If you had a train car load of empty water cooler
bottles, or empty 4-5 gal. plastic buckets from some
food packager that would be only too happy to have
you haul them away, you could cut the bottoms off
and set them over each plant until the wind lets up.
(I am thinking that would be easier on the back than
buying a 100 year supply of potting soil or similar
and stacking the bags up between the rows.)

Edit: You would probably need to sink the bottles/buckets
a few inches into the ground around each plant, so that
they don't become synthetic tumbleweeds.