Zucchini turning Yellow in Container

myfirstgarden · June 13, 2012

I have a zucchini plant in a 5 gallon pot. The leaves are now yellow. I noticed the beginning of zucchini about an inch and a half a couple of days ago. It has not grown since and is also a little yellow. I am assuming it is nitrogen deficient. I watered in about 2 tablespoons of bat guano today and am waiting on the results. I also have fish meal and am wondering what the difference is between the two. Which I should use or if you guys have any other suggestions of what might be going on and how I can fix the problem. Thanks!

Sherry_AK · June 13, 2012

Could the yellowing possibly be from over-watering? Did you add fertilizer when you planted? If so, what kind?

(Welcome to Tomatoville.)

Sherry

dpurdy · June 13, 2012

myfirstgarden,
Welcome to Tomatoville. If there is a way that you can take pictures of your plant and upload them, it would help you get a more accurate diagnosis. There are many different reasons that a plant my discolor, nitrogen is one of a few. By adding a photo and descriptions like age, growing medium, fertilizing schedule, and maybe weather will help you to get more definitive answers to your questions. This way you can maybe stave off any possible problems or help your plants get healthy. Welcome and good luck with your gardening.
DP

rockhound · June 14, 2012

Sounds like your first zuc is not pollinated, a common problem. Cut it off and wait for the next one. Welcome

kath · June 14, 2012

Pics would help, but I'm growing 4 new-to-me zucchini varieties this year and the newer leaves of one of them are strangely marked with yellow, but this seems to be just a variegation in the color. Are your leaves green and then turning completely yellow? Do they then get brown and shrivel? What variety are you growing? I've found that the older leaves on zucchini will get diseased and die but if picked off regularly, the rest of the plant keeps producing fruit so I don't worry about it.

Haven't used fish meal or bat guano. Also not familiar with growing squash in containers- sorry.

myfirstgarden · June 16, 2012

Hello everyone, thanks for spending time replying to my problem. I took some pictures. They are taken at night because, well it's night time in Cali and I just checked the post. I hope it doesn't affect the diagnosis due to the lack of natural lighting.

The plant. It looks a little better...You can tell the difference between the smaller nice dark leaves and the larger yellow leaves in this picture.

Some brown leaves

A zucchini coming in

The poor little yellow zucchini that fell off, which originally looked like the nice green zucchini in the previous picture.

AND while I am soliciting your help and advice, look at my poor strawberry plant...My guess is I gave it to much bone meal (potassium), but am not really sure. Any experience with strawberries?

RayR · June 16, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by myfirstgarden

I watered in about 2 tablespoons of bat guano today and am waiting on the results. I also have fish meal and am wondering what the difference is between the two. Which I should use or if you guys have any other suggestions of what might be going on and how I can fix the problem. Thanks!

Look ar the NPK on the package. Bat guano is either high Nitrogen or high Phosphorous depending on where it came from. Fish Meal is a high Nitrogen source, Fish Bone Mean is a high Phosphorous source.
Zucchini are heavy feeders, it looks like a Nitrogen deficiency since the older leaves are lighter in color that the new growth from what I can see, but I can see you have some fungal activity, check the bottom of the leaves for white growth from mildew.

myfirstgarden · June 16, 2012

this is a day photo

RayR, I think you are right, it's nitrogen deficient. When I had yellowing leave on my melon and cucumber (which I think are related to zucchini) I have it the bat guano high, the high nitrogen type and they greened up. I will give it a little more today and see what happens. I just don't want to overdose it...
Why do you think it has a fungus? The yellow zucchini did not have those brown spots until I accidentally broke it off the plant.

The plant is in a 5 gallon bucket with soil manure mix. I do not have a consistent watering schedule. I thought I should give it more than my other plants because it is the biggest, so I flood it about once a day. I've given it bat guano and bone meal.

For fun, this is my garden:

RayR · June 16, 2012

In your 2nd photo, I see some brown necrotic spots with a yellow halo on one of the leaves and some marginal browning with yellowing on others. Downy Mildew maybe?

June 13, 2012	#1
myfirstgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 13	Zucchini turning Yellow in Container I have a zucchini plant in a 5 gallon pot. The leaves are now yellow. I noticed the beginning of zucchini about an inch and a half a couple of days ago. It has not grown since and is also a little yellow. I am assuming it is nitrogen deficient. I watered in about 2 tablespoons of bat guano today and am waiting on the results. I also have fish meal and am wondering what the difference is between the two. Which I should use or if you guys have any other suggestions of what might be going on and how I can fix the problem. Thanks!

June 16, 2012	#6
myfirstgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 13	Hello everyone, thanks for spending time replying to my problem. I took some pictures. They are taken at night because, well it's night time in Cali and I just checked the post. I hope it doesn't affect the diagnosis due to the lack of natural lighting. The plant. It looks a little better...You can tell the difference between the smaller nice dark leaves and the larger yellow leaves in this picture. Some brown leaves A zucchini coming in The poor little yellow zucchini that fell off, which originally looked like the nice green zucchini in the previous picture. AND while I am soliciting your help and advice, look at my poor strawberry plant...My guess is I gave it to much bone meal (potassium), but am not really sure. Any experience with strawberries? Last edited by myfirstgarden; June 16, 2012 at 03:49 AM.

June 13, 2012	#2
Sherry_AK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Alaska Zone 3/4 Posts: 1,857	Could the yellowing possibly be from over-watering? Did you add fertilizer when you planted? If so, what kind? (Welcome to Tomatoville.) Sherry

June 13, 2012	#3
dpurdy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Norwich, New York Posts: 255	myfirstgarden, Welcome to Tomatoville. If there is a way that you can take pictures of your plant and upload them, it would help you get a more accurate diagnosis. There are many different reasons that a plant my discolor, nitrogen is one of a few. By adding a photo and descriptions like age, growing medium, fertilizing schedule, and maybe weather will help you to get more definitive answers to your questions. This way you can maybe stave off any possible problems or help your plants get healthy. Welcome and good luck with your gardening. DP

June 14, 2012	#4
rockhound Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Tennessee Posts: 285	Sounds like your first zuc is not pollinated, a common problem. Cut it off and wait for the next one. Welcome

June 14, 2012	#5
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Pics would help, but I'm growing 4 new-to-me zucchini varieties this year and the newer leaves of one of them are strangely marked with yellow, but this seems to be just a variegation in the color. Are your leaves green and then turning completely yellow? Do they then get brown and shrivel? What variety are you growing? I've found that the older leaves on zucchini will get diseased and die but if picked off regularly, the rest of the plant keeps producing fruit so I don't worry about it. Haven't used fish meal or bat guano. Also not familiar with growing squash in containers- sorry.

June 16, 2012	#8
myfirstgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 13	this is a day photo RayR, I think you are right, it's nitrogen deficient. When I had yellowing leave on my melon and cucumber (which I think are related to zucchini) I have it the bat guano high, the high nitrogen type and they greened up. I will give it a little more today and see what happens. I just don't want to overdose it... Why do you think it has a fungus? The yellow zucchini did not have those brown spots until I accidentally broke it off the plant. The plant is in a 5 gallon bucket with soil manure mix. I do not have a consistent watering schedule. I thought I should give it more than my other plants because it is the biggest, so I flood it about once a day. I've given it bat guano and bone meal. For fun, this is my garden:

June 16, 2012	#9
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	In your 2nd photo, I see some brown necrotic spots with a yellow halo on one of the leaves and some marginal browning with yellowing on others. Downy Mildew maybe?