Growing season sucks, any help to get things going fast?

Well the season is half over and I am finally going to get some warm weather. I have tried jugs, 2 litre bottles, tarps, a green house and the likes and nothing that is warm weather has done much other than sprout except for a few toms and peppers. I tired cukes and zukes and the sprouted and died again. Beans rotted in the ground. So to make a long story short,, I will have to do things in a hurry unless I get lucky and get warm weather through October.

Does anyone have any hints or ideas for peppers, toms, cukes, zukes and beans to get them up fast and going so they can have a chance to fruit before it starts to get cold?

I am warming the soil as much as I can. Black plastic for 10 days now and ground temp is 62F. Black pots which warm to 70-75F during the day and cool to 55-60 at night even wrapped with plastic and covered with plastic. All beans, cukes and zukes were planted 2 weeks ago, came up and died in the cold even in my green house. I would have thought they would have done better than the toms and peppers but I was wrong. Even my ornamental gourds won't grow but at least they are not dying right away. I hope they latest ones survive long enough to get the heat and actually grow outside their pots.

The weather is supposed to turn around in the next few days. If it stays, it will get hot and I will at least have a chance to get everything growing fast and furious. What can I do to help them grow fast and strong? Extra compost or fertilizer? Fertilizer them twice a week? Add extra worm castings as soon as they show signs of flowering?

Any ideas to help jump start germination and growth would be much appreciated.

 

I'm having the same problem down here Don't know what we can do ther than hope like crazy that next summer is more "summer-like" I have one itty-bitty tomato the size of a pea! But Captn Kirk's hollyhocks are thriving

 

I don`t think temperature is your problem. Here in Texas we can plant at 50 degrees, and like I said before, they do not grow much till the weather warms, but they certainly do not die. Washington state and Alaska are well known for giant vegetables. Is there something about your particular location that makes growing difficult? Do you compost? If so you can get a head start by using the heat that the compost generates to start your seeds. Use a plastic pot to put the seed in and plant the pot in the compost pile. Do not cover the top. Just let the seed get started then transfer to garden with a bit of compost for the roots.
I have planted many houseplants in my compost pile for the winter. They do not freeze and I bring them out in spring, water a bit and they are good for another year.

 

8 days of sun in the last 2 months maybe?

 

Unless its pitch black that should not kill them either. You would be surprised at what filters through the clouds.

 

Well they aren't growing here. Exact same soil as my peas and radishes. Fertilize once a week. Mix of peat moss and compost with some added worm compost and slow release fertilizer as well as bone meal.

Maybe the soil temp will get above 60 and stay there this coming week and I will have more luck. With a less than 30% germination rate somethnig has to change for the better.

 

Even my gourds are not growing, I had 3 of them get almost 6 inches tall, started to try and flower and died.

Maybe the buckets simply get too cold at night for them all of them. I will be trying the beans, cukes and zukes in a raised bed this time so maybe that will make a difference.

 

I know this sounds daft....but could you be over fertilising them? I know from experience that strong fertiliser will burn young seedlings as it is to strong for them. Most seeds will germinate and grow in sand or grit with no fertiliser at all. Only once the plants are getting going would they need food, and only then, a little to start with. Think of a baby...you don't start them off on roast dinner or chilli, they start on a simple, plain diet.... I wonder if your plants are growing like the clappers, and then getting overfed and giving up the ghost? Just a thought.

 

First of all don`t use peat moss. It is highly acidic and can kill plants easily. Its great for blueberries but not tomatoes and tender plants of any kind. Its like trying to grow them in vinegar. It doesn`t work. Some plants can take it but most cannot. Its a wonder that your seeds germinated at all.

 

It could be too much, started them outdoors this year compared to indoors last year. Got them to start really well indoors but that was in sterile peat moss with no fertilizer at all.

As for peat moss, they start great in peat moss and peat pods indoors. I guess I will add some lime to it and make it more neutral and see if that helps.

The pepper and tomatoes are all planted in peat compost bone meal mixture that are growing at all. It is also recommended by many sites to use peat for retaining moisture for both toms and peppers.

I will have test the pH of the soil and see if it is acidic or not. I only use 2 part peat to 10 parts compost so unless the compost is acidic I doubt it will be too low.

My sugar snap peas and radishes are doing awesome in the exact same mix as well as my herbs. Same with my strawberries but they don't count because they prefer acidic soil of course.

 

Ph readings:
Rain water 6.5
Compost 7.4
Mixture of compost, fertilizer, bone meal and peat ranges from 6.5 to 7.2
pH of peat moss soaked in rain water and sitting with seedlings in it ranged from 6.4 to 6.8 but this is old and been fertilized and such.

pH 3 prong tester gave lower readings for soil mixture from 6.5 to 7.0

liquid regent test kit was sometimes close but more often slightly higher ranging from 6.8 to 7.2. I trust these results a lot more because I have worked them for years testing my fish tanks.

Not sure what if anything I need to do to adjust the soil as it is pretty close and definitely in the range it needs to be for toms, peppers and flowers. I do know that everything I started inside in the peat pellets did just fine and I got 90% or higher germination. Just no cukes, zukes or beans attempted inside this year. Maybe the pellets are neutral or a higher pH. I know that peat pellets out performed Coconut coir pellets over 2:1 even though the coconut coir is supposed to be neutral pH. I even started apple seeds, flower seeds, herbs and such in straight peat moss out of the bag soaked in rain water and they almost all germinated.

I will have to check the ph of the peat moss when I soak the next batch to see what it is before I plant. At 5:1 or greater water to peat I can not see the peat moss pH being much lower than 6.0 if it is that low with peat averaging from 3.2 to 3.8 from the sites I found. Will post my results tomorrow. If I use tap water it will be even higher, or theoretically should be.

It is still so odd that everything else including my herbs, flowers, peas, radishes, cabbages and apple tree seeds are doing just fine. Only my cukes, zukes, gourds and beans die. I am leaning more toward burning them from adding slow release fertilizer to the mixture. I guess I need to combine what it I did with starting them inside with starting them outside and go from there. Hopefully no fertilizer will do the trick unless I find something majorly wrong with my pH somewhere that I missed. Might have to start them in sterile soil and transplant them but I really don't want to do that this year. Maybe I will start them in peat pots with coconut coir filling with the bottom of the peat pot cut off so the roots can get out to the good stuff easier.

The only other thing that is suffering and not growing well is my basil and lemon basil. It germinates fine but sits there and doesn't grow just like the cukes, zukes and beans. It has been up for over a month and is still only 1/2-1 inch tall at best. But at least it hasn't died like the rest do.

 

I would sure check to be sure. Is your local soil acidic? If so then your compost could be as well. Let us know what the PH test shows.

 

I don't use local soil or any soil in any of my planting. Local county extension has test results that show soil is 6.3-6.5 unless amended often. With as much rain as we get it will always be acidic. Maybe the rain is washing the soil too clean and there is nothing left? Slow release pellets only last about 4 weeks instead of a month so could this be a possibility?

 

Initial test results on peat started soaking in rain water: pH 2.8, will test every couple hours to see how it changes if it does. 1/2 cup pea tp 1 cup water or there abouts. Final test will be soaked peat moss drained to the point I would plant in it.

 

With those readings the PH cannot be the problem. Its darn near perfect for tomatoes at 6.0 to 6.5. Look at the fertilizer again, I do not fertilize anything till it goes in the ground. If I might make a suggestion for this year. Do you know anyone that has tomato plants started? Ask if you can pinch off a few suckers. They root quickly in water and can be ready to plant in two weeks. I have eight here now that I rooted waiting to be planted for fall tomatoes. It would give you a jump on this year.