Hi All,
I have these cucumber plants growing from seeds and noticing a yellowing with some brownish spots.(see pic). I do use Ortho disease and insect control. Not sure if its a watering issue. I do spray them - water, twice a day morning and afternoon. Is that too much? I was looking at the young cucumber plants at Home Depot and they look so healthy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Watering twice a day seems excessive to me. Plants that size, unless they're in an extremely hot area, shouldn't need watering every day. Start watering every other day and see how they do...then move to every other day. Stick your finger down into the dirt and see if they *really* need watering...the surface needs to dry out at least a little bit before they're watered again.

Also, is the Ortho you're using recommended for food plants?

This is what I give them. Seems like good quality stuff for vegetables. Both the tomatoes and cucumber plants get this treatment with the same watering. Maybe the Cucs get less water?

Yeah, I don't think the spray or fertilizer is doing it. My bet is that they're staying too wet. Are the tomatoes getting the same watering cycle? It's good for most plants for the surface to dry out some between waterings. The exception might be very young seedlings such as young seedlings that still have seed leaves (cotyledons) and maybe one set of true leaves. Keeping seedlings too wet can cause damping-off where the plant stems rot at ground level.

Thank you so much. I'll make sure I don't over-water them. The tomatoes get the same treatment but look fine. It's just that the cucumber plants look a little funky.

There are diseases out there that could be the issue but I'd start with making sure you don't over water them.

Do you fertilize? Looks a bit like fertilizer burn.

It looks like we will have a stormy week ahead with heavy down pours. Does anyone cover their potted vegetables with plastic as to not get too much water?

DougL said:Do you fertilize? Looks a bit like fertilizer burn.

I used that Miracle Grow Shake N' Feed

They are too young to fertilize, but I think the young leaves in the middle of the plants look green. Let them grow a bit.

Groverson, you need to back off the fertilizer big time. Read the instructions. It doesn't take very much nor very often. My suggestion would be to read and learn more about adding fertilizer, and how it is best used. Adding fertilizer inappropriately will produce unwanted results or kill you plants. Do more research before you just add chemicals. Wishing you the best of luck but you need to be more patient and read the labels. Please back off the watering. Too much water will kill your plants. They have to breath and too much water cuts the oxygen from the roots and they suffocate. SLOW DOWN!

I will. Thanks so much for setting me straight!

Our of curiosity, how much have you been using?

You can use natural fertilizer like my own compost, it won't hurt the young plants, but chemicals are another thing altogether, I never use them.

Just a sprinkle of the Miracle grow Shake n Feed. Not very much. Here's a closeup of the label....

But some people don't have compost.

Instructions state to apply every three months.

For containers work this amount lightly into the soil (maybe 1/2" to 1" ):

8" pot - 1 Tbsp
10" pot - 1-1/2 Tbsp
12" pot - 3 Tbsp
14" pot - 5 Tbsp

How much have you applied? Just trying to figure out what the problem is. We all gotta learn.

Intheswamp said:But some people don't have compost.

I think you can buy worm compost, I bought them before.

For containers, and especially seedlings, you need to fertilize at half strength or less.

Now, compost won't work well in a container as a fertilizer. First of all, it's a VERY mild fertilizer, and even in the ground it's a VERY slow fertilizer. Containers don't have anywhere near the bacterial population that you need to break down organic fertilizers of any kind. So they kinda just sit there.

If this is fertilizer burn, you need to flush the mix with water. The stuff will leach effectively. Yeah, it'll get really wet. But let it drain, and it'll be fine.

I have 18 inch pots and probably used no more then 5 teaspoons....