Sad plants 1 week after purchase/planting - Ask Extension
I’ve got some plants that I bought as starts on May 4th and planted some within a couple days. Others I have in pots still - ready to plant. I’m...
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Sad plants 1 week after purchase/planting #868389
Asked May 14, 2024, 12:55 PM EDT
I’ve got some plants that I bought as starts on May 4th and planted some within a couple days. Others I have in pots still - ready to plant. I’m a beginner gardener looking for advice on how to identify an issue I’m seeing in both sets of plants. I’m worried maybe they’ve gotten too much water. I haven’t actively watered all that much, but we’ve had a decent amount of rain and, at least in the garden beds, the straw mulch keeps the soil pretty saturated. Also, when I planted them I added a small amount of an organic granular (fish-based) fertilizer to the bottom of the hole.
I’m attaching some example pics of a couple of watermelon plants and a pumpkin plant I planted about a week ago. Does this look more like overwatering/root rot, damage from the fertilizer, or something else? I have some basil and a couple other plants in pots that are doing something a little similar, so maybe not fertilizer related? The ones in pots don't necessarily have the dead spots - they're just more wilt-y.
Thanks for any help.
Boulder County Colorado
Expert Response
Hello,
Apologies for the late response. It's great that you're jumping in on gardening.
So sorry to read/see that your plants are having a hard time. Quite a few of our emails inadvertently ended up in our Junk file and were just discovered.
You may have already resolved your problems, but here is our take on what you're experiencing.
The damage you're seeing is most likely because you've put out your starts too early in the season. Temperatures in early May were in the 30's and each of the plants you've mentioned (pumpkin, watermelon, and basil) are cold sensitive plants. So though you were well intentioned, it was just a little too soon for the plants to be set out.
Also, when you get plants that have been inside garden centers, you will want to acclimate them to being outside by setting them out for just an hour or so to begin with when temps are close to when they can be planted and then gradually building up the time they sit outside. This is called hardening off. Here's a good link to read about that further:
https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/vegetables/1802-buying-hardening-transplants/
Each vegetable has it's own set of likes/dislikes so it's worth considering what works best early season versus when the temps improve.
Here are a few links that will help guide you for when and how to plant:
Vegetable Planting Guide:
https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/720.pdf
Herb Gardening:
https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/731.pdf
Hope this is helpful to you, please reach out again with any other questions.
CSU Extension Master Gardener
Apologies for the late response. It's great that you're jumping in on gardening.
So sorry to read/see that your plants are having a hard time. Quite a few of our emails inadvertently ended up in our Junk file and were just discovered.
You may have already resolved your problems, but here is our take on what you're experiencing.
The damage you're seeing is most likely because you've put out your starts too early in the season. Temperatures in early May were in the 30's and each of the plants you've mentioned (pumpkin, watermelon, and basil) are cold sensitive plants. So though you were well intentioned, it was just a little too soon for the plants to be set out.
Also, when you get plants that have been inside garden centers, you will want to acclimate them to being outside by setting them out for just an hour or so to begin with when temps are close to when they can be planted and then gradually building up the time they sit outside. This is called hardening off. Here's a good link to read about that further:
https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/vegetables/1802-buying-hardening-transplants/
Each vegetable has it's own set of likes/dislikes so it's worth considering what works best early season versus when the temps improve.
Here are a few links that will help guide you for when and how to plant:
Vegetable Planting Guide:
https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/720.pdf
Herb Gardening:
https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/731.pdf
Hope this is helpful to you, please reach out again with any other questions.
CSU Extension Master Gardener
