kale and cucumber not growing - Ask Extension
Hi. We bought kale plants and planted one each in a container in approx. 9 inches of outdoor potting soil. I threw in a handful of soil conditioner (L...
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kale and cucumber not growing #872300
Asked June 09, 2024, 3:10 PM EDT
Hi. We bought kale plants and planted one each in a container in approx. 9 inches of outdoor potting soil. I threw in a handful of soil conditioner (Leafgro).
We also sowed two bush cucumber seeds in containers of similar size and filled with the same amount of soil and soil conditioner.
This was in late April.
The kale has not grown at all. Recently, a few leaves have turned yellow. The cucumbers sprouted but then stopping growing. Now they are turning yellow.
The site gets 8+ hours of sun per day. I water the pots most days except when we are expecting rain or a day or two after rain.
Do you know what the problem could be and how I can save these plants? Incidentally, our tomato plants are doing OK. Our green beans were doing fine but now one plant is beginning to turn yellow.
Thank you,
SB
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
The symptoms pictured and described sound like they are largely attributed to some nutrient deficiencies (primarily nitrogen). Have the plants been fertilized since they were planted? If so, can you describe what you've used? If not, our Fertilizing Vegetables and Maintaining Container Grown Vegetables pages can provide guidance. Leafgro can supply a small, slow-release amount of nutrients, but not enough by itself to support good establishment and vigorous growth. This can particularly be true for containers, since frequent watering leaches out some nutrients faster than the plant can make use of them.
Leaf yellowing can also be associated with over- and under-watering stress, though if the younger foliage looks pretty good (not off-color or wilted), then it's probably not drastic. Make sure the top inch or so of potting mix is allowed to dry somewhat between waterings so the roots don't stay too wet. At this time of year, given the size of the plants pictured in relation to the pot size, the containers might not need watering daily just yet, and you want to encourage their roots to reach down into moister layers of soil as the surface begins to get dry.
Miri
Leaf yellowing can also be associated with over- and under-watering stress, though if the younger foliage looks pretty good (not off-color or wilted), then it's probably not drastic. Make sure the top inch or so of potting mix is allowed to dry somewhat between waterings so the roots don't stay too wet. At this time of year, given the size of the plants pictured in relation to the pot size, the containers might not need watering daily just yet, and you want to encourage their roots to reach down into moister layers of soil as the surface begins to get dry.
Miri
