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Post by claude on Jul 5, 2015 19:28:56 GMT -5
Both my brother and I are having trouble with our tomatoes. I started many, but the winds toppled my growing rack when I was hardening them off..all of them gone. My brother had tried seed starting in the peat capsules suspended over water..they sprouted quickly and were robust growers. He gave me several plants, and several to other siblings. as soon as we planted in the garden, they stopped growing. The beds had some bags of composted cow manure added as well as compost. The sister who planted in grow boxes has plants 4' tall. I have 6 plants 3+ ft tall and maybe 8 plants that are less than 6" and spindly...my brothers are like mine.???? the only thing we had in common was the darn composted cow manure! Has anyone else ever had this cause a problem?
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 5, 2015 19:52:39 GMT -5
Are you growing any other plants in those beds?
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Post by armjr on Jul 5, 2015 19:54:04 GMT -5
I have seen gardens with cow manure completely stunt tomatoes. The manure was not completely composted and as such was too "hot".
Alan
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Post by lisaann on Jul 5, 2015 20:30:55 GMT -5
Did you use the bagged manure on all the tomatos?
If so, well, you say some of them are 3 foot tall, so they are growing. And only some are not, and you were thinking maybe grasshoppers slowed them down in a previous post.
Could have been a crappy bag of bagged manure.
Might be a shade issue, but even then, the tomato would grow gangly looking for sun.
Hmmmmmm.............
Did you till in the compost? Spread it and try to mix with a shovel? Just lay it on top of the ground?
Maybe none of my questions matter, but maybe the manure was not mixed in the soil good in some spots.
Just thinking with you.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jul 5, 2015 20:50:07 GMT -5
Composted cow manure isn't that high in nutrients. While it does help maybe you needed more nitrogen? Also when you transplant use fish emulsion or seaweed in the transplanting hole. I wonder what the soil ph is.
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Post by claude on Jul 5, 2015 21:04:50 GMT -5
The manure was sold as composted. I used my little tiller to mix it in. I also added aged compost. One of the larger beds had some pine needles and leaves that did not break down as well as I would have liked, so I pulled it aside and planted in the bed, leaving the shredded leaves and pine needles on top as mulch. I thought that the hoppers were trimming the tomatoes and stunting them..and they only added to the problem. The numbers of grass hoppers is slowing down. It's just so odd.. In a 18 x4'bed..tomatoes on one end are 3+' tall, the ones in the middle are stunted and not much bigger than when planted. Squash and melons in the same bed are smaller too. The red Russian cabbage is huge and has bolted and gone to seed! So have the broccoli raab.
The first bed has 6 plants, good height with small tomatoes on them. Underneath the dill is going to seed. Tomatillos look normal height...the tomatoes in the center of the bed are kinda spindly..but ok height.
The squash in the second bed are huge..the peppers are maybe 8" tall, so on the short side. The beets, carrots and lettuces are being trimmed by the grasshoppers.
The green beans in the third bed are in a row of plants that are over the top of the trellis, next to 4" size plants, next to empty spots, and tall over the top plants. This is just baffles me. If the. Manure wasn't composted, wouldn't I see burning on the plants? Wouldn't it effect ALL the plants? The problem is sporadic in all of the beds, but markedly in the large 18 x 4 bed.
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Post by lisaann on Jul 5, 2015 21:16:09 GMT -5
What kind of trees do you have?
Yep, I'm still here and reading along with you.
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Post by lisaann on Jul 5, 2015 21:17:17 GMT -5
I sure wish you could post a picture.
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Post by lisaann on Jul 5, 2015 21:20:08 GMT -5
Plants over the top of the trellis and then spindley plants. Shade is still nagging at me, but not from trees now, but the neighbor plants in the bed.
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Post by claude on Jul 5, 2015 21:28:18 GMT -5
The garden is in full sun 6am- 5pm. No shading trees.
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Post by lisaann on Jul 5, 2015 21:35:51 GMT -5
But are the plants in the bed shading the other plants. Yep, I ruled out shade from trees.
I am having so much fun thinking with you!
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Post by James on Jul 6, 2015 1:57:06 GMT -5
"as soon as we planted in the garden, they stopped growing."
I am going to say they need water.
When planting started tomatoes out in the garden, always dig a trench and lay the plant in it with just the top leaves out and cover up all the roots and stem. The plant then sends out roots all along the buried stem and this gives the plant a fantastic root system. Always press the soil down well and water newly planted plants well right after planting as this brings the soil fines into close contact with the roots.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 6, 2015 8:28:18 GMT -5
OK, I-re read everything and here is my theory.
All 3 of you had seedlings from the same source so it's not a problem with the seedlings themselves.
It's not weather or watering related or they would all be the same size.
Only you and your brother have problems and you both used the cow manure. Sister did not use it and her plants are fine.
Your squash in the same garden are also stunted leading me to believe that it's a problem with the soil itself (i.e. the cow manure).
You have some tomato plants that are vigorous and some that are stunted in the same bed so I would assume that the cow manure did not get distributed evenly and the ones that are growing well did not get as much manure. They are all in the same location in the bed which gives credence to my "not distributed evenly" theory. Probably the middle of the bed got more manure incorporated into it and the ends didn't get so much.
I said this in another thread about a different subject but sometimes too much of a good thing is not a good thing and in this case I think that you probably had too much cow manure. I don't know that there is anything wrong with it. I think that maybe you just had too much for the plants to deal with. Remember that an overabundance of any nutrient can become toxic or at least detrimental to plants.
To prove my theory, dig up one of the plants that is not growing and transplant it to another location where the plants are not stunted. It's not growing where it is anyway so what do you have to lose?
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jul 6, 2015 9:03:36 GMT -5
Very scientifically sound thinking BR! It would be interesting to see if it did well in another location.
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Post by tbird on Jul 6, 2015 9:19:27 GMT -5
maybe the cow manure has something excreted that is antigrowth - maybe residual pesticide or some kind of plant substance that interferes with the growth of other plants - I forgot what that word is....
can you build up the soil level - add some good soil up so the plants can sprout more roots in different soil and see if that helps?
Maybe as a tester, get some nice soil, and transplant 1-2 plants out of that bed, maybe soak gently in water to remove all/most of that soil and see if that is indeed the problem?
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