Garden in distress :(

tnkrer · June 3, 2015

Three days of downpours have brought multiple problems to the garden

Beans have some bugs.

Tomato and cukes probably have powdery mildew (sprayed milk/water, will spray excel LG next week)

This cuke (Burpfree) is dying, don't know why. What do I look for? The leaves are just listless and it was doing spendidly just before the rain started

The greens are probably the best part of the garden.

But chards have something eating them. Is tha a leaf miner? Is spinosad the answer here?

Thanks ..

clkeiper · June 3, 2015

Over watering will do it. You may not have done it yourself, but that is what it looks like to me. How much drainage does the bag/container have? It isn't sitting in water is it?

Lorri D · June 3, 2015

The chard looks like leaf minor to me also. I just cut the bad parts off. It is hard to control leaf minor, because they are within the leaf. You can use a systemic pesticide, but for me that would kinda defeat the purpose of growing my own veggies. If over watering isn't the cucumber problem, then I would dig one plant up and examine the roots. The tops look great (aside from wilted), I'm thinking it must be a problem under the soil. The plants with spots look like what happened to my plants when I sprayed a soap spray during too much sunshine. They got burned, but grew out of it with no lasting affect.

Nematode · June 3, 2015

Make sure its draining.
It was.pretty windy too things get a little beat up.

tnkrer · June 3, 2015

Thanks guys. I agree with over watering for the cukes. In the three years that I have been gardening, we never had so much sustained rain (4 inches according to my rain gauge) in 48 hours. The bag has 3:2:1 soilless mix and drains pretty well. Its not sitting in water.
Next couple of days are dry. So hopefully the cucumber will recover.

Yeah, it was windy and some smaller plants got beat up pretty bad.

I read that spinosad kills leaf miners, but the question would be, is it OK to eat leaves spread with spinosad. If I am not losing 10-20% I might be OK with not treating it.

Starlight · June 4, 2015

I almost would poke some additional holes in those cuke grow bags. The fiber is so tightly woven that you really don't get proper drainage at all. Maybe use a pencil and stab them and kind of twist the pencil to make some more smaller holes.

For the leaf miner, I would just cut that part where it is at out or get rid of the whole leaf like Lori suggested. If you feel the need to use a more powerful treatment there is one that I use if and when the bugs get bad and it does stop the leaf miners, thrips, earwigs, whiteflies and a host of beetles and other bugs.

The product is called Garden Safe Houseplant and Garden Insect Killer. It is made with botanical insecticides and you can use it up to the day of harvest and it does kill on contact. It works fast. You do want to keep kids and critters away when spraying til the spray dries though. I get it either at Walmart or Home Depot. It will kill whatever is eating on your beans too. : (

clkeiper · June 4, 2015

I think you are safe to eat the leaves treated with spinosad. You are washing them before consuming them, correct? I don't think it would hurt you even if you didn't wash them, it is a bacteria that targets the insects gut, literally making them starve themselves to death. That said, Unless the leaf minor consumes the dust it won't help. sprinkling it on top won't get it to the targeted pest since it is eating between the layers of the leaf. You would need to control the adult. My guess is at this point pick off the infested leaves and cover the crops witha floating row cover making sure it is weighted down so the edges aren't blown up exposing the plants to the adult pest.

Kikaida · June 4, 2015

Hope it all works out for you, perhaps pick up some semi-established replacements from the nursery just in case? Still a little early in the season so you have that in your favor!

tnkrer · June 19, 2015

Thanks all. Most everything is back on track!

Beans are doing better after picking off slugs for a few nights

Leaf miner infestation grew to more than half the chard leaves, so sprayed with spinosad. Have not seen any new leaves being infected for last week. So that seems good

tomatoes recovered fine and now setting out ton of blooms

Three of the 4 cukes died. They are being replaced by baby cuke plants. One cuke plant threw new shoots and leaves, so while all the old leaves died, the plant itself survived.

When you start gardening, you have 4 plants and all the time in the world to care for them. Then the hobby grows and before you know it, there are 100s growing all over the place and not enough time to take care of everything

June 3, 2015	#1
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	Garden in distress :( Three days of downpours have brought multiple problems to the garden Beans have some bugs. Tomato and cukes probably have powdery mildew (sprayed milk/water, will spray excel LG next week) This cuke (Burpfree) is dying, don't know why. What do I look for? The leaves are just listless and it was doing spendidly just before the rain started The greens are probably the best part of the garden. But chards have something eating them. Is tha a leaf miner? Is spinosad the answer here? Thanks ..

June 3, 2015	#2
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	Over watering will do it. You may not have done it yourself, but that is what it looks like to me. How much drainage does the bag/container have? It isn't sitting in water is it? __________________ carolyn k

June 3, 2015	#3
Lorri D Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: NorthWest Posts: 267	The chard looks like leaf minor to me also. I just cut the bad parts off. It is hard to control leaf minor, because they are within the leaf. You can use a systemic pesticide, but for me that would kinda defeat the purpose of growing my own veggies. If over watering isn't the cucumber problem, then I would dig one plant up and examine the roots. The tops look great (aside from wilted), I'm thinking it must be a problem under the soil. The plants with spots look like what happened to my plants when I sprayed a soap spray during too much sunshine. They got burned, but grew out of it with no lasting affect. Last edited by Lorri D; June 3, 2015 at 07:00 PM.

June 4, 2015	#7
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	I think you are safe to eat the leaves treated with spinosad. You are washing them before consuming them, correct? I don't think it would hurt you even if you didn't wash them, it is a bacteria that targets the insects gut, literally making them starve themselves to death. That said, Unless the leaf minor consumes the dust it won't help. sprinkling it on top won't get it to the targeted pest since it is eating between the layers of the leaf. You would need to control the adult. My guess is at this point pick off the infested leaves and cover the crops witha floating row cover making sure it is weighted down so the edges aren't blown up exposing the plants to the adult pest. __________________ carolyn k

June 3, 2015	#4
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Make sure its draining. It was.pretty windy too things get a little beat up.

June 4, 2015	#6
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	I almost would poke some additional holes in those cuke grow bags. The fiber is so tightly woven that you really don't get proper drainage at all. Maybe use a pencil and stab them and kind of twist the pencil to make some more smaller holes. For the leaf miner, I would just cut that part where it is at out or get rid of the whole leaf like Lori suggested. If you feel the need to use a more powerful treatment there is one that I use if and when the bugs get bad and it does stop the leaf miners, thrips, earwigs, whiteflies and a host of beetles and other bugs. The product is called Garden Safe Houseplant and Garden Insect Killer. It is made with botanical insecticides and you can use it up to the day of harvest and it does kill on contact. It works fast. You do want to keep kids and critters away when spraying til the spray dries though. I get it either at Walmart or Home Depot. It will kill whatever is eating on your beans too. : (

June 4, 2015	#8
Kikaida Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Valencia, CA Posts: 258	Hope it all works out for you, perhaps pick up some semi-established replacements from the nursery just in case? Still a little early in the season so you have that in your favor!

June 19, 2015	#9
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	Thanks all. Most everything is back on track! Beans are doing better after picking off slugs for a few nights Leaf miner infestation grew to more than half the chard leaves, so sprayed with spinosad. Have not seen any new leaves being infected for last week. So that seems good tomatoes recovered fine and now setting out ton of blooms Three of the 4 cukes died. They are being replaced by baby cuke plants. One cuke plant threw new shoots and leaves, so while all the old leaves died, the plant itself survived. When you start gardening, you have 4 plants and all the time in the world to care for them. Then the hobby grows and before you know it, there are 100s growing all over the place and not enough time to take care of everything