How exactly did you weed? How much are you watering/how are you watering?

When I weeded the beds, I used my little 3-prong tool, I think it's called a cultivator? Like a very aggressive looking 3prong mini-rake. Anyway, I got down there, and put that thing underneath the weeds and kind of raked around their roots until I got the whole thing out in one piece. The soil was really crumbly and loose, so it didn't take much to loosed the roots out and pull the weeds out. There were just a few small weeds that I pulled or that came out with the big ones, but mostly big ones that all came out in one piece.

I have no idea how much to water. I go out there in the AM (before it gets too warm)and PM, just after the sun drops over the mountain. I am using a hose with a cheap-o sprayer attachment. I water the strawberry bed (the adjacent 4x12 raised bed) for about 10-15 minutes, and the brassicas (the one I'm having trouble with) for about the same amount of time, although it's only half planted, so the brassicas are getting twice the water as the strawberries, I guess. My mom suggested today that I only water once per day. I am getting a sprinkler and timer thingy at the grange today, so that they get watered automatically each morning and evening.

The raised beds frames are 24" high, but the soil is only going up to about 14-18" in there. I don't know if there is anything under the soil in the bed, separating it from the ground (the previous owners built these beds a few years ago).

Could this be damping off disease from not getting the seedlings used to being outside when I brought them home from the nursery?

Here's a link to my pictures (on Photobucket)

THANK YOU!!

Tracey

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures on Photobucket of plants

Can't see the pics, the link takes me to the login page for your account and wants a password.

Hard to say from here, but 10-15 minutes of water from a hose 2x/day in a 4x12 area does seem like a lot of water to me.

Depends though if your nozzle is just misting or if it is putting down a lot of water.

Generally you want to let the top inch or so of soil dry between waterings. All veggies, even seedlings, will rapidly put roots down a few to several inches as a first priority so letting the surface inch or two dry is a good thing. Too much water means not enough oxygen which means root rot which means plant death.

Again, I can't say if that's your problem, but given your watering 20-30 minutes per day in much a small area it may be.

The majority of garden problems new gardeners encounter are not enough sunlight or too much water so I would back way off on the watering and see what happens.

justaguy2 is correct. From reading your response you are most likely watering too much. Even if the soil is dry on the surface, it can be retaining plenty of water 1-6 inches below. How do you know? Dig a hole a foot deep.

It is best to not get water on the foliage via drip irrigation or soaker hose. This reduces the chance for disease. Do not water in the evening. This also increases chance of fungus and disease if water is not evaporating off the foliage at night. You want it to dry out.

Don't water for three days, then report back on how the plants look.

There are two schools of thought on watering. Frequent shallow waterings or less frequent long, deep waterings. The general rule of thumb is that mature plants need 1-2 inches of rain per week in summer. You should provide whatever portion of this moisture is lacking. One inch of rain equals 65 gallons per 100 square feet of garden space. But this is just a guide. Time of the season, stage of the plants, soil composition, and many other factors affect the amount of water required. Be consistent during fruit production.

Mulched plants require less water than plants that are not mulched. Raised beds require more than non-raised beds.

If a good amount of compost is incorporated into the soil, less water is needed. Compost holds 6 times it's weight in water.

Watering too frequently and too heavily is just as hard on plants as too little water. Roots require oxygen just as much as they require water and nutrients.

Dry winds dehydrate plants.

Cooler temps require less water.

Those using drip irrigation whether from a soaker hose or milk jug are likely getting the best use of their water which is going right where it needs to go and the ground has time to absorb it.

There are hundreds of methods of watering. Whatever you do, just be consistent. But I do agree, twice a day sounds like too much. Roots require oxygen equally as much as they require nutrients and water.

I agree, I would only water when the soil seems dry. Dig down a bit and check it for moisture. All any plant needs is 1 inch per week.

A good soaking is better than light sprinkling twice a day.

WOW - that doesn't seem like much water. I am probably overwatering then. I will dig down this evening and see how moist is at 1' depth. I will also figure out that photobucket site! Thank you all for your input! I'll update tonight or tomorrow!

Tracey Mouse aka house mouse

As a rule of thumb if you dig down a few inches and take a handful of soil. If it just falls apart rapidly it is too dry, if it squishes and water comes out it is too saturated. but if you grasp a handful and it kind of crumbles like chocolate cake then you have the right moisture to provide water and oqygen to the plant. Too much and too little stresses out the plants, some of which never fully bounce back. I have the same raised beds and I just water when it needs it preferably early morning or late afternoon when there is enough time to evaporate any on the plants themselves. It takes me 15 minutes to water my entire garden which has 10 beds to it. I water enough that it takes about 20 seconds for the water to absorb. Just my experience could be differnet with your's.

Just my two cents.

Carl Edwards

housemouse,

If you learn nothing else this season, learn that plants recover from dehydration much better then they ever recover from the roots being suffocated by drowning. That oxygen is equally as important as water and nutrients and rain water is always better than municipal tap water.

Well, I tested the moisture with a moisture meter, and it came out at 3-4 (on a 0-10 scale) at a depth of about 3". The deeper I went, the more moisture there was.

I double-checked my compost, and the bag says "organic compost" - the brand was Gardener & Bloome.

I got some soil and brought it in the house to do a nutrient test.

I got pretty varying pH readings at different places in the bed. One spot was around 6.0, most spots were about 6.5-6.8, and some were more around 7.0, one even higher. So, I will compare these readings with the requirements of each plant.

I think it's definately something going on in the soil, because I still have some seedlings left from the "pony packs" (6-packs) that these came from, and they're sitting in the greenhouse, and they seem to be doing fine, or at least much better. I've put them into larger plastic pots (3"-4") and set them in trays of water so they can suck it up as they need it. They seem okay. I got the soil for those pots from the greenhouse raised beds, which I would think would be pretty much the same as the outside raised beds.

Maybe the nutrient test will be blatently obvious to me!

I think I fixed the photobucket page. It needs a "friend's password" which I set to "mouse".

Thanks!

House Mouse

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden Photos

Saw your pics and most don't really look too bad - some new growth showing on most all of them. But they display the classic symptoms of both excess watering and shallow watering that others have already mentioned and all the problems that leads too. Far more plants are killed from excess water than from lack of water and it is one of the most common errors made by new gardeners.

Your plants are also bit leggy and shallow planted which I assume is from too little light while in the greenhouse? Since it is too late to plant them deeper, you need to mound up some soil around all that exposed stem to give it support and a better root system. Then water deeply no more than once a day, preferably in the morning, on days when it is really hot and no more than every other day or even every 2 days the rest of the time.

The main thing that caught my eye other than the excessive watering was all the wood chip looking mulch. Is that the "organic compost"? If it is as woody as it looks it may be leaching nitrogen from the plants and you can compensate for that with a good feeding.

On the soil testing, to get an accurate reading first mix all your spot samples together and then test so that you get an average reading for the bed.

Oh, and the plants sitting in the water in the greenhouse...please dump out the excess water. Seedlings should never be left sitting in standing water. They can't get air (just as important as water) and it rots the roots. Let them drink their fill and then dump the water that isn't taken up within the first few minutes.

Let go of your fixation on water, mouse ;-) and all will be well in the garden.

That does look like a lot of non composted wood pieces. If they are only on the surface no worries, but if they are mixed throughout you will likely have a lack of nitrogen your first year.

Decomposing wood ties up nitrogen. As it decomposes it will be given back, but in the mean time don't rely upon just the compost, use some fish emulsion every couple weeks at recommended strength until those wood pieces are composted.

If staying organic isn't a concern for you Miracle Grow would do the trick as well.

You wrote: " haven't added any fertilizer yet - maybe that's my problem?"

Your plants look like they need fertilizer.

I didn't water this morning (aren't you all proud of me!) and checked them tonight at 7pm, and water moisture readings (Rapitest probe, 1-10 scale) were on the low side. I watered with the new sprinkler, and it seems good. I'll leave them along tomorow morning too, and then check them tomorrow evening.

I also checked pH levels, and they seem to be varying, but between 6.0 and 7.0. I'm going to double-check each plant's reading against my books to make sure they're okay.

I will also be doing a soil test for nutrients, but I have to get my kitchen straightened out first (I've been gone almost every day the last week and the house looks like only men live here!). I'm thinking tomorrow night!

I'm taking that so-called compost back tomorrow (along with a baggie full from the garden so they can see what it looks like without me opening a new bag), and getting some good stuff at the grange.

I'm keeping a Garden Journal now, and will update you all Friday!

Thanks so much for the help and suggestions! I really appreciate it!!

Tracey Mouse aka House Mouse

Mouse, You can toss the Rapidtest meter, I have the same thing and it's pretty worthless in my opinion.

Moisture meters don't really measure moisture and are thrown off by lots of things. Put it in a glass of distilled water and it will read dry.

Judge the moisture levels with your hands, they are the most reliable tool you have for this purpose.

Agree. Pitch the meter and use your hands. Home gardens aren't scientific test plots so recall the days of your youth when you liked to make mud pies and said "Awwww, Mom!" when she said your feet were too dirty to go to bed without a bath. And don't forget to feed them. ;) Good luck.

WOW - that doesn't seem like much water.

Only relative to the amount you've been using.

Question: Why do you feel obgliated to water so much?

You have to let it dry out. The number one cause of death of house plants is over watering. It is also common with vegetable gardens. Over watering not only suffocates the roots, it encourages all types of fungus and disease problems. You're stressing your plants and making them weak because they literally can't breathe. People think they only breathe thru the top foliage, but they breathe thru the roots equally if not more.

Think of how your skin looks and feels after you sit in a bathtub full of water too long. In your case, after your moisture meter test, here is what I recommend to you housemouse: Don't water for a week. Yes, an entire 7 full days of no watering by housemouse. Is it possible?

it came out at 3-4 (on a 0-10 scale) at a depth of about 3". The deeper I went, the more moisture there was.

This is why plants can survive in drought. Especially native plants whose roots can go down 16 feet. But if you water all the time then the roots don't go down and area spreading out near the surface making them much more susceptible to fluctuation and less stable in the long run

housemouse, I don't think you should be so worried about the pH as much as you should be worrying about the N-P-K levels of your soil. But if the pH is varying so much perhaps your soil was not mixed well.

Where are you located? What county and state?

Then water deeply no more than once a day, preferably in the morning, on days when it is really hot and no more than every other day or even every 2 days the rest of the time.

Still too much, especially with the recommendation to deep water that often. You should only deep water once or twice a week. If done properly, there will be plenty of moisture available to the roots even if the top of the soil is dry.

Oh, and the plants sitting in the water in the greenhouse...please dump out the excess water. Seedlings should never be left sitting in standing water. They can't get air (just as important as water) and it rots the roots. Let them drink their fill and then dump the water that isn't taken up within the first few minutes.

Yes. 100% agree. In fact, what are the seedlings?

housemouse, How thick of a layer is that wood mulch?

You wrote: " haven't added any fertilizer yet - maybe that's my problem?"
Your plants look like they need fertilizer.

Compost is fertilizer. The industry has everyone believing fertilizer is the answer to everything when the reality is that concentrated fertilizers cause far more harm than good more often than you think. Use compost which is nature's fertilizer and nature has been doing it for thousands of years. You can't burn your plants, it releases at the proper rate for the root systems, you can't go wrong so long as you use a blend of compost created from at least five different sources.

And if all the above doesn't confuse you, nothing will. Forget about acidity - it sounds OK to me. If that so-called compost contains a lot of wood chips, water with a dilute solution of something like Rapid-gro and that ought to help them green up.
Otherwise, it's far better to water deeply and let the surface get dry than to try to keep it constantly moist. I know it's hard to believe, but those plant roots need air as well as water so don't drown them.
And patience, patience. A little benign neglect and they'll probably do fine.

Well... how's it going?

I live in Newport, OR. Where in "SW OR" are you?