We need more to try to help you problem solve.

Need to know many things; start with these:
Status of the plants you added? rootball condition at planting - moist wet or dry?
Condition of the soil at planting: Moist wet or dry?
Weather following planting? sunny?windy? cloudy? rain?
How you watered them: sprinkler, by hand, or drip, or only rain.
When did you water?
How much added?
How did you decide to water again?
Prevailing temps daytime?
Prevailing temps nighttime?

Bottom line: Depending upon where you live, likely you have time to start again.

Root balls of tomatoes were moist, everything else was started with seeds.

Soil was moist. Weather has been sunny/windy/ cloudy/ rainy depending on the day. I have drip irrigation, but it has not been necessary to use it because of more than ample rainfall. Temps have varied considerably, from 80+ degrees in the day to 48 at night.

If the garden in fact is "hot" from having too much fertilizer, is it feasible to plant again. I have plenty of time temperature-wise. Thanks!

Some very good questions above.

Does anything look healthy or close to it?

I guess we'll have to wait to hear any details. Very strange. I don't have much experience with organic fertilizers. But I am curious why one pound pelletized chicken manure per 100ft2 would be considered excessive. Isn;t it 5% or less nitrogen and slow release? To me that seems like a very small amount to incorporate pre-plant into a 10x10 bed. Or am I missing something?

I wonder if the N is tied up with decomposition at this point?

If it were me, I would find a certified lab for a complete soil test. I know CT Agriculture will do it for free (as many samples as you need). I am willing to bet Iowa has something either Agi or Edu which can help determine the cause here.

I would also bring a sample from an untreated area for comparison and a plant specimen roots and all.

where are you? a good reason to your zone if you want info. here I am a good 3 weeks from planting all that you listed you planted.

I'll try to address your questions: I'm in Zone 8. Although we've had some cooler than normal temps in April, there has been no radical change; it was 88 degrees over the weekend, in the 70s today. I have used these beds to grow vegetables for over 15 years; last year my crops were smaller (fruit size) than usual so I added fertilizer this year. Everything was planted over a two-week period beginning on Apr. 5.

There has been a lot of rain here this year, but there is every year; our annual rainfall is 58". I have not had to water so far this season; I have a faucet and drip irrigation in each bed, and the soil drains very well. I have plenty of season left to replant even two more gardens.

I know it sounds odd that everything would start off green and healthy and then suddenly die, but that exactly what happened. For example, I planted 4 varieties of heirloom tomatoes 3 weeks ago. They were in containers and about 6" tall. They grew like wildfire to 15" tall, then turned yellow and dies. Same for the zucchini, Winter squash, okra, cucumbers, and soy beans.

If you need more info, just let me know what it is. Thank you.

All good questions. I had similar immediately reading the original post.

My garden is about the same size, and raised beds. I've never treated any bed the same. They are all in various stages of prep, covered, two have been double dug, the basil bed has added sand and a bit more full with nothing added but compost ant the end of last season, still covered and will not be seeded for some time, etc...we all have different challenges and different climates and garden plants have similar 'different' needs and challenges.

I'm also a passive lazy gardener and just poke along doing a little each week.

A new garden? A five yr old garden? Death in a day could be a big nasty wind drift from someone nearby spraying...a bit like the perfect storm and rare. That usually affects plants at different rates...some slow some fast.

How soon after amending did you plant?

If it was me in this challenge, i would have to take at least one bed or two, divide them into 4x4 squares, and experiment. In one, take some soil out and mix in some peat....another, just re-plant some seed, seeds are cheap, in another square try something else. And i would plant what is the most disappointed veg to not have this season. (i care less about some than others). Also depends on what can be planted now and still do well from seed.

edit-i was posting at the same time, : )

I planted 3-4 weeks after amending the soil. I wasn't worried about it because of the conservative amounts of fertilizer that I used. Apparently I was wrong because the plants look like plants burned from too much fertilizer. That of course doesn't explain what they would start off health and then suddenly die. I'll have to eliminate drift from herbicide spraying nearby because my garden is surrounded by fruit trees (some very young) that haven't been damaged.

BTW the tomatoes died about 3 weeks after after more than doubling their size. The seed crops all came up, got about 3" tall, then died. The only thing left alive is the green beans, but they aren't even 2" tall yet. Incidentally, the weeds are thriving!

Something in the water?

Does not at all sound like an issue with too much fertilizer to me... but I'm no expert.

Only a complete soil test at a certified lab will rule in or out this issue.

Life is a learning experience. Gardening is one BIG experiment.

Maybe root knot nematode infestation? Is you soil on the sandy side? Not sure RKN would affect all of the plants equally though. Try puling up one of the dead plants and look closely at the roots for signs of RKN which can be pulled up with a google search. Also possible that you have a vole problem and they are munching on the plant roots.

But I am curious why one pound pelletized chicken manure per 100ft2
would be considered excessive. Isn;t it 5% or less nitrogen and slow
release? To me that seems like a very small amount to incorporate
pre-plant into a 10x10 bed.

I'm not convinced that your fertilizing was excessive at all, so of all the things it could possibly be, excessive N is probably not the issue. Also, assuming you're on the east coast, your weather has been similar to what I've experienced. It's been a strange April. First part was mostly sunny with plenty of days in the 80's, then a full week of cool and wet when we didn;t see the sun at all for 7 or 8 days straight, and now the weather is late Oct-like with very cool nights in the 40's. Soil temps in my garden were very high when I planted in early April and have declined quite a bit since then. So all the summer veggies haven;t grown at all in the last few weeks. I have seen other gardens where eggplants and summer squash died very quickly after that week of 6 inches rain, cool, and overcast. Maybe you had a touch of frost as well??

Two possibilities. One is salt damage. The other, perhaps more likely is ammonia gas damage. Chicken manure has a lot of nitrogen and, if the pH is high enough, some if it can out-gas as ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to plants. I would expect this to be transient. Try replanting.

it would seem readers missed that it was pelletized, not fresh, chicken manure.

Have you ever dealt with pelletized chicken manure? I have...

I'm going to replant this week, and move the location of the crops somewhat. Not sure if I have a reason for moving the location of the plants, but it sounds like a good idea. Someone asked if my soil is sandy: It isn't, but it drains very well because of the amendments I have made to the soil. Native soil in my area is clay, so I filled the planters with top soil, fine mulch, compost, etc.

Except for last year when production went down, the beds have been reliably producing good crops.

No we didn't miss that Dave but yeah pelletized chicken manure can be quite strong as its contents are not stabilized or regulated. It can range from nothing but fillers and old litter to fresh manures never aged or composted at all. And it can easily also be anaerobic and high in salts. Add to that cottonseed meal and BlackCow (many past complaints about it here) and it is quite possible to end up with excess N as well as heat. Plus these are relatively small, confined beds so dissipation out of the bed and into surrounding soil is restricted.

But I keep coming back to the symptoms displayed by the plants as described - yellowing and then quickly dying - and that sure doesn't sound like the symptoms of fertilizer burn or excess N. Black, not yellowing, is the color associated with excess nitrogen in transplants and young seedlings are notorious for quick death from it.

So the real issue here isn't whether the N was excessive or not. The real issue is what caused all the different varieties of plants and seeds to start out fine, then yellow and quickly die. As Azdoctor said, salts is a possibility. So is an extremely skewed pH although less so IMO. But excessively wet soil and/or poorly draining soil rings a bell with me as the bit fit for the symptoms. Plants often start out fine but then yellow and die from root rot in overly wet soil. Seeds will germinate fine in wet soil if the soil is warm enough but then yellow and die if the soil remains overly wet. The proof would lie in replanting once the soil has the chance to dry out.

Just something to consider.

Dave

did any one spray 24-d or dicamba near by. both will drift and are deadly to tomatoes and everything else you listed.

I'd put my money down on herbicide... but who knows. I hope OP figures it out. I doubt the bed is ruined for the entire year.

Peter (6b SE NY), herbicide is not allowed in or near my garden. njfarm_gw(5a), I don't know what 24-d or dicamba is, but like I said no herbicide is allowed near the garden. I do spray my fruit trees with pyrethrin, but it's never bothered any vegetable plant before.

As for excessive water, yes it has rained a lot this April as it does every April. I examined the soil the day I saw the plants dying; the soil was moist but not wet.

Good to know that there's alot of variation in pelletized form of chicken manure. Maybe OP will fill us in on what type he applied then! I've seen bags of pelletized at feed and seed and it's listed as 4-3-2 or 5-4-3. Something like this...assuming it's made the same in UK and US. Rate on this bag is listed as approx 2 lbs/100ft2. I'm leaning toward my weather argument as I've seen healthy summer veggies die rather quickly this month in this area, maybe similar to what OP states.

dave_f1 SC, USDA Zone 8a(7b), the brand I used is Chikkity Doo Doo Certified Organic Fertilizer 5-3-2. It stinks. A lot. It says 2 lbs. per 100 s.f., and there's no way I used that much.

If conditions are right, dicamba can drift several hundred feet. did any one nearby spray.

njfarm_gw(5a), I live in a neighborhood where the houses are several hundred feet apart. Neither neighbor immediately beside me has a garden. In fact the nearest garden is over 1/4 mile away.

Is there a reason you don't want to do a soil test?

gumby_ct(CT it says Z5), I'm fine with doing a soil test...except the County Extension Service may or may not have the results ready this year.

<I live in a neighborhood where the houses are several hundred feet apart. Neither neighbor immediately beside me has a garden. In fact the nearest garden is over 1/4 mile away.>

That makes no difference. Do any of your neighbors use a lawn service? That is the usual source of herbicide drift in suburban gardens. Herbicides can drift for as much as 1/2 mile if wind conditions allow. Herbicide drift is one of the most common problems suburban gardeners have to contend with. There are numerous discussions here about that. And thanks to the lawn services indiscriminate use of herbicides many now have to deal with herbicide contaminated community compost as well.

<except the County Extension Service may or may not have the results ready this year.>

Why? Normally it takes a week to 10 days.

Dave

Herbicide drift would affect plants in the vicinity that are NOT in your garden. Look around to see if this is the case. If not, look elsewhere for the answer.

Good point AZ. I'm not inclined to think it is herbicide either but don't want the OP to think herbicides only come for gardens. Lawn care companies spray it indiscriminately.

Dave

<Why? Normally it takes a week to 10 days.

Dave>

Just the way things work here in the lazy South. Government services have all but ground to a halt here...except for the DOT: It builds and resurfaces roads where nothing is needed! As far as the Extension Service goes, lack of response has always been the way they operate. The quality of personnel has always been deplorable. One October a neighbor of mine got the Extension Service to come out and instruct him on building a pond. The rep gave him a pamphlet from the 1940s; that's all she knew about pond building.

Such a mystery . . . it does certainly sound worthwhile to try planting again. Please let us know how it goes? Or if you figure out any answers? Thanks.

<Do any of your neighbors use a lawn service? That is the usual source of herbicide drift in suburban gardens. Herbicides can drift for as much as 1/2 mile if wind conditions allow.>

I was trying to think of any neighbors who use a lawn service. I thin the closest one is over a half-mile away. Besides, isn't it unusual for herbicide drift to pick out vegetables and leave the strawberries, flowers, etc. alone? I have a strawberry planter no 10' away from my dead vegetables that are alive and growing.

Before this thread comes to an end, I want to thank everyone for their helpful comments and advice.

<I have a strawberry planter no 10' away from my dead vegetables that are alive and growing.>

Sounds like you are either stuck w/your extension service or a mail order service, unfortunately it just sounds like something in the soil. Did you get any compost from the town or county?

<Did you get any compost from the town or county?>

No, I make most of my own compost; the other compost is in the bag of Black Kow manure fertilizer. I've found that the bagged compost sold at Lowe's, Home Depot, and nurseries is mostly sand and ground bark. Do you know of a good brand?

I make my own too. That way I know "what IS in it".

If you want to do a soil test at home, there are kits available. It's not as accurate as those run in a lab, but results are usually in the ballpark. If you don't see kits in any of your local garden centers, then order one online.

It certainly is a mysterious problem, and I hope you will follow up with how your next planting fares ... and the cause, if it ever is discovered.

Have you destroyed all the plants? Some pictures of the damage might help people diagnose what has happened.

<Have you destroyed all the plants? Some pictures of the damage might help people diagnose what has happened.> I'll take some pics of what's left of them. Bear with me: I just got a new computer, so I downloaded all the pics in my camera. Problem is, they didn't go to pictured, documents, computer, recent downloads, etc. I don't know where they are!

Look for a folder named after the camera mfg. Or you can always just manually copy (or upload) directly off the camera. I use my phone.

Maybe the compost was contaminated with persistent herbicides? http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/killer-compost-it-happened-to-us/

greenbean08 -- that's what I was wondering. But he used named brand compost -- could that still be a possibility?