On Mon, 20 Jun 2005, Bendit wrote:

Hello. Quick question here. Scenario is new garden plot, "new" dirt mix.

Vegetable plants in there will remain very small. Some will never grow and
stay the same size for weeks. Some will even produce flowers, even if the
plant size is small. On certain plants, the leaves will "disintegrate".

Any ideas? I am thinking improper nutrients in the soil, or soil too acidic
or something like that. Any info appreciated. CHEERS!


Since no one else addressed this, mildly acidic soil is often prefered
for vegetables, according to experts I know. Poor growth could be due
to countless reasons, but this will be accompanied by other more explicit
symptoms. For instance, in my 100% mulch soil, I get stunted growth. This
is accompanied by chlorosis on the ends of the tomato leaves. Following
the nutrition and disease diagnosis keys, I find a single culprit, iron
deficiency. Rather than adding iron nails to the mulch, I mixed it
equally with the nearly useless clay of my garden, vermiculite and
perhaps 10% sowing and cactus soil. The result was impressive!

Regarding the comment about newspaper, I would imagine the newspaper
would 1) cool down the soil, 2) trap moisture, 3 kill weeds and
4) add some fibre to the soild to change its texture. Newspaper ink
has some drammatic biological effects, mainly toxicity to plants and
perhaps bacteria and fungi.

Hope I have been of some help.

Dominic-Luc Webb