On 6/1/11 7:45 PM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
.. .
On 6/1/11 3:23 PM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
Weather here in SoCal has been freakishly cool. May saw day temps in the
low 70s, many days of cloudy skies and nights in the very low 50s. I
waited
until May 1st to get everyone in the ground since April was just way too
cold. This tiome of year the days should be mid 80s and nights around
low
60s. So far my cucurbits have completely stalled out. All of them, the
zukes, the cukes and the melon are still just cotyledons with very tiny
first leaves. Now they have all begun to yellow. All of them are
distinctly yellow at this point, actually. And the cotyledons have not
grown like they usually do, they are still quite small. I am sure it is
just too cool for them. The four tomatoe varieties are not doing great
but
they are doing something. My question is are the cucurbits salvageable
or
should I plan on starting all over again? The SoCal growing season is
pretty short. If I don't have fruit on the vine by the time August roles
around I won't have any at all. So this is a hard call for me to make.
If
there is hope for them I can wait otherwise I have to replant and now.

Are you in a coastal area? Where I live (near Thousand Oaks), May had
10 Days with temperatures at or above 80, reaching 94 on 5 May. We had
18 nights at 50 or above, when tomatoes will set fruit.

In my neighborhood, May has an average nighttime low of 53 and an
average daytime high of 78. Our nights and days this May were
definitely cooler than average.

We did have 0.39 inchs of rain, which is quite a lot for May in southern
California. It's possible that your cucurbits got too much water.

I'm zone 9B. So too much water will stunt them and turn them yellow? Are
they salvageable or are they dying? I have not watered them but 2 times in
10 days.

Paul



It's been too many years since I had a vegetable garden, so I can't be
sure of what you should do. Yellowing is often a sign of root rot cause
by excessive water. I don't think you can undo the damage by allowing
the soil to dry somewhat.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary