"songbird" wrote in message
...
Paul M. Cook wrote:

This year I am using Sta-Green Flower and Vegetable Planting Mix. I had
really good luck with it last year ao I use dall new soil this year.
Something is just not right this year. First, my second planting of my
cucumbers is looking anemic. I lost the first batch to cold spring
weather.
The plants are starting to fade and yellow - again. Cannot blame it on
the
weather this time as it is quite acceptable now for cucumbers. Also, my
basil has doubled in height but it is putting out really small leaves for
some reason. The original leaves are quite large, however. My zukes are
growing but slowlyband they too are pale.

Wha could be going on? They are exhibiting classic nutrient deficiency
characteristic but this is new soil with extended release nitrogen.

could have been a bad batch.

dunno for sure.

have you taken a planter apart
and observed the condition of the
soil/roots?

we had a period of dry weather and
a lot of mixes don't do well if they
get dried out (they form pockets of
dry soil that are very hard to get
wet again). or it is possible in
your planters that the soil has
shrunk away from the edges and your
watering gadgets are putting the water
on but it is running down the sides
and out the bottom and not actually
getting in there.

As it turns out I did do that. Soil was lightly moist all the way to the
bottom of the pots. This morning myt cucurbits were all displaying heavy
leaf miner damage on the cotyledons. Up until today it was only a few. All
of them have stunted second leaves which dried up and died. The new leaf
buds all looked brown too. Could the leaf miners have done this? I am
guessing they got into the stem of the plant and injured it from the inside?
Or is it just the leaves they infect?

I am having the worst luck with miners this year. All my cucurbits are
looking like they are dying. And this was the second planting.

Paul