Why are the leaves on my melon plants dying?
 

Hi folks, would be grateful with any knowledge on this one...

I am growing some sweet melons (Bastion variety) in my greenhouse. On
all the plants the lowest leaves have turned yellow and then curled up
and died. The upper leaves still look healthy(ish) but even these are
becoming more yellowed. The plants have set some fruit and I want it!
From my own research it seems that possible causes of yellowing/dying
are -

(a) Powdery mildew
(b) Red spider mite damage
(c) Wrong soil pH, or maybe insufficient nitrogen in it

(a) and (b) are possible, and I have done what I can to treat/prevent.

For (c) I tested my compost and was surprised to discover that it was
alkaline - this was surprising because I added a sizeable quantity of
farmyard manure which I thought would have made it acidic. If I want
to try to lower the soil pH is it safe to use a sequestered iron
solution, or would this be too much of a shock for melon plants. Is it
also possible that the manure itself is causing this problem e.g. if
it was not fully broken down and has thereby "scorched" the plants?

Any advice/opinions from the melon growers out there would be
appreciated!

Thanks.

Greg

Why are the leaves on my melon plants dying?
 

I am growing some sweet melons (Bastion variety) in my greenhouse. On
all the plants the lowest leaves have turned yellow and then curled up
and died. The upper leaves still look healthy(ish) but even these are
becoming more yellowed. The plants have set some fruit and I want it!
From my own research it seems that possible causes of yellowing/dying
are -

(a) Powdery mildew
(b) Red spider mite damage
(c) Wrong soil pH, or maybe insufficient nitrogen in it

For (c) I tested my compost and was surprised to discover that it was
alkaline - this was surprising because I added a sizeable quantity of
farmyard manure which I thought would have made it acidic. If I want
to try to lower the soil pH is it safe to use a sequestered iron
solution, or would this be too much of a shock for melon plants. Is it
also possible that the manure itself is causing this problem e.g. if
it was not fully broken down and has thereby "scorched" the plants?

Any advice/opinions from the melon growers out there would be
appreciated!

I've heard that if the compost isn't quite ready for prime time it will use
available nitrogen to complete the conversion, and since your soil is more
alkaline that could very well be the problem. The best way, of course, is to
have you soil tested and see if that is in fact the case. I have a few
container tomatos that were yellowing, especially the bottom leaves so I
added some composted manure and they got greener in a couple of days.

Good luck,
Rob