My Vegetable Seedlings Are Not Happy Chappies!!

Hello and blessings to all.

This year I decided it was time to take back independance and grow a few vegetables for myself and my son to feast on. So far we have planted out lettuce, rocket and carrots (we have tomatoes in the house, and they seem to be doing well) but all the rocket and lettuce have grown well up to a four leaf point and now the have wilted, gone brown of leaf and died, we only have one tiny plant left!! I am a total novice when it comes to gardening and I'm sad because I don't know what happened or why my little guys perished. When I went out this morning to check the carrots, I was saddened again to find that half of them have disapeared since two days ago!!! The ones that are there still look healthy enough but I'm worried hat this won't be the case for long, they too are just at the stage where thir leaves are just developing beyond the two leaf phase. I'm desperately in need of some advice on how to rescue these guys, they don't deserve to die so young!! All the veg are planted in grow bags (when putting out i put extra drainage holes in the bottom, followed by a thick layer of gravel) and they are filled with peat free compost from b&q.

Please help, any and all advice will be taken with the most gracious thanks, we are also starting off strawberries, aubergenes and peppers and I would like to ensure I can look after all these plants in the way they need me too. Help help, and thankyou!

 

Well, they are in a lovely spot in the garden that gets lots of sun during the day, full sun from about 10 to 6 at the moment (when the sun is out that is ). No trails to be found, and I've been quite careful about making sure that the compost was damp not wet (although thats quite hard to control in our rainy country, but I had thought that the drainage measures I took would help with that).

I had considered beasties being the cause but the brown leaves made me think of over watering ( I've been using a water can, too much for the little guys to get rained on like that????) but havn't had to water for the last few wet days. The confusing thing is that it's now happening to the carrots as well, their all literally disintegrating just like the lettuce and rocket did, could they be hungry for nutriants?

I guess over wattering is most likely the cause, but if thats the case is the drainage I set up not sufficient? I'm so keen to learn how to take care of plants and to learn this important lesson in self sufficiency, but it gets a bit over whelming when everything you have planted dies in its first month!!!

Your advice is appreciated very much, thank you and blessings.

 

Could your salad have got a little cold?

I know that I'm covering my salad every night at the moment, just to try and keep them from catching a chill. Brown bits could be a sign of this.

I just cover mine with a black bag, they are in pots, and easy to get in and out, and I have a stick to make sure that the bad doesn't rest on the crop.

Hope this Helps!

 

nope, no weed killers, I'm the only one using the garden for actually gardening at the moment and I certainly haven't used any myself. I should clarify, what I'm calling grow bags are actually big polyurethane bags made for growing veg (not actual grow bags that come filled with soil, sorry, I've just taken to calling mine grow bags because they're kind of like bags that i grow stuff in! ) and i put the gravel in the bottom before i put in the compost. It's ever so confusing as I just can't think whats the problem, and I'm concerned that a similar fate is going to meet all my veg, and I really don't start of my gardening adventure with paranoia!!! I guess they could have just gotten too cold at night? i do live in Scotland, although it's Glasgow which is a bit warmer than up the road a bit. I was just resigned to losing the lettuce and rocket, as I figured they might have just not been strong enough to hold out against the weather changes (of which there have been many in their relatively short lives, it's really is like Billy Connoly says about Scotland "if you don't like the waether, just wait five minutes before you go out!":lollol but could this be the problem for the carrots as well? I mean the frost has well and truly passed and I was under the (possible naieve) impression that carrots were hardy little dudes in terms of weather. It is a mystery!!!!!

 

oh yes, and I havn't added any more food to the plants yet as I was under the impression that there would be enough for a while in the compost, like you say. They've been out in their bags for about a month, maybe a wee bit more.

 

Aminopyralid herbicide residue ??

 

Probably the best thing to do would be to sow some more direct into the bags, then cover with a sheet of polythene or even clingfilm until they have germinated, if the compost is wet, you shouldn't need to water until then. If the same thing happens, then it's probably the compost causing the problem. However, with luck they might just do Ok the second time.

 

Well guys, I want to say thank you very very much for all your wonderful advice. I'm going to for the moment assume that the problem is the colder nights up here, and will keep you posted as to what happens with the carrots!!!!! thank you thank you stars that you are!

 

Right, I've just been out in the garden, and had a look at the carrots. I've spied one out of whats left that has the same brown yellow leaves as the lettuces had when they were dying, my immediate thought was it MUST be over watering, but i lifted up the bag their growing in and the gravel underneath is soaking wet, so its not that for sure! Also in reply to the thought that it might be the herbicide issue I've just remembered that my tomatoes were growing in the same medium in their seed tray and their doing just dandy (granted they've been moved now and are in a different compost but they were in that seed tray for weeks with no ill effect!). The carrots are defiantly disappearing, this is a major puzzler. hmmmm.....