Vegetable plants turning yellow and leaves dying

by Nicole
(Nc)

I planted my first garden this year and was really excited about how well it was doing. We have a raised bed that I've planted cucumbers, tomatoes, green and red peppers, green beans, and snap peas. Everything was doing great for about a month after transplanting them when then I started noticing yellow specks on my cucumbers. When I looked closer my tomatoes had yellow specks also (they were much smaller though). Now almost all my plants are yellowing in some aspect. My peppers leaves are yellowing at tips of leaves. My peas leaves are mostly light yellow but new growth are green. And my cucumbers and tomatoes are still suffering from yellow spots. Cucumber spots have gotten larger, but the tomato plants are just getting a few whole yellow leaves that die. I had been watering with 1/4- 1/2 strength aquarium water that's had no chemicals or anything added to it. Then I had crumbled egg shells into like a powder at base of plant. Also added a little epsom salt around base of plants when symptoms started.the ph is between 6-7. I haven't tested nutrient levels but plan on doing that this weekend. I thought maybe the bed wasn't draining well and that it was roots, but after pulling a few plants out in fear of disease, I saw that roots were perfectly healthy. Any ideas on what would cause all plants to show symptoms? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments for Vegetable plants turning yellow and leaves dying

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Jul 18, 2014
 Yellow spots
by: Anonymous

Try some neem oil. You could have powdery mildew or a pest causing the damage. It has been my experience that if plants are yellowing and drying at the top they are not getting enough water. If they are wilting and dying at the bottom they are getting too much water. So you might need to adjust your watering schedule. Also, if you have a mildew or fungus problem do not water the leaves. A seep hose on the ground works great for me.
Jul 19, 2014
 Blight
by: Anonymous

I have the same problem year after year and I think that it's Blight. I've get it with vegetables & flower. It's may understanding that when you have Blight that it lives in the ground and comes back year after year. I've had it every since a grower sent out tomato plants that were contaminated with Blight and haven't been able to get read of it. I live in a mild climate and when the summer heat is gone my plants recover and produce most of the winter.
Jul 19, 2014
 Plants could have mineral imbalance
by: Garden friend

Your test for nutrient levels might show what's wrong. You could have too much Magnesium, and adding Epsom salts which is Magnesium Sulfate would make it worse. It could be a trace mineral, like iron, but do a soil test and hopefully that will help. Pity there are no photos to see as often when my friends describe something, when I see for myself it's quite different!! They say yellowing, and I see brown spots or they say curled leaves and I see insects hiding!! Hope you post back and tell us the results please.
Jul 20, 2014
 Update
by: Anonymous

Thank you all for the suggestions of what it could be. I ended up not doing a soil test, and just left the garden alone to see what it would do. Leaves are still yellowing from the bottom up, but almost everything is putting off some veggies... It's been slowly but I also got a late start. The veggies growing all look to be good and don't look like they've been effected. I'm thinking I may have been watering too much or that the aquarium water was adding too much nitrogen. After my post, I stopped the aquarium water everyday and switched to every dew days adding it. Thank you again for all your suggestions, I really appreciate it :)
Jul 21, 2016
 Yellowing leaves on herbs and veg
by: Anonymous

I dont have a ph kit but my herbs and tomatoes r pale yellow. Its a mild climate with short summer. There r worms and lettuce is fine. I use seaweed/compost and its an open garden. I will try ash, then chicken poo. Any ideas
Aug 14, 2016
 Yellow leaves on vegetable plants
by: Jim

If your lettuces are growing well and other plants have yellow leaves, then it could be overwatering. Lettuces don't mind lots of water as they are fast growing leaves. Only other thing is that your soil minerals are inbalanced, and a test will find out what.
Sep 09, 2016
 Blight
by: Anonymous

Blight is the white powder like spots. It is basically a mildew that happens from too much water on the leaves combined with hot and humid temperatures. I had it on my zucchini leaves. It is hard to get rid of and it can spread around your garden. I found a home remedy that has kept it at bay from spreading to my whole plant and garden. One table spoon of baking soda mixed with one gallon of water. Spray all the leaves of the effected plant on both the tops and bottoms of the leaves daily for a few weeks and then you can cut back to once ever other day until it is gone. I have not managed to get rid of it due the extremely hot and humid summer we have had but I have kept it under control. Yellowing leaves I think is something separate. I sure there are several things that cause yellowing leaves. One thing my soil testing kit said is that a nitrogen deficiency can cause yellowing leaves and stunted plant growth. I am going to test my soil today and will confirm if there is a low nitrogen level.
Jun 21, 2017
 Accidentally poisoned garden
by: Anonymous

I started a new garden this year when I moved. I used straw bales to make 3 raised beds and made more beds with no sides. I use the lasagna garden method and have always gotten great results. Both sets of beds were built using the same materials and methods. The plants in the straw bale beds are turning yellow and are stunted while the other beds look fine. The plants in the middle aren't as bad while the ones closer to the edge are worse. Vermicompost tea helped some but not enough. I suspect the farmer put weed killer or growth retardant on the straw when it was harvested. It causes the straw to ripen and die all at the same time making harvest more convenient, but it can wreak havoc on any garden it is used on. I bought the bales at a garden center. I talked to the manager about it and got some noncommittal answer about not knowing what the farmer he bought it from did. I learned a hard lesson about making sure you know the origin of any materials you use to make a bed or compost. Poisons are becoming the norm! So sad.

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