Possibly a garden disaster

[Paul M. Cook]

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.

[David E. Ross]

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.

[Paul M. Cook]

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

[Higgs Boson]

Yup, it's FUBAR. Freezing today, with strong wind. Good only for drying clothes. And they say Global Warming is a myth! I've been watching this weather (So Calif coastal) for [censored] years, and I'm here to tell you this is NOT normal! May/Gray and June/Gloom are familiar phenomena, but not this COLD!

=A0So far my cucurbits have completely stalled out. =A0All of them, the

Mine have plenty tomatoes on board; keep my fingers crossed.

My question is are the cucurbits salvageable or

WHAAATTT???!!! Whachewtallkinbout! I grow all year. Just rotate the crops according to the season.

If I don't have fruit on the vine by the time August roles (rolls)

I'm just putting melon seeds in now. But that's because I'm good at putting off clearing the ground for new crops.

HB

[David E. Ross]

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]

On 6/1/11 8:03 PM, Higgs Boson wrote [in part]:

Oops! I missed this.

HB is very correct. Produce is grown on the Oxnard Plain (about 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles) year round, merely adjusting what is grown by the expected amount of heat and cold.

[Paul M. Cook]

I should have saidd short season for what I grow.

Anyway, I yanked them all. I'll start over again. This time I'm using a dwarf melon called Minnesota Midget for the chilly SoCal summer weather. Hopefully the weather will be more agreeable to this next attempt. No sign of root rot. Just very yellow stunted plants.

Paul

[Kay Lancaster]

Replant the cucurbits -- if they're still with cotyledons, you can get new seedlings to that stage in a week.

We're having Junuary up here near Portland again this year. 42oF when I got up this morning; doesn't feel like it's made 55 today. I think we've broken

70o once this year.

[Billy]

Weather interfering with grape pollination

The late-season downpour hitting Northern California is threatening to devastate this year's grape crop, making it potentially the third weather event in the last four years to wreak havoc on vineyards.