Whats wrong with my Pea's

This is my first SFG, for the last week or so my pea's and other veggies has been turning light green/yellow. Is it from over watering? I watered every day, then I stopped watering for 3 days to see if the coloring would turn back green, nothing. I did spray alot of neem oil on them one day to control bugs, about 8 ounces. Not sure if that would cause it. They are spaced 3 inches could they be plated to closely. Any help would be nice. thanks.

everakuma wrote:This is my first SFG, for the last week or so my pea's and other veggies has been turning light green/yellow. Is it from over watering? I watered every day, then I stopped watering for 3 days to see if the coloring would turn back green, nothing. I did spray alot of neem oil on them one day to control bugs, about 8 ounces. Not sure if that would cause it. They are spaced 3 inches could they be plated to closely. Any help would be nice. thanks.

can you give details about what you used for the soil blend? and what compost sources you used?

that might be helpful.

if i had to guess, i would think nitrogen problem, but i don't use pesticides of any kind so have no clue whata lot of neem would do. if i had to guess on the neem, it would be that the pores of the leaves are all clogged and unable to do co2 exchange. .

hopefully someone with experience on this would chime in.

were the plants perfectly fine before the pesticide?

I use mel's mix, peat moss, vermiculite, and miracle grow compost. Reason I thought it may have been neem oil was it started changing color when I sprayed 8 ounces of neem oil on it. If i knew how to post a pic I would

8 oz of Neem seems like a lot to me. I haven't used it in several years, but as I remember I used very little oil when diluting it according to directions -- maybe an ounce per gallon of water. If not the Neem, then I go with a possible nitrogen deficiency. The beans in one of my gardens started turning yellowish so I used a soluble fertilizer for vegetables and they are beginning to green up a bit. I think sometimes the compost we buy is not balanced enough and there are no nutrients in peat or vermiculite. I try not to use much commercial fertilizer, but sometimes it helps. Another thing you might try is blood meal as that will give small nitrogen boost.

3" apart is right for beans -- they like to be crowded.

everakuma wrote: If i knew how to post a pic I would

Hiya, somebody wrote some pretty good 'how to post a picture' instructions that you can find here

http://squarefoot.creatingforum.com/how-to-f33/

I will try and get a Nitrogen supplement. Didn't know I would need anything else other than Mel's Mix. Figured out to post a pic, here it is.

I wonder if the mix is low in nutrients. Mel's book recommends using at least 5 types of compost, to make sure you have the right nutrients. You've used only one, so that might be the problem. Also, you might want to check what's in the Miracle Gro compost; sometimes bags marked as "compost" actually contain also a high percentage of other ingredients (including vermiculite, or perlite etc.). If that's the case, your mix will be lacking nutrients.
It's worth it using some fertilizer to see if that actually improves the plants. If it does, then you know what the problem is, and you can gradually amend the soil with a mix of composts such as chicken or farmyard manure, mushroom composts, or your own compost if you have some.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10288017&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=miracle+grow&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&ts=1263218550491&isSearch=true

found the product you're talking about.

i bet you DO have a nitrogen deficiency as the ingredients in this compost is 30% peat. so you hav ea LOT of peat moss in your soil.

also, there are fertilizers in the compost bag you purchased, so in 3 months, you're going to have to add more fertilizers.

the composts mel talksabout in his books are things like mature cow manure, chicken manure, garden clippings that have composted into black soil, rabbit, mushroom compost, you get the idea.

he also suggests a minimum of 5 for a good balance of nutrients as just one kind wouldn't be sufficient for growing all different kinds of things.

so definitely add a bit of fertilizer and also amend heavily with a compost blend (see earlier in this reply for suggestions of composts to blend together)

ever, this is a dumb question, but here it is anyway, did you plant these from seed or from plants you bought?

Happyfrog, thanks for the link; I wonder if this actually has 70% peat, since the info says "% peat free", and if something is 30% peat free it means it contains 70% peat! I found that a lot of the commercial premixed compost contains that much peat or peat substitute. That would explaing why the plants might not be doing very well. I wonder if the excess peat might also keep the mix too wet - which also can cause yellowing of the plants.

What about adding coffee grounds around the plants? A bit of acid & a bit of nitrogen. Don't add too much. But it should be free. I don't drink coffee, but all of my coworkers do and, while they think I'm a bit weird, they let me bring the grounds home for my compost bin. I will sprinkle some around the roses and milkweed every once in a while, too.

I picked up some blood meal today, has 11% nitrogen. Hope this helps my pea's. Also they were planted from seed. Never transferred them from pot.

Thanks ever.... it was just odd that none of your other plants look that sickly.

plb wrote: I found that a lot of the commercial premixed compost contains that much peat or peat substitute. That would explain why the plants might not be doing very well.

This is a harbinger of threads to come; just like last summer. Pre-mixed composts can be heavy on the cheap stuff and light on the good stuff. Also, packaged composts are sold prematurely sometimes, before they have finished thoroughly breaking down. The most common remedy is the addition of blood or bone meal.

I realize it's difficult for first year gardeners to come up with quality compost. But start preparing now to make your own compost for next year so you'll know for sure that you have quality compost to add to your Mel's mix.

[quote="boffer"]

plb wrote: I found that a lot of the commercial premixed compost contains that much peat or peat substitute. That would explain why the plants might not be doing very well.

This is a harbinger of threads to come; just like last summer. Pre-mixed composts are heavy on the cheap stuff and light on the good stuff. Also, packaged composts are sold pre-maturely sometimes, before they have finished thoroughly breaking down. The most common remedy is the addition of blood or bone meal.

I realize it's difficult for first year gardeners to come up with quality compost. But start preparing now to make your own compost for next year so you'll know for sure that you have quality compost to add to your Mel's mix.[/quote

This is my first year SQ Ft gardening. I'll keep this in mind if it seems like it's not working well.

Thanks for the advice!