My daughter and I each have a allotment. Both of us shared 3 ton of manure, putting it on our plots and leaving it over winter and we are slowly turning the soil over now and planting everything we can. All grown from seed at home, then when the plants were large enough planted them in our allotments. The trouble is my plants are doing fine and my daughters are dying. I was over there Thursday last week and everything was fine. But she has gone to day and said that the leaves are going very yellow and look very weak (on her allotment), not just some but all of them. Mine she said was growing really well. Please help - what can be done, I don't want her to give up. She has already lost her cabbages to the pigeons. Jan. ???
Yellow & weak is usually just lack of water. Especially if it is all crops.
Any photos? If yours are fine then eliminate the manure as the cause. Is her plot narrow & sided with tall trees or bushes along the fence line? If so these would fight against the plants for moisture and may hinder some but should not hinder all.
How long has she had her plot? Did the previous owner cover the plot with any weedkilling chemicals of any sort? Most of those purchased are usually able to plant on after 2 months though there are some that cant be planted on for up to 6 months. (Bearing in mind the any cold weather over winter could prolong this time frame).
Hi ktlawson,
No - no trees, bushes etc. but it has not been used for a long time as there was a electricity pole on her plot and as there was other empty plots going no one used this one. Also when they removed the pole deep ruts was left in the ground which was very, very hard underneath. Her plot is not the plot behind me - but the one after that. It's a very big site. Jan ???
How big are each of your plots?
Any chance that it's waterlogged - if it is very hard deep down water might be having a problem draining?
Are these brassicas that are going down or other plants too ?..
have they been hardened off
Thank you for your questions, here goes :- :)
1. I paced the plot out I think that they are both about 20 feet by 60 feet.
2. I will put a photograph of my plot up - but I have not got one of my daughters, but they are both the same.
3. I think that this could be the answer to what is happening. I think that with all the heavy machinery, when they took down the pole, they compacted the earth and the water is not getting away.
4. Yes I did harden them off but I do not really know if I let them get to big before she was able to plant them. But there again they are the same plants that are in my plot and they seem fine.
I still wonder if the manure on the plot from last year is still to much for the plants. Even though she has tried to dig it in well.
Here is the photo of my plot - only half of it is being used. I am still trying to dig a little each time I go over, but it is hard work.
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t266/janleaver/DSC00789.jpg)
Sorry about your daughter's plants but yours are looking great. Maybe you'll have to share yours out this year.
Yes that is fine with me 50/50. I would have liked to have one plot between both of us, but she said she would like one on her own.
:) Jan.
You tend to get quite a few problems in brown earth soils where large amounts of organic matter are imported. Brown earth has the great advantage of a high organic content and clay particles, both of which act to bind nutrients to their surfaces. Where organic matter is continually added, the nutrient's held by the soil rises to such an extent that they may become toxic to plants. In allotments and agricultural environments there is often a history of organic matter incorporation and there is rarely a need for any more. This is because even though it visually decomposes, lignin and other molecules linger around (in the case of lignin, for thousands of years). Thus when a gardener sees an increase in yield after manure application, this is due to the immediate effect of nutrients washing into and through the soil, not those already captured around the soil molecules.
There are several possibilities of contamination from manure:
- Nutrients such as P/K/N that are in toxic concentrations
- Heavy metal accumulation (common with Zn)
- Boron accumulation
- Salt accumulation
- Animal medicines fed to horses/cattle
- Contamination with pesticides on farm site
That is not to suggest that this is the problem, it is just a possibility.
I hope that things improve. If the above is true, then all you have to do is to minimise fertiliser use and wait for it to remediate naturally.
I rather think that water shortage is to blame.