A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Help please - garden wilting!!

Please help me!! I woke yesterday to notice one of my broccoli plants was wilting a little bit. By daysa end yesterday most of my entire garden was wilting. By nightfall most of them had came back a bit and started looking good again. So this morning when I checked on them they were looking good but again as the day went on they all wilted this time and looked a little worse by the days end.

I live in north - eastern maryland. I have tomatoe, broccoli, brussel sprouts, green/red peppers and green beans. The weather recently had been two straight days of "down pour" type rain followed by yesterday and today being in the 80s and sunny. I had recently taken some "maybe not so good advice" by someone to place newspaper topped by grass clippings over the ground in the garden to help prevent weeds. this is what I think maybe helping this to happen. The reason I think this is because in my bed where I have my cucumber and Zucc idnt do this and they are doing great!! Please help me. please please please.

Thanks..

Welcome Orac. Were the newspapers wet? It sounds like the covering you are using is not allowing sufficient water to get to your plant roots. Shedding it away from the plants instead of where it needs to be. Try removing it away from your plants a bit and/or poke holes through it. And then next year make sure it allows water through to the soil.

Thanks Jonni for your advice. Late lastnight I had taken most of the newspaper up. So far this morning they look "okay" some seem to be recovering a bit. Hopefully they don't start wilting as the day goes on. But, so far so good I suppose. I greatly appreciate the advice. This site is great!!

I totally agree with tina, water isn't getting past the newspapers. You can use them if you allow space enough for water to reach the plants' roots.
Don't forget that plants need air to reach the root zone, too, even roots "breathe."

I use newspaper and grass clippings and have never had a prob. I guess I do have spacing around the actual plant though.

how many layers of newspaper did you put?

I only use one layer, sometimes two. but, after a few days or a week the newspaper starts breaking down. I don't know how long you've had the paper down but it seems like it should already have holes in it?

I only used one layer and when I removed the grass yesterday the newspaper was pretty much broken down. The grass seemed as if it was rotting and had a horrible smell after two straight days of hard rain. Is there any way that something from either the grass or the newspaper leeched into the soil poisoning the plants some how? Has anyone heard of anything like this happening? Today I had more of the same...day started off "okay" but plants wilted again. They are showing signs of being on their "last leg" now....it would seem that three days of this is as much as they can take. Some seem to be surviving. For example...all five of my strawberries are doing great, one brussel, one broccoloi and one tomatoe are doing great too....all in the same garden. I appreciate the help. This is very sad....it was doing soooooo well up until saturday. I'll keep trying!!

what your describing reminds me of a 'squash bore'. maybe you have some similar dirt bug that is eating your roots? the plants will look like they are not getting enough water since they are wilting, but what happens with the bore is it eats the roots. (so still the plant is not getting enough water)

Would a normal pesticide such as agrub killer work on these you think?

I agree with cricket.

I use newspaper and grass as mulch and have never had issues with it.--I even add extra grass clippings as time goes on to reinforce the cover. I think I would have left the newspapers and stuck a pitch fork or a stick down in the newspaper around the plants to insure water and air flow for each plant.

let us know how the pest thing turns out.

Good Luck and welcome to you.

I don't know? I've never reserched it much since the only time I have this prob is with yellow squash. I plant them and tell them 'live or die'....'good luck'.
btw.....personnaly, I do NOT use any type of pesticide around my veggie garden, cause I know I'll eventually be eating it, in some way or another.
my sugguestion would be to google up something like 'garden pests bore'....or 'garden pests bore bug'. maybe there is some organic way to treat for those....if that is indeed what you think might be happening.???
I'm no expert.

best of luck!

pull up a plant and see how much roots it has, orac95???
that could help you determine if you have a soil bug eating the roots.

good advice I'll pull one up today to see. Didn't think of that before. You guys rock...I appreciate all the advice. By the way...the plants are still hanging on.lol

Feel free to keep asking, and adding information, lots of us like trying to solve mystery issues...
It always helps everyone in the long run.

FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!! I gently up-rooted one og my broccoli plants and there they were...root maggots. I came in and looked up "root eating insects" and the root maggot was on the list and the pis was exactly what i saw on the root. bad news is that they say you usually can't save the plant. The first time I up- rooted a pepper I must not have looked close enough! Thank you guys for all your help...after all I wouldn't have thought to take a plant up if you hadn't suggested it! I am soooo relieved even though they destroyed my garden atleast I know how to prevent it next time!

Well, if you don't mind, could you link us to the site, or write out the info. you linked to? It could be helpful to the rest of us, especially us older (late forties) gardeners!

The following link should work. Sorry, I didnt even think of linking the site I was so excited when I figured it out. lol


http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/pro...root-maggots-and-root-maggot-control.htm