So I've started some plants from seed, indoors, in advance of our May 20 last frost. I've got cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, basil, savoury, and a bean that DD(age 3) planted 
Most of it is doing fine. They're mostly about a month old now, a month and a half maybe. The peppers are beautiful, the basil is bountiful, the bean is brilliant, the savoury is healthy. Most of the tomatoes are fine too. A little scrawny because I know I don't have a "proper" close-up light source for them, but I've started putting a light fan on them every day to help toughen them up a bit. Last year all my baby plants were tall and scrawny and they grew just fine once transplanted into the garden, so I'm not really worried about that aspect of things.
But one variety of tomato is kind of sickly. I say "kind of" because they seem fine... but every so often one of the side branches just... falls off. It's not wilted or discoloured or anything. I just touch the plant and it falls right off, like it had only been attached by a thread. It still grows new branches, and when I check it another day it seems fine. Then another day, another branch falls off.
Then there are a few branches that DO seem wilty, the leaves at the end dying.
Then there are the cucumbers. They're growing FAST, as cucumbers do. I was so excited, they were getting so big and so strong and healthy! Then one of them got some brown around the edges of its leaves. Then the leaves started wilting... and within a few days the whole plant was dead. The others were fine... at first. Then they started doing the same thing. They've lasted longer, but they're still on the way down and I can't seem to do anything to stop it. The leaves fold up lengthwise and droop, though they still seem green and lively otherwise. Except for the brown at their outside edges.
I tried researching cucumber diseases and found fusarium and bacterial wilt that looked similar. So I dug up one of the seedlings that looked like it was too far gone... I checked the root system for evidence of fusarium fungus and saw nothing. I then checked inside the stem for the sticky-stuff evidence of bacterial wilt... and found nothing.
This is a new variety for me, purchased this winter from Saltspring Seeds, an organic Marketmore variety. I have another 'batch' of cukes started about 3 weeks later, some Marketmore and some Garden Sweet which I grew last year -- we'll see what happens to these.
Other information: All my soil in the pots is growing mold on the top! I've been careful not to overwater, so I thought. It's clean seed-starting medium (mostly peat) from the garden center.
I wondered if the first wilty signs I saw were nutrient deficiencies, when I realized this seed starting medium doesn't have any compost or fertilizer in it. (The stuff I used last year, my own mix, had compost, so I never fed the baby plants at all and didn't think of it this year). So I bought some fish food and fed them. They seemed to perk up -- but it hasn't FIXED the problems.
When the cukes were younger, I had APHIDS on the cucumbers. I don't know where from... indoors in March... when I didn't see a single aphid all last year. I never saw more than 2 or 3 at a time. I applied an insecticidal soap whenever I saw them, for about 4-5 days I think and haven't seen any since. I don't think the soap would be the problem because plants that were never sprayed are faring the same as ones that were. But might they have introduced some sort of disease?
Can someone please offer some advice???
Most of it is doing fine. They're mostly about a month old now, a month and a half maybe. The peppers are beautiful, the basil is bountiful, the bean is brilliant, the savoury is healthy. Most of the tomatoes are fine too. A little scrawny because I know I don't have a "proper" close-up light source for them, but I've started putting a light fan on them every day to help toughen them up a bit. Last year all my baby plants were tall and scrawny and they grew just fine once transplanted into the garden, so I'm not really worried about that aspect of things.
But one variety of tomato is kind of sickly. I say "kind of" because they seem fine... but every so often one of the side branches just... falls off. It's not wilted or discoloured or anything. I just touch the plant and it falls right off, like it had only been attached by a thread. It still grows new branches, and when I check it another day it seems fine. Then another day, another branch falls off.
Then there are a few branches that DO seem wilty, the leaves at the end dying.
Then there are the cucumbers. They're growing FAST, as cucumbers do. I was so excited, they were getting so big and so strong and healthy! Then one of them got some brown around the edges of its leaves. Then the leaves started wilting... and within a few days the whole plant was dead. The others were fine... at first. Then they started doing the same thing. They've lasted longer, but they're still on the way down and I can't seem to do anything to stop it. The leaves fold up lengthwise and droop, though they still seem green and lively otherwise. Except for the brown at their outside edges.
I tried researching cucumber diseases and found fusarium and bacterial wilt that looked similar. So I dug up one of the seedlings that looked like it was too far gone... I checked the root system for evidence of fusarium fungus and saw nothing. I then checked inside the stem for the sticky-stuff evidence of bacterial wilt... and found nothing.
This is a new variety for me, purchased this winter from Saltspring Seeds, an organic Marketmore variety. I have another 'batch' of cukes started about 3 weeks later, some Marketmore and some Garden Sweet which I grew last year -- we'll see what happens to these.
Other information: All my soil in the pots is growing mold on the top! I've been careful not to overwater, so I thought. It's clean seed-starting medium (mostly peat) from the garden center.
I wondered if the first wilty signs I saw were nutrient deficiencies, when I realized this seed starting medium doesn't have any compost or fertilizer in it. (The stuff I used last year, my own mix, had compost, so I never fed the baby plants at all and didn't think of it this year). So I bought some fish food and fed them. They seemed to perk up -- but it hasn't FIXED the problems.
When the cukes were younger, I had APHIDS on the cucumbers. I don't know where from... indoors in March... when I didn't see a single aphid all last year. I never saw more than 2 or 3 at a time. I applied an insecticidal soap whenever I saw them, for about 4-5 days I think and haven't seen any since. I don't think the soap would be the problem because plants that were never sprayed are faring the same as ones that were. But might they have introduced some sort of disease?
Can someone please offer some advice???
