Well it’s in the title… They were growing great but in the last days or so the leaves started wilting. They always showed some yellowing and I thought about nitrogen deficiency so I fed them with slurry but without success… Any tips?

  • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    6 months ago

    That probably won’t be a good enough fertiliser. My cucumbers needed watering every day in the heat. 10% perlite will aerate the soil but is unlikely to change the drainage very much. Just a few things to think about. Good luck!

    • Sockenklaus@sh.itjust.worksOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Thanks for you thoughts! I didn’t know perlite didn’t do anything for drainage. I honestly thought aeration and drainage were more or less two sides of the same coin.

      • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        It will help, but depending on what’s in the organic part of the mix you could put perlite in at 50% and still find it was going anaerobic at the bottom of the pot, particularly with the new peat-free mixes. The best way I’ve heard it explained is that if you took a bucket of Angel Delight (like American “pudding”), how much grit would you need to add before it drained properly? A lot of these newer retail mixes just wet out into a slurry with zero structure to it. Making a free-draining mix is actually a huge challenge.