Problems with watermelon and cilantro et. al.

[strantor]

Hi, First post here. I'm a gardening noob.
You gardening gurus will be the first knowledgeable eyes cast on these plants, so if you see something that not right, don't assume I already know about it.

My daughter and I wanted to plant a garden, so I bought some potting soil and seeds and planted Watermelons, Beans, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Bell peppers, and tomatoes.

The cilantro, bell peppers, beans, and jalapenos are all in this wooden planter that we made (4' long, 1' deep, 1' wide):

[picture 1 of 10]

DOH! I can't post pictures. How many posts do I need before I can post pictures? Also, how can I change my password?

I live in Houston, TX. Zone 8B according to garden dot org.

Anyway, I'll continue this thread without pictures and try to be as descriptive as possible...

My cilantro is the worst failure of all. I planted a whole packet of seeds in a 1ft section of the 4' planter and only one plant ever came up. The one plant that did come up looks like a sickly runt. It seems to look healthier when I give it shade, despite the packet saying "full sun"

The bell peppers and jalapenos are the same story. The packet said "full sun" but the ones that are in full sun are stunted in growth and the ones that are in shade are doing alright.

The water melons took off and grew like crazy, and then started getting melons on them. I watched the melons grow from flowers into softball size melons in the span of a week. then they stopped growing. no increase in size in 2 weeks. And now the leaves are turning yellowish with spots. Maybe the melons are even getting smaller, or my eyes are playing tricks on me. There are 6 watermelon plants in a ~30? gal planter, with their vines going out onto the yard.

The tomatoes seem to be doing ok despite being overpopulated in their planter. no flowers or fruit there yet. There's maybe 50 tomato plants in a ~30?gal planter. I've been told that the planter isn't even big enough for a single tomato plant, so I'm braced for failure.

The beans are my only success yet. They grew way bigger than I expected and made a jungle in my little homemade wooden planter. They are the reason for the shade on my bell peppers and jalapenos. There are beans growing and they might be ready to eat but I'm not sure. I'll leave them a little while longer.

Thanks

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Welcome strantor.
Here in Texas even plants that say full sun do better with a little bit of afternoon shade, mostly because of the heat. Even tomatoes and other "sun loving" plants.
Cilantro really does best here planted in the early spring (like February), as it bolts really quickly in the heat. I had a lovely, lush cilantro plant this spring but as soon as it got too warm it bolted and I haven't been able to get another seedling to start outside, no matter how hard I try.
The watermelons could possibly have some sort of disease that is killing them off, or they might be feeling crowded, but I've never tried to grow watermelons in pots, so I'm not sure.
The tomatoes are REALLY crowded. If it were me I would pull out all but one or two, depending on the variety.
I'm sure others will chime in and give you some good advice. Oh, and you need to have 10 posts before you can pt up pictures, it's annoying, but it keeps most of the spammers away.

 

[so lucky]

I agree with The Mama Chicken. Cut off all but one or two of the tomatoes. I think a 30 gallon container could be ok for a tomato plant, but you will need to be sure it gets plenty of water. Same for the watermelon. If your green beans are about the size of a pencil, or a little bigger, you can harvest them. Don't leave them too long, as many varieties get tough or stringy. Welcome and good luck.

 

[strantor]

Welcome strantor.
Here in Texas even plants that say full sun do better with a little bit of afternoon shade, mostly because of the heat. Even tomatoes and other "sun loving" plants.

Oh! Very good to know! I had plans to hack down half of my big shade tree to have room for a bigger garden next year. I guess I might just need to move all these guys under that very tree.

Cilantro really does best here planted in the early spring (like February), as it bolts really quickly in the heat. I had a lovely, lush cilantro plant this spring but as soon as it got too warm it bolted and I haven't been able to get another seedling to start outside, no matter how hard I try.

Yes, I remember now, reading the seed packet it said to plant it early, but I went ahead and planted it anyway, thinking that it would have plenty of time to grow in TX's long summer. I guess the specification of early planting had less to do with length of time to grow.

The watermelons could possibly have some sort of disease that is killing them off, or they might be feeling crowded, but I've never tried to grow watermelons in pots, so I'm not sure.

looks like a disease to me, but I don't know what I'm looking at. Another thing that was mentioned to me is that growing plants like this in pots in hot climates makes them fail because the roots are up away from the natural cool of the earth. something about heat on the roots stunting them. Does that sound plausible?

The tomatoes are REALLY crowded. If it were me I would pull out all but one or two, depending on the variety.

Ok. I will do that. Should I cut them off at the surface of the dirt or try to pull them roots and all? I'm worried about pulling up the roots, that it might hurt the roots of the ones that I leave behind.

I'm sure others will chime in and give you some good advice. Oh, and you need to have 10 posts before you can pt up pictures, it's annoying, but it keeps most of the spammers away.

Thanks for the advice!

one more thing, all these plants are planted in potting soil. Is that OK or do they need to be in real dirt?

 

[strantor]

I agree with The Mama Chicken. Cut off all but one or two of the tomatoes. I think a 30 gallon container could be ok for a tomato plant, but you will need to be sure it gets plenty of water. Same for the watermelon. If your green beans are about the size of a pencil, or a little bigger, you can harvest them. Don't leave them too long, as many varieties get tough or stringy. Welcome and good luck.

each day about 2pm I give about 2 gal of stored rain water to the watermelons, 1 gal to the tomatoes, and 2 gal to the 4ft planter with beans, cilantro, bell peppers, and jalapenos. Does that seem like enough water? I actually think it might be too much, but I figure it's ok since it can drain from the bottom.

 

[lesa]

If you think the beans are ready- pick one and try it raw. You will know if it is good. Hate to see you wait until they are tough and stringy. If you are going to thin out the tomatoes- do not pull them up. You will disrupt the root systems on the plants you are trying to save. Just nip the plants off with clippers or scissors. Unfortunately, gardening is a huge learning curve- and even when you have been doing it for years- mother nature is full of surprises! Good for you for giving it a try. With your climate, I think you can go ahead and plant again for fall. Happy Gardening!

 

[strantor]

If you think the beans are ready- pick one and try it raw. You will know if it is good. Hate to see you wait until they are tough and stringy. If you are going to thin out the tomatoes- do not pull them up. You will disrupt the root systems on the plants you are trying to save. Just nip the plants off with clippers or scissors. Unfortunately, gardening is a huge learning curve- and even when you have been doing it for years- mother nature is full of surprises! Good for you for giving it a try. With your climate, I think you can go ahead and plant again for fall. Happy Gardening!

The beans are actually going to be a bit of a surprise. I don't know whether to expect something like a green bean or a pinto bean. The packet just said "garden beans" and I've never heard any beans called that before. I'll taste one and see. Looks like green beans, but I suspect that pinto beans and the like, also look like green beans before they're taken out of the pod.

 

[strantor]

Unfortunately, gardening is a huge learning curve- and even when you have been doing it for years- mother nature is full of surprises! Good for you for giving it a try. With your climate, I think you can go ahead and plant again for fall. Happy Gardening!

Yes I fully expect it to be. This small "garden-ish" thing is just a little chance to learn from failure before investing time and money in a big garden. I am anticipating moving to a small acreage, possibly over this winter, and I want to try to grow as much of my own food there as possible.

 

[so lucky]

If it said "garden beans" I'll bet they are green beans.
Also, on the cilantro: When you plant it again, only plant a little bit, as it does bolt fast, and you won't be able to use it all. If you plant just a few seeds every few weeks during the early spring, you will have a much longer harvest time. Of course, if you are wanting to dry it, you could plant it all at once. I'm one of those odd folks who can't stand even the smell of cilantro, so I have never grown it.

 

[strantor]

Well I find myself at an impasse. I really want to get some knowledgeable eyes on my plants and my setup so that potential failures might be pointed out, but I need 10 posts to include pics. If I were to comment on anybody else's threads, it would only be non value added comments as I'm a total ignoramus when it comes to gardening. I don't want to appear as side-stepping this forum's rules, so would I'lll just ask; Would anybody object to me just making a few dummy posts here in this thread so I can get to 10 posts? I hope I've proven myself as a legitimate person and not a spammer.