Why Do My Vegetable Plants Keep Dying?

How and Why Your Vegetable Plants Die

Let's take a closer look at the top five reasons behind a plant’s premature death. 

Improper Watering

Improper watering technique is the most common reason for a plant’s death. It is because of bad watering practices that the plant also faces issues such as fungus growth and pest attacks. 

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What exactly is the right way of watering? You must always water all your plants from the base, that is water the soil directly. Never water from the top of the leaves or stems as it makes the plant susceptible to rot and fungus growth. Prolonged exposure to water makes the leaves mushy and brown leading to rot. 

Over-watering

Sometimes, in a bid to care for the plants, we tend to overwater the plants. Most amateur gardeners have committed this mistake at some or the other point of time in their gardening journey. Soggy soil conditions for longer periods cause root rot and fungal diseases. 

Under-watering

Dehydration is another common reason behind a vegetable plant’s death. When the soil is not able to retain moisture, the leaves start to droop. Gradually, they turn yellow and brown and ultimately fall off. 

To prevent overwatering and underwatering related problems, always check the soil before watering. Use the “finger-knuckle test” to determine whether your plant needs water or not. Insert a finger in the soil till the second knuckle. If it feels moist and the soil sticks to your finger, do not water the plant and wait for a couple of days before checking again. 

This is a fool-proof method of watering and will minimize the risks of both overwatering and underwatering. But checking the soil each time you water can be a task in itself. Taim.io comes to the rescue here by keeping a record of your schedule and helping you to deal with problems related to watering. 

Humidity

Lack of humidity or too much humidity can be a major problem while growing vegetables. Most vegetables need humidity levels above 50 percent to grow well but maintaining high humidity levels can be an issue in dry areas. 

Keeping humidifiers and humidity trays helps in keeping the humidity high but it can become a problem if there is no air circulation around the plant. No air movement with high humidity can lead to fungus growth and sooty mold. 

Keep your plant in a bright spot with moving air if you are trying to keep the humidity levels high. If the humidity levels are low, air circulation is not crucial. Since it can be difficult to track the changes in humidity levels, applications like Taim.io help in maintaining humidity by reminding and tracking the changes. 

Sunlight

Sunlight plays an important role in the growth of vegetables. It is as crucial as water and if the plant does not receive an adequate amount of sunlight, it can suffer. In full sunlight, plants grow faster and produce healthy vegetables.

Let us take a look at what happens when your plant receives too much or too little sunlight.

Lack of Sunlight

Most vegetables need six to eight hours of direct sunlight to grow well. Sunlight helps in the process of photosynthesis that provides energy to the plant. Without sufficient sunlight, vegetables would not produce flowers and fruits leading to leggy growth. 

Too Much Sunlight

When the days are warmer and longer, with increased sunlight exposure, vegetable plants grow fast but only till a point. Exposure to harsh sunlight for longer periods is as harmful as poor light conditions. 

If you live in a dry area with extreme temperatures, sunlight coupled with hot temperatures can cause burns on the plants and stunted growth. It also affects the flower and fruit production ability of the plant.

Pest Attacks

Pests and insects such as aphids, mealybugs, powdery mildew, spider mites, and many others can kill your vegetable plants. Each pest infestation has different symptoms. Keep an eye out for these pests and protect your plants by spraying organic sprays such as neem oil.

Identifying the pests and their causes can be difficult no matter how experienced you are in the gardening world. Taim.io provides details of all possible pest infestations in each vegetable and makes it possible to treat them with ease. 

Fertilizer

Feeding the plant at the right time plays an important role similar to sunlight and water. It complements plant growth and provides the necessary nutrients for proper growth. Both over-fertilizing and under fertilizing can be detrimental to plant growth.

Under Fertilizing

Vegetable plants need nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus that can be provided through fertilizers. Not feeding the plant enough leads to lower productivity and the plants show stunted growth. Feed the plant regularly to keep it healthy.

Over Fertilizing

Caring too much by overfeeding the plant can kill it by causing salt build-up in the soil. If you use a very heavy fertilizer to feed your plant and do not water often, the excess fertilizer in the soil will remain in the soil and lead to root burn. 

A white salt-like appearance on the soil surface indicates that your plant is overfertilized. Always try to use a diluted liquid fertilizer and if the fertilizer remains around the roots, drain the plant with water. 

How Does Taim.io Help?

Caring for vegetables needs time and patience and can be hard to keep up with the needs daily. This is where taim.io comes into play. Taim.io is a new-age gardening application to help you at all points where you feel stuck with growing your vegetables.

Don’t know when and how to feed the plant? Open taim.io on your phone and learn it all. Don’t know whether your vegetable plant needs to be watered? Refer to taim.io and learn it all. It is these small activities that are easy to learn individually but hard to remain updated.