Help what is wrong with my cucumber plant

[jjonesrjc]

All the leaves are turning yellow but the veins are staying a nice green it started at the bottom of the plant and has been working its way up does anyone know what this is? I water maybe every 2 to 3 days and I use miracle-gro organic plant food maybe once a month.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi JJ, welcome to our forum!!

Yellow leaves with bright green veins is a typical sign of magnesium deficiency. The cure is simple and fairly quick acting - give the plants a foliar spray with Epsom salts diluted in water 20 grams to one litre of water a few times a fortnight.

Just to add to that, do you know what the NPK ratio is for the Miracle Gro? It should be on the packet as three numbers for instance 24-8-16. Many people use a tomato feed for cucumber plants and I use an organic seaweed feed.

[jjonesrjc]

Lesley thanks so much I will give this a try and let you know how it goes. The Miracle Gro Organic is listed at 7-1-2.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi JJ, I wouldn't bother using the Miracle Gro as it has plenty of nitrogen (7) which promotes leafy growth but not very much potassium (2) which is what you need for the fruit production. With Tomorite tomato food which people use on cucumber plants the NPK is 4-4.5-8 with added magnesium. So as you can see it has more potassium (8) for the fruit growth. You need to start feeding the plants after the first fruit forms.

[hiyatim]

hi lesley, just a side question here, the NPK is always different for UK and ROI, any idea why...its the same stuff whatever country its in??

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by hiyatim

hi lesley, just a side question here, the NPK is always different for UK and ROI, any idea why...its the same stuff whatever country its in??

Hiya Tim, you need a biologist to answer this one properly but as far as I know in the ROI they use pure elements of P and K whereas in the UK we use Phosphorus P205 and Potash K20 but the plant roots still take in the same amount of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).