I recently planted a bunch of young vegetable seedlings in my allotment after buying them from a nursery. We had a heatwave two weeks ago, and I made sure to water them thoroughly. To help retain moisture, I added wood chips around the base of the plants. However, when I checked back 24 hours later, most of the plants were dead, with only the swede surviving. The pumpkins, courgettes, corn, and tomatoes were all dried up. What could have caused them to die so fast? Was it just the heat, or could the wood chips have played a role? And is there any chance they'll recover if their roots are still intact?
3 Answers
In the north of the UK, we were still experiencing overnight frosts even after some hot days. Plants like pumpkins, tomatoes, courgettes, and corn can't handle frost at all. It might be best to wait until it's consistently above 10 degrees at night before putting those in the ground. Don't worry too much—you can replace them or even grow your own from seeds, especially the courgettes and pumpkins, which are easy to start!
It might not just be the heat causing the issue. The fact that the swede was the only one that survived suggests there might have been temperature stress. Did you harden off the plants before planting them? If you took plants that were kept inside and put them straight in the ground, they could be more sensitive to wind and colder temperatures.
They did spend about a week outside before I planted them... but yeah, you might be right about it being temperature-related. Thanks for the insight!
Make sure that the wood chips aren't touching the stems of the plants. Newer wood chips can steal nitrogen from your plants if they come into contact with them. It's a good idea to move the wood chips away from the roots and give everything another deep soak with water!
Got it, I'll remove the wood chips from touching the plants. They were pretty old chips but I guess it’s better to be safe. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the advice! I’m definitely considering a second trip for seeds. Fingers crossed some of them might recover!