Dark Green Patches in Grass: What They Mean and What to Do Extra nitrogen is the most common reason for dark green patches in grass, but it isn’t the only one. A patch of naturally darker, coarser grass growing in a lighter lawn can look much the same. The extra nitrogen often comes from dog…
Squash Vines Suddenly Wilting With Frass at the Stem Base: What to Do A vine that wilts fast, with a small hole near the base of the stem and sawdust-like frass piled beside it, almost always has a squash vine borer larva tunneling inside. Slit the stem lengthwise to confirm, lift out the larva, and…
Seedlings Not Growing True Leaves? Check the Roots First Seedlings that sit on their seed leaves for weeks are usually held back below the soil. The common causes are a root zone that is too cold or too wet, fertilizer salts in the mix, fungus gnat larvae feeding on roots, or a mix with so…
Leggy Seedlings Even Though the Light Seems Fine? Here’s What’s Really Going On Seedlings turn tall, thin and pale under “good” light because that light is usually weaker than it looks, not because it’s missing. A bright window, or a grow light hung a little too high, delivers far less than a seedling needs, and…
Zucchini Plants Producing Only Male Flowers: When to Wait and When to Act Find a zucchini plant covered in blooms but short on fruit, and most gardeners reach for something. They feed it, water it harder, or start blaming the seed. More often than not, the better first move is to do nothing and take…
Tomato Plants With Lots of Leaves but Few Flowers: Causes and Fixes A tomato plant that is big, dark green and short on flowers is usually telling you one of three things: it got more nitrogen than it needed, it isn’t getting enough sun, or it hasn’t reached its flowering stage yet. Heat, cold and…
Purple Tomato Seedlings: Why the Undersides Turn Purple and Growth Stalls Flip over a leaf on a stunted tomato seedling and find the underside purple, and the color doesn’t automatically mean the plant needs more fertilizer. Cold roots, immature roots, sudden changes in light or temperature, and true phosphorus deficiency can all produce similar symptoms….
Powdery Mildew: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention Most fungal diseases want wet leaves. Powdery mildew is the odd one out. According to the University of California’s Statewide IPM Program, every powdery mildew species can germinate and infect without free water, and the disease is often favored by warm, dry days followed by cool, damp nights….
What Does Powdery Mildew Look Like? Signs, Symptoms & Identification Run a fingertip across a leaf that looks dusted with flour. If the white comes away as a fine, dry powder, there is a good chance you are looking at powdery mildew. But a handful of other things leave pale marks on leaves too, and…
Best Fungicides for Powdery Mildew: Organic & Conventional Options Most advice on the best fungicide for powdery mildew reads like a shopping list. The more useful question is about timing: has the mildew shown up yet, and how much of it is there? A product that protects clean leaves beautifully may do almost nothing for…
Powdery Mildew on Squash and Cucumbers: Treatment & Prevention White, dusty patches on squash or cucumber leaves, often on plants that have started setting fruit, are almost always powdery mildew. Remove the worst leaves, let in more light and air, water the soil instead of the foliage, and match any spray to the stage: sulfur…
Baking Soda Spray for Powdery Mildew: Does It Work? Search for a home remedy for powdery mildew and baking soda shows up almost every time, usually with a recipe and a confident promise. What the recipes rarely mention is how the remedy performed when plant scientists actually tested it. That record is more mixed, and…
