Lettuce Bolting: Why Lettuce Grows Tall and How to Prevent It
Lettuce that shoots up a tall stalk from the center is bolting: the plant has stopped making leaves and started…
Vegetable Growing Problems
Troubleshoot common vegetable-growing problems in tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, squash and seedlings. Explore practical guides to identify symptoms, diagnose likely causes and improve plant growth.
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Squash Vines Wilting With Frass at the Base: Borer Fix
A vine that wilts fast, with a small hole near the base of the stem and sawdust-like frass piled beside…
Zucchini Plants With Only Male Flowers: Causes and Fixes
Find a zucchini plant covered in blooms but short on fruit, and most gardeners reach for something. They feed it,…
Misshapen Cucumbers: Why They Curl, Bulge or Grow Unevenly
Quick answer: Misshapen cucumbers are most often the result of incomplete pollination or uneven watering, with heat, cold and plain…
Zucchini Rotting at the Blossom End Despite Normal Flowers
Quick answer: Baby zucchini that rot from the tip while the flowers look normal often point to one of three…
Why Cucumbers Turn Bitter Despite Healthy Growth
Quick answer: A lush cucumber vine can still make bitter fruit, because bitterness is a stress response and not a…
Tomato Hornworms: How to Identify, Control & Prevent Them
Quick answer: Tomato hornworms are large green caterpillars that can strip a tomato plant of its foliage. Handpick them when…
Cucumber Male Flowers but Few Female: Causes & Fixes
Walk down the cucumber row on any morning in early summer and you may find a happy mess of yellow…
Tomato Blossom End Rot Despite Calcium: Real Causes
You did everything the gardening videos told you to do. The eggshells were rinsed, dried and crushed, then tucked into…
Tomato Catfacing in Cool Weather: Causes and Fixes
From the top, the tomato looks fine. Turn it over and the blossom end is puckered, scarred and folded in…