Vegetable Plants Not Growing in South Florida

Question from Lori:
I’m new to growing vegies so I bought some zuchini, yellow squash, cucumber,

tomato & 2 hot pepper plants and from seed I planted pole beans, sugar snap
peas, & yellow beans. The plants from seed came up several inches and the plants
grew a few inches and now for weeks absolutely NO GROWTH. My husband won’t let
me put in a regular garden so last year I tried a few things in the planters and
they did fine. What am I doing wrong? I did sprinkle some fruit & vegie food in
the soil before I planted and I water a little bit every other day. When I first
planted the normal SW Florida afternoon rains were in full force. The last week
and a half we’ve had no rain so I’ve done it myself. The rain is forecasted to
return. I will truly appreciate your thoughts on what I should do. Thank you.

Answer from Pat:
The most likely reason your vegetable crops are not growing is that your soil is
infertile or irrigation has been insufficient or the sunshine is not adequate.
Vegetables need full sun. (You do not mention if you planted in full sun.) If
there are not at least 6 hours of sunshine a day in the location where you
planted this is a problem that can only be cured by moving your vegetable garden
to full sun.

Most Florida soils are sandy and lack fertility. That means that you need to
provide organics and fertilizers or your vegetables will starve and they will be
stunted and fail to grow as you describe. Before planting vegetables, the first
step is to properly dig and prepare the soil. Vegetables need good drainage, but
not too much drainage, and they also need a good organic soil and adequate
fertilizer for fast growth. Organic matter in the soil helps with water
retention and sandy soils need a lot of it. Please read the steps below for
proper soil preparation. If you failed to do this, you can now add more
fertilizer plus a product such as “John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer” and humic acid
to increase the fertility of the soil. Water these into the ground. Or you can
mix up buckets of liquid fertlizers according to package directions and pour
these onto the ground.

You can also put mulch on top of the soil to increase water-retention—a layer of
aged manure on top of the ground, for example, will gradually increase the
health of the soil as its watered in. Even without adding organics prior to
planting this could help even now. You also need to increase irrigation to at
least an inch or two inches of rainfall or irrigation every week. It is better
to irrigate deeply and infrequently rather than frequently and shallowly as you
have been doing. What you described: just a little water every couple of days is
not the right way. What you need to do is soak the ground deeply at first 2 or 3
times a week to get plants started and then at least once a week, but if your
soil is very sandy it will be drying out too fast and you will need to water
more often or roots will dry out, especially if you added no organic matter to
the soil.

Another factor to take into account is the pH(acid or alkaline balance) of the
soil. Plants need the correct pH-usually between 5.8 and 6.3 for healthy growth.
You can purchase a kit to check the pH of your soil and then adjust it
accordingly.

Next time you plant follow these steps: Prior to planting vegetables the first
step is to dig up and turn over the soil to the depth of your spade. Then spread
on a layer at least 4-inches thick of composted organic material over the soil.
Next, use a hoe or a spade to work this organic matter thoroughly into the top
foot or so of the ground. This organic material could be your own homemade
well-rotted compost or commercial bagged or trucked organic compost recommended
for digging into the ground. Do not use a product designed to be used as
“mulch”. Mulch goes on top of the ground, not into the ground. When mulch is
mixed into garden soil it steals nitrogen from the soil in order to rot and this
kills your plants.

The next step is to purchase a complete organic vegetable fertilizer and read
the label. Follow the instructions on the label carefully: Measure the
square-foot area of your vegetable garden and then measure the correct amount of
fertilizer needed and sprinkle on this recommended amount evenly all over the
surface. Work the fertilizer into the top 6 inches of the soil. Since Florida
soils are not usually very fertile I would also advise adding a product such as
John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer. And also purchase a gallon of liquid humic acid,
which will cost you less in Florida since it’s shipped from there. Use it as a
transplant fluid. It is miraculous especially for cabbage crops, but also for
peas. If you can’t find the liquid type find a dry type which costs less to
ship.

I have recently made a video on the subject of soil preparation for planting
vegetables but it is not yet edited. As soon as it is edited we will put it onto
my website. After preparing the ground as described above, water thoroughly with
the equivalent of an inch or two of irrigation. Then let the bed settle over
night. The next day plant your crops according to the correct time of year for
each crop. It sounds as if you did this step correctly since for the most part
you chose the right vegetables to plant in your area. This seems to prove that
your problem is indeed lack of adequate sunshine or soil prep or lack of water
as suggested above.

But let’s discuss crops to plant in early fall in South Florida. Many of the
crops you can plant in late August or September and through the winter In South
West Florida are totally different from those which we plant in fall in Southern
California where I live. Wherever a gardener lives in the USA he or she needs to
choose plants that are correct for the location of his or her garden as well as
the time of year when planting. In each state throughout the United States
planting dates for various vegetable crops may be obtained from the University
Agricultural Extension of that state because these dates may differ from the
planting dates in other states. Planting dates for specific crops also differ
according to planting zones. In Florida, for example, there is a difference
between North, Central, and South Florida. I take it that you planted in late
August or early September. The crops that can be planted in South Florida at
that time of year include Bush, Pole, and Lima beans, all members of the cabbage
family (except cauliflower which can be planted in October), cucumbers,
canteloupe, pumpkin, summer or winter squash (if you planted in September but
not August), tomatoes, endive (September onward), kale (September onward),
lettuce (September onward), and Southern peas. Onions could also be planted in
September and English peas in September. For more information see this link to
the University of Florida website’s list of crops that can be planted in South
Florida at the various times of year: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021

I hope this advice helps. Be careful not to fertilize so much that you burn
plants. That’s not the correct way either! But also try foliar feeding according
to package directions. Write back sometime and tell me if your plants start
growing better after you take the steps I have recommended.