Fertilizer Catastrophe-Suggestions Please

OK so my husband and I planted a veggie garden. Everything (except the eggplant) was looking really good and who knows what happened. For one thing we are about 5 inches ahead on rainfall and it seems to have just slowed down and some warmer weather is coming. By the way I live in Arkansas. Ok on with the catastrophe--my tomatoes were actually looking a little blighty but they were by no means dead or wilted over. My husband got the bright idea to put fertilizer 13.13.13 on our whole garden. Well the day after we got a hard heavy rain. Few days later our tomatoes start wilting and dieing. So far we have lost 4 tomato plants. Then the cabbage and brussel sprouts started dieing. We've lost 3 of each. Also the cucumbers dried up to nothing. And finally our pepper plants are wilting and dieing. If the fertilizer is what caused the problem and I'm assuming it may have stopped the uptake of water at the root, is there anything we can do before it kills everything in the garden? Please any suggestions would be great. Oh this is the first year we have lived here and never planted a garden before...the land was once farm land, quite a few years ago.

It is possible depending on how much 13-13-13 you put down. It is not an exceedingly strong mix, but you can overdo it pretty easily. If it is fertilizer burn, it will look as if your plants were burned. If it is then about all you can do is wait abit for the nitrogen to dissapate and start over. It is the nitrogen that causes the burn, not the P or K. The other possibility is a root rot. Pull up one of the dying plants. If the under ground stems has lesions and rotted places, http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Cucurbit_Phytoph.htm We do not know what rain looks here, but back acouple of years ago when it actually rained in this part of Georgia. Root rots and southern blight did a number on many plants. Both prefer wet conditions. http://www.ppath.cas.psu.edu/extension/plant_disease/pythrrot.html http://www.rngr.net/Publications/ghs/fusarium-root-rot/file http://msucares.com/newsletters/pests/infobytes/19961004.htm

Thank you Farmer. My husband did pull up the plants and they had a black look down at the very end next to the root and just slightly above the ground so I am not so sure that it isn't root rot. This incident was going on over a two week period and we finally pulled the most of what was looking wilted and dead up last week. I told my husband we should wait a bit--but he went and bought more plants two days ago--we planted and yesterday he said he found the squash laying over and limp the next morning. The ground is not soggy wet or muddy any longer so I dont think it can be from water damage. Im thinking maybe still something in the ground or maybe they were just stressed from being planted. Anyway we will keep trying and I also appreciate the links.

my dad uses fish. it sounds corny and generic, but he has a tomato hedge, seriously! he plants all his stuff with a big fat pile of fish guts and it goes absolutely crazy.

Ihnnwntrs, Contact your county agent and describe your problem. He or she can probably tell you if others in the county are experiencing some of the same symtoms, which as Farmer said may indicate your heavy rains or a blight. If it is specific to your garden, then he may be able to say it's an overapplication of fertilizer that will be resolved with a little time. It's of little comfort, I know, but almost everyone of us has a heatbreaking story like yours.

ly057, we also use all my husband's fish leftovers...we dig them into the ground when planting....we believe it actually revived a Blue Spruce we were losing....lhnnwntrs, sorry to learn of your problem, I'm still holding off on planting because we are getting so much rain....have a few peppers in & three tomatoes hoping for the best.....Good luck, Deb