difficult gardening question

There was a gardening thread up a while ago, and some of our members here have some very nice gardens. So, I thought perhaps this would be a good place to get some answers to a tough question.

In my garden my pole bean plants are all between 1 and 1.5 feet tall, not even big enough to climb up the trellis yet, and they have started producing flowers! One day one plant had one bean on it, I discovered to my surprise. Then a few days later flowers started blooming on all the bean plants. These plants are way too small for producting beans. I don't know what to call this phenomenom... premature blooming? Can't find anything relevant with Google. I have been picking off the flower buds as they occure because I want the plants to get full-sized before they start fruiting! I want more than 3 beans per plant. At this rate my entire garden will produce enough beans for maybe one meal, which is ridicuous and a total waste of my time and money.

To make matter worse my banana peppers are doing the same thing. They aren't even big enough to support the weight of a pepper. Also, my corn, which is maybe 2 - 3 feet tall at max are now sending up sprouts . . . the ears of corn will be too heavy and the stalks will break.

What the hell is going on with my garden?

Where are you geographically? What variety of corn did you plant? Here in New England I usually don't get the corn going until after Mothers-day.

This may help.

Plnting by the moon

It sounds like a fertilizer problem, quite possibly over-fertilization. You can easily overuse certain chemicals with today's fertilizers and that throws off the fruiting cycle.

Or it could simply be something with the weather where you are. Have you been having unusually cool or warm days/nights? I'm not talking about a few degrees, would have to be maybe ten degrees or more off for a long stretch.

I'm really not sure other than those two possibilities. Maybe some more info (region, fertilizers used, soil type, etc.)?

TheRedneck

I'm in north-central Florida, and the growing seaon starts in March right after the danger of freezing has past.

But, this year, it was unusually cold here. Shortly after I planted in either late March or early April we had a freeze warning which is about as predictable as having snow in the Sahara. Definitely a surprise.

The soil in my back yard is very poor, so I bought topsoil and mixed the topsoil with peat moss, Black Kow manure compost, and organic fertilizer. I didn't realize Black Kow is more than compost... in contains a big serving of chemical fertilizer. So I probably WAY overfertilized.

If your fertilizer contains high amounts of phosphorus then your plants may sprout early, if you want vigorous growth you should dose them with nitrogen.

The 3 basic elements of fertilizers are N-P-K, That's Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. Nirtogen produces the green growth, the basic stems and leaves, your phosphorus and potassium help prodoce the fruits or beans in your case. Potassium will also help root crops like turnips and radishes. Tomoatoes and other fruiting crops like them are heavy phosphorus users.

My suggestions are thus, take a standard soil, dig in horse manure, cow manure , chicken manure or standard home grown compost from your own waste. This should not be adulterated with synthetic fertilizers. Dig it in a good two months before you plant any crops, try and get well rotted manure.

It's all a learning experience and it's good you started out, don't get discouraged.

The easy fix is Peters 20-20-20 with chelated minerals. This will promote plant health during the growth cycle. Superthrive in the plants first thrid of life and ocasionaly in the second third is also compatible with the Peters formula for a boost. Avoid any blooming fertilizers in the final vegatable production. These lead to large woody veggies.

If your veggies were planted in compacted soil, the roots can't spread out properly...this can result in a "stunted" plant and, in turn, premature flowering/fruiting, which can invite pests/fungal diseases...bummer.
If your soil is compacted, try using a pitchfork to gently aerate & loosen the soil...but, do this about 1 foot away from the base of the plant...you don't want to do too much damage to established roots...

Also, yep, overfertilization can be the culprit...pinch off the fruit/flowers and water to try to "flush" the roots.

Illahee is right on the money...blooming fertilizers "stress" the plant to force it to bloom instead of putting energy into growing big & strong & make lots of goodies.