I was wondering if my yellow squash plants are healthy. I planted them probably 2 months ago and they seem to be doing okay. They get full sun and I water them every evening. However, I've noticed the base of the plants are turning dark green, some of the leaves are turning yellow, and a few of the leaves have some brown spots. It's had several male flowers but no female. I'm new to gardening so I don't know what could be the cause. Any help would be much appreciated.

Have you seem any squash beetles or eggs under the leaves?

They look to be lacking nutrients. They seem too spindly and pale. Are there drain holes in the bottom of the container? Maybe too much water. Only water when it needs it. Stick your finger down into the soil. It it's wet or damp, don't add any more. When it starts to get dry, then water some. If it's well drained, and not too wet, then I'd add some form of nutrients. Maybe fish emulsion if you are inclined to be organic, or miracle grow for vegetables.

Welcome to All Things Plants, Ginny @Desma83 !

I agree with Tom -- they look like they may have been overwatered. Those plants should be much more vigorous after 2 months. I've never grown my squash in containers, but I start the seeds in pots 2-3 weeks before I plant them out and the transplants actually look healthier than your plants do right now. Growing in containers is actually much trickier and less forgiving than growing in the ground, so experience will be your best teacher! Whatever else you do, don't just water every day no matter what... check the soil for moisture first, or if the plant is wilting then you definitely need to water. And also definitely make sure there are plenty of drainage holes in your container.

Also, what sort of soil or potting mix do you have in the container?

Even those of us who have been gardening for many years find there are lots of new things still to learn... as a new gardener it may seem a bit overwhelming at times, but celebrate your successes and learn from the failures, and most of all, have fun!

I haven't seen any squash beetles. I saw some very tiny white bugs that were so small I could barely see them. That was about a month ago for a couple of days, but I haven't seen any lately. I just checked the leaves and found a few with some sort of eggs. I was thinking I may be watering them too much. They do have good drainage. I'll try adding some miraclegrow.

Desma83
I'm wondering if overwatering has caused the plants to be deficient in iron?

@Weedwhacker,

I used Miraclegrow Garden Soil. I don't think it's supposed to be used for containers but it's what I had. It has a lot of compost in it. I probably should have mixed some potting soil in with it but I didn't have any at the time. The plants were given to me so I thought I'd give growing squash a try. I've never grown anything other than flowers (and a couple of mango and apple trees I started from seeds but they died). I've heard squash is pretty easy to grow. I'm a gardening newbie so I've got a lot to learn. I'll get it figured out though

Looks like aphids in your picture. That might not be the cause of your problem but they can cause damage.

Those are aphids on the leaves. They suck juices out of plants. You can mix a drop of dishwashing liquid, a nice splash of alcohol & water in a spray bottle & spray those to kill them without having to use toxic chemicals. Just do it say in the evening so the sun doesn't burn them b/c the soap will tend to make that happen. If it's a day you're going to need to water them then you can spray them & wait 10 minutes & then while you're watering just hose the spray off.

Ah -- I think the garden soil might be at the "root" of the problem here (so to speak )

You really need to use a "container mix" of some sort for growing in containers... either a commercial one, or one that you mix up yourself. At a minimum, it would need something like Perlite mixed in for better drainage. I don't normally grow veggies in containers so I don't have a formula for a good planting mix to share with you... but there is a "containers" forum here with lots of people who would be happy to help with that! http://garden.org/forums/view/...

It seems to me that most things are pretty "easy to grow" ... once you figure out what they actually need. Which isn't always that easy to do