Artichoke Leaves Turning Yellow

I planted a bare root globe artichoke in late 2006 in a half barrel. It seemed to take forever to sprout but eventually it did. It is growing pretty good now, but a few weeks ago the lower leaves started turning yellow. I thought it might be too much water, I don't add water unless the dirt appears to be fairly dry. Any ideas what it might be?

Tleaves...more often than not the lower leaves yellowing are a sign of needing a bit more nitrogen. (The lower leaves "give up" their nitrogen so the new growth will prosper.)

I think I'd give the plant a good dose of fish emulsion or kelp. A foliar spray of either of those will jumpstart that plant back into good growth and green-ness!)

And yes, too much water, or water-soaked soil, will cause yellowing of leaves but you'll most likely witness that on the over all plant, not just the lower leaves.

Hope this is helpful!

Happy Growing!

Shoe

Thanks Shoe. That is a great tip on how to distinguish nitrogen deficiency from water deficiency! The soil was fairly dry when I checked today, so I think this confirms your diagnosis.

Thanks again,
T-

Wishing you a great harvest! I love those artichokes!

Have a great day!

Shoe

Shoe how do you think chokes would do in an EB?

Hmmm....good question, araness!

Some artichokes can get rather big (4 ft high by 4 ft wide for Green Globe) so that might play a role as to whether to give up a whole EB to one plant, eh? Or maybe you could try two and see what happens?

I wonder if people can grow them where you are (in Texas) as it gets very hot there (from what I hear about Texas, anyway!). Artichokes like fairly cool days and moderate nights; hot daytime temps will cause them to flower early and also toughen up their fibers. I grew them here years ago (NC) and got a small harvest though and thought they were delish! No complaints there but wish they had produced more! (I'm greedy, ya know!)

Maybe I should try another crop as I have two EB's and neither has been planted yet. Or perhaps you could, too, and let us know how they go (don't you have quite a few EB's now?)

Shoe

I only have 10 EB's and they are all full but I could order a few more and put two per box. I thought about planting them starting fall since we have such mild winters (only two or three days or freezing temps) and on those days I can wheel the EB's in the garage. LOL all this for what...maybe 32 artichoke?

Yeh...but ya gotta love dem artichokes!!! Yummy!

And the cool winters ya'll have just might be the ticket. Give it a try!

Shoe