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After moving to a new place we started a garden in what has been lawn for a lot of years. Our cucumbers grew vigorously at first and have been producing nicely, but the cucumbers started out only half-green / half-light yellow, now they are all light yellow (we call them albino cucumbers, as if they did not have their usual pigment). All of these cucumbers have fine taste and texture. Now the leaves on the plants are starting to yellow and die off, so it seems we won't have many more albino cucumbers.

We're wondering what the cause of this is. We just got soil test results back for the general area of the yard that we started the garden in. Attached are two graphics from test results: Soil test lab results Soil test nutrient levels The lab recommended we apply calcitic limestock at 5 lbs per 100 square feet. We try to be frugal and organic so we might just wait for our compost to finish and add that.

Can anyone identify if this is due to K deficiency, or P deficiency, or what specifically?

Here are some photos of the plants in question: cucumber plant yellowing

albino cucumber

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    That's fairly acidic, which is another reason to add limestone (not sure if "limestock" is a typo or some other thing than powdered limestone.) Limestone is generally accepted as "organic." "Burnt lime" is less so, if that's what "limestock" refers to - quicker acting but also leaves quicker. Dolmitic limestone would also address the magnesium deficiency (not sure what cukes care about there, but you'll presumably rotate and grow other things so might as well address it at the same time.)
    – Ecnerwal
    Jul 20, 2022 at 17:39

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No, it is not P nor K. If it is one of the three main factors N, P and K, then it is N. You can test this by adding any standard organic fertilizer (manure) to the soil.

But it is important to know cucumbers needs more Iron (Fe) than most other vegetables. If you tried calcitic limestock then the necessary Ca for absorbing Fe should be available.

I often use a dedicated cucumber fertilizer for iron supply. You can also use inorganic iron vitroll

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