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B33rChiller posted:
Holy moly, this is amazing! Your hard work is really paying off!
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Jun 13, 2018 18:30
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Found this horror show on one of my (bolted) broccoli plants this morning. Any idea what the hell these are? I pulled the plant and none of the other plants look affected, but I'm worried because this plant was in close proximity to my tomatoes and cucumbers.   
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Jun 13, 2018 18:51
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Mikey Purp posted:Found this horror show on one of my (bolted) broccoli plants this morning. Any idea what the hell these are? I pulled the plant and none of the other plants look affected, but I'm worried because this plant was in close proximity to my tomatoes and cucumbers. Those look like aphids to me. I had kale left over from the previous owner of my house and it was covered with those by the end of September. Seemed to leave a lot of the other plants completely alone, but they were all over the kale. They'd sit on the large veins in the leaf and leave a sticky sugary substance all over the underside of the leaf and in the crook where it attached.
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Jun 13, 2018 19:04
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Definitely aphids. The good news is that spiny orange-and-black guy in the first pic top left is a ladybug larva, they eat aphids like crazy. A good hard spray of water from the hose will squish the big clumps of aphids, and the ladybugs can eat the stragglers.
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Jun 13, 2018 20:38
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kedo posted:e: Also, if you have a healthy plant that's already fruiting you may as well pick one at each stage of growth, cut it open and see/smell/taste it to see what it's like. Who knows, maybe you'll really like your peppers when they're a little under ripe, and peppers plants tend to produce enough fruit as long as there's warm weather (and you can extend your growing season by bringing the plant inside before it starts getting cold), so you can afford to "lose" three or four pieces for experimentation. Apparently some berries can be poisonous if unripe. I'm not sure if this applies to anything else, but it's still something to be aware of.
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Jun 13, 2018 22:50
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Hubis posted:What do you do with these things? We always get a ton from our CSA.
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Jun 14, 2018 00:43
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Duck and Cover posted:Apparently some berries can be poisonous if unripe. I'm not sure if this applies to anything else, but it's still something to be aware of. Monstera deliciosa fruit. Gotta let that stuff ripen on the vine for iirc 12-18months. Unripe fruit and the rest of the plant is full of oxalic acid or calcium oxalate, can't remember which.
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Jun 14, 2018 08:33
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Previous on as the tomatoes grow. The tomatoes grew and now for the thrilling continuation of as the tomatoes grew.Duck and Cover posted:You say tomato I say tomato as well.
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Jun 15, 2018 00:40
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Could anyone diagnose my habanero plant here? It's definitely growing, but at a rate far slower than it's peers (the one on the right is for comparison), and the leaves are crinkly and curved upwards. I have it in Miracle Grow and we're in zone 6a where we've been getting a ton of rain but also lots of heat and sunlight. 
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Jun 15, 2018 00:51
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hmm it appears that your habanero is very lazy
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Jun 15, 2018 13:02
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Human Tornada posted:Could anyone diagnose my habanero plant here? It's definitely growing, but at a rate far slower than it's peers (the one on the right is for comparison), and the leaves are crinkly and curved upwards. I have it in Miracle Grow and we're in zone 6a where we've been getting a ton of rain but also lots of heat and sunlight. Can be a number of things, my primary suspect would be a shock from too much sunlight if you just moved it outside. Other than that it might me a nutrient overdose/too few nutrients. Also some seeds just produce hosed up plants in my experience, nature isn't perfect.
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Jun 15, 2018 13:41
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General rule of thumb too is that the hotter the pepper, the slower it grows. Habs can get pretty huge but they aren't usually in a hurry to get there. Once you get into superhots it gets reeeaaallly slow.
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Jun 15, 2018 15:00
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Here's my "garden." I finally set up the drip irrigation system to the back 6 fabric pots (visible in the pic when big). Also, bonus bird in front of the rightmost back container.  I'm a huge brain genius and instead of running the 6-port manifold to the middle of the back containers behind that shrub, I have it on the far left and had to buy another 50' roll of line to get out to the 2 containers on the right so I have all this unsightly tubing running about. I think I'll bury it under all the mulch there, as I left a fair bit of slack in each tube to allow for future location changes. VERTiG0 fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jun 15, 2018 |
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Jun 15, 2018 21:14
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Thanks for the replies. I have 8 Scotch bonnet and habanero plants (2 each of 4 varieties) and 6 have really taken off. They've all been hardened off and planted exactly the same way and get the same amount of water/light/food, so I guess a couple of them are just bound to be weaklings.
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Jun 15, 2018 21:27
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Some pictures of happy tomatoes up on my rooftop with a very improvised support system. The trellising has been very effective so far given how bushy the plants are getting and the heavy winds I get here. Black Vernissage, Dark Galaxy, and Costoluto Florentino. There is also some corn back there (again with some improvised support due to the winds here). It's my first time growing corn but so far everything seems to be going as it should. If I get even one ear I will consider that a success.    Also a whole bunch of blueberries.. 
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Jun 16, 2018 04:29
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Very nice! A quick search of those tomato varieties really makes me want to grow Dark Galaxy next year. Those are the coolest looking tomatoes I've ever seen.
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Jun 16, 2018 16:41
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It seems it is still a pretty new and unstable variety with uniform coloring but a lot of shape variations. Already in the tomatoes I have coming in there seems to be some fluted and others more conventionally shaped. Either way I am looking forward to whatever is produced.
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Jun 16, 2018 17:31
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So, I posted a bit ago about some zucchini plants. The problem seemed to be overwatering, so I backed off on that and this plant is doing great: But the other two didn't seem to be growing, and yesterday they suddenly started doing this:  What gives? I've: - checked them for pests. No visible infestations, eggs, etc. If this is pest damage it's some kind of transient rear end in a top hat bug. - checked for signs of powdery mildew, but saw nothing. - sprayed with Sevin because I had leaf damage that looked like they were getting badly chewed on and Bt/Neem oil didn't seem to be helping. I'm at a loss, and today those plants are even limper. I think I'm losing them but don't know why. Any ideas?
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Jun 17, 2018 18:55
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How’s the soil moisture? They look almost underwatered now
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Jun 17, 2018 19:16
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elise the great posted:How’s the soil moisture? They look almost underwatered now Soil moisture is fine, as far as I can tell. I stick a finger in it daily and it's been staying moist one to two inches down.
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Jun 17, 2018 19:21
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It could be squash vine borers- they're a type of caterpillar that actually gets inside the stem of zucchini and other squash and eat the plant from the inside out. To find them you have to very carefully examine the stem for a hole with little balls of green/black dirt around it- that's called frass and it's caterpillar poop.
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Jun 18, 2018 13:27
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Marchegiana posted:It could be squash vine borers- they're a type of caterpillar that actually gets inside the stem of zucchini and other squash and eat the plant from the inside out. To find them you have to very carefully examine the stem for a hole with little balls of green/black dirt around it- that's called frass and it's caterpillar poop. That's possible: I saw an adult vine borer hovering around the healthy plant about a week and a half ago. I sprayed the leaves and stems, put out some yellow bowls with soapy water, and have been picking eggs off of the plant as I see them. Thing is, I've only seen them on the healthy one. (Makes sense, since the others aren't flowering.) I haven't seen any of the holes you described, either. Could be it needs a more expert eye than mine, but it sounds like the holes are fairly visible? I did stop by my local mom and pop nursery and ask for their opinion. They think it might be fungal, since we had a lot of rain lately, so I sprayed them with Neem oil and cut off the affected leaves. There are a couple of new leaves trying to grow in there. Hopefully this gives them a chance.
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Jun 19, 2018 01:40
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 How concerned should I be by the brown stem? Some of the other plants have a little too. What actions should I take? I sprayed it with some organic fungicide (copper something).
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Jun 19, 2018 18:18
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youtube commenter posted:I planted a couple of things in pots over the weekend just to dip my toe into the whole veg garden thing. I haven't started them indoors first since I figure the weather's hot enough now to plant them in situ since I don't have to worry about frost. The birds around my yard really like bean and pea sprouts. Absolutely certain they're very stupid earthworms, swoop down, chop them off at soil level. I had success getting some of that reflective tape and taping it to the top of poles that support the bean scaffolding. Using a CD or two on some string would probably work too. Birds didn't bother the other sprouts.
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Jun 19, 2018 21:19
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Duck and Cover posted:
Not sure, but everything I'm seeing on Google suggests a fungus. I'd use a fungicide, keep an eye on it, and hope whatever it is hasn't penetrated the stem.
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Jun 19, 2018 22:29
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farfegnougat posted:Not sure, but everything I'm seeing on Google suggests a fungus. I'd use a fungicide, keep an eye on it, and hope whatever it is hasn't penetrated the stem. Yeah that's what my brief google search suggest it'd be.
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Jun 19, 2018 22:44
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Duck and Cover posted:
That does look like some sort of fungal... thing. I lost all my tomato starts this year because of some sort of fungus - grown in an indoor tent with a fan, but apparently still not enough air movement.
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Jun 20, 2018 03:12
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Re: super hot peppers grow slowly I bought some Trinidad-tobago scorpion pepper seeds a few years back and sprouted them in the spring and still had to over winter them indoors until the following year to get a crop. I am in northern Alabama, for reference.
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Jun 20, 2018 17:44
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TheToxicEuphoria posted:Re: super hot peppers grow slowly It's helpful to be able to start them indoors in about February I imagine. After the cutworms decimated my pepper seedlings this year, I went and bought plants. I have a couple Carolina Reaper plants that looked about 4-5 months old already when I bought them. Thankfully, they're already flowering and just starting to fruit, because I don't have good enough weather to wait until November for them to be done. The two Cayenne plants of mine that did make it are at least about two months behind everything else (orange habenero, carolina reaper, hot portugal, and more cayenne).
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Jun 20, 2018 19:04
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Blossom-end rot is usually caused by a calcium deficiency, right? That’s what google seems to be telling me. First time I’ve run into this issue with my squashes.
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Jun 20, 2018 19:32
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To quote this site,quote:The occurrence of the disease is dependent upon a number of environmental conditions, especially those that affect the supply of water and calcium in the developing fruits. Factors that influence the uptake of water and calcium by the plant have an effect on the incidence and severity of blossom end rot. The disease is especially prevalent when rapidly growing, succulent plants are exposed suddenly to a period of drought. When the roots fail to obtain sufficient water and calcium to be transported up to the rapidly developing fruits, the latter become rotted on their basal ends. Another common predisposing factor is cultivation too close to the plant; this practice destroys valuable roots, which take up water and minerals. Tomatoes planted in cold, heavy soils often have poorly developed root systems. Since they are unable to supply adequate amounts of water and nutrients to plants during times of stress, blossom end rot may result. Soils that contain excessive amounts of soluble salts may predispose tomatoes to the disease, for the availability of calcium to the plants decreases rapidly as total salts in the soil increase.
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Jun 21, 2018 01:16
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I've been doing a lot of reading about mycorrhizal networks - symbiotic relationships between fungi and plants. The main idea is that plants are actually poo poo at absorbing raw minerals from the soil but fungi are fantastic at helping them do it, because fungi can break down minerals into smaller, purer forms that plant roots can readily absorb. There's some evidence that mineral deficiencies aren't due to lack of minerals, but lack of fungi that makes minerals bioavailable to plants. You can by mycorrhizal inoculant at most garden stores now, but I'm not sure how valuable that is for vegetable gardening. It's become standard recommendation for new tree plantings due to their larger mineral requirements. Personally I try to mix in some living compost and local dirt into all my plantings, specifically container plantings, as a kind of "probiotic" for my plants. I should do some experiments... Anyway, I've heard a preventative for blossom-end rot is to add a calcium-rich soil supplement directly before planting in the bottom of the planting hole, and to make sure to water plants deeply and consistently (ie, don't water daily for two weeks and then forget for two weeks). A calcium-rich fertilizer late in the game may not help, but it also probably won't hurt. I would remove any fruits with rot just to make sure the plant is not wasting energy.
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Jun 21, 2018 13:51
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Also you can just cut off the ugly bit and eat the rest, end rot doesn’t affect the taste and isn’t really rot.
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Jun 21, 2018 13:56
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How do I avoid aphids? Do I need ladybugs? I’m on a fourth floor balcony and somehow my eggplants are infested. Where do these little buggers even come from???
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Jun 21, 2018 14:09
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turing_test posted:How do I avoid aphids? Do I need ladybugs? I’m on a fourth floor balcony and somehow my eggplants are infested. Where do these little buggers even come from??? The reproductive ones can fly. I usually just mash them with my fingers (or remove the infested branch if it's not important), but you can use insecticidal soap or neem oil if you take precautions for sunburn. I'm hesitant to recommend ladybugs to anyone because I've heard they're generally wild harvested. It would be overkill for one plant anyway.
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Jun 21, 2018 14:47
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I did the hand squash method when I was gardening on a balcony. Even when I had a half dozen mature plants it would only take me about an hour at most once every few weeks if I was doing a VERY thorough job. I really need someone to convince me why wild harvesting lady bugs is bad.
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Jun 21, 2018 17:21
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Here's something from an actual entomologist who knows a lot more than me: https://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/why-you-shouldnt-buy-ladybugs-natural-pest-control-your-garden.html From what I've read, at least in the US, they're mostly harvested on public land in California, both legally and illegally. Though apparently you can buy invasive Asian species (wtf). They're then shipped around the country to non-native environments where they create unnatural competition and potentially introduce parasites and diseases. I don't really know if it's a problem for the environment or not. Plenty of things are harvested sustainably from the wild. Others aren't. It's not like our vegetable gardens are full of exclusively native plants either, and I don't think anyone's pushing to end non-native vegetable gardens. Buying ladybugs is probably still leagues better than liberal use of synthetic pesticides.
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Jun 21, 2018 17:51
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Thanks, that was a good read. Yeah, it’s a tricky situation. In one hand I don’t want to spray my plants with pesticides because we have a ton of happy honey bees, but on the other hand I don’t want to help spread invasive species or disease. Maybe I’ll grab some lacewing flies like that article suggests. Does anyone have opinions about buying praying mantis eggs? They sell those all over the place too.
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Jun 21, 2018 18:01
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 So tantalisingly close, I shall name you... one of seven hundred and forty three
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Jun 21, 2018 18:28
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kedo posted:Thanks, that was a good read. Yeah, it’s a tricky situation. In one hand I don’t want to spray my plants with pesticides because we have a ton of happy honey bees, but on the other hand I don’t want to help spread invasive species or disease. You want to stay away from the systemics and neonicotinoids generally, but there are some bee-friendly insecticides (soaps, spinosad, Bt, neem oil, etc.) that kill on contact without leaving much active residue. It depends on the pest you're dealing with though.
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Jun 21, 2018 19:11
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