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Schwartzcough posted:So any help for a total amateur gardener? We've been container growing some tomatoes in Texas. Most of the summer has been 100+ degrees F, but we've tried to water them two or three times a day since the soil was almost always dry. What kind of soil are you using, and do you compost? I've noticed in my (limited) experience that I need to add nutrients to my container soil more than my raised bed soil, or issues like this arise. Adding compost a few times a year helps a lot. How big are the containers? Anything less than 5 gallons and blight-like issues come sooner. The big thing I noticed were those whitehead-looking things on the stem. They almost look like roots trying to form, so you could have a root rot in the container, and the plant thinks it doesn't have roots anymore. Which could mean you might be overwatering, ironically. Unless you're in a really humid area of Texas, the soil is probably moist enough with twice-daily (maximum) watering, if you check down a few inches. Take a dead plant and check a lengthwise cross-section of the stem. Check whatever you see along this key website, which is decently helpful and has the added bonus of not being updated since the early 2000s. You also might just have determinate tomatoes, which will die after they produce for a certain amount of time. Do you know if they're a determinate variety? Also, how long have they been growing?
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Sep 29, 2018 04:52
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cakesmith handyman posted:Top right, this bit gets good sun early morning to mid afternoon. Also, why gravel?
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Sep 29, 2018 05:01
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Does anyone know of any sites or apps I could use to estimate how much sun a plot of land will get? I am in the UK and have been allocated an allotment but I saw it for the first time today and it is right in the top corner of the site so it has a 6m tall hedge along the top and side. The plot itself is small, about 6m by 12 metres and is long and thin. If I stand at the top of the plot with my back to the top hedge the plot is west facing, in that position the other hedge is on my left. I know that west facing can be good for afternoon sun, so I think I am ok with the top hedge but I want to know the other hedge won't then block out all the light. I could reject this plot and wait for another but allotment waiting lists are long and i could be waiting years! The corner position could make it quite cute and private if the light is alright, I would want at least 6hrs per day in the summer. I don't want a completely shady plot as I am mainly in it for the summer crops , I want to grow squashes, beans, sweet corn etc, not wait until the hedge dies back, and just do winter planting!
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Sep 29, 2018 07:46
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Doctor Candiru posted:The layout is solid. What were you thinking for height? 6". Gravel because I should be able to get it free and I'm sick of trying to mow the bit between the current borders. nerd_of_prey posted:Does anyone know of any sites or apps I could use to estimate how much sun a plot of land will get? I am in the UK and have been allocated an allotment but I saw it for the first time today and it is right in the top corner of the site so it has a 6m tall hedge along the top and side. The plot itself is small, about 6m by 12 metres and is long and thin. I'm struggling to lay this out in my head, neither of the hedges are on the south of the plot are they? Take the allotment, as you say you'll wait years otherwise. Work around your restrictions. Can you get away with trimming the hedge? 
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Sep 29, 2018 08:39
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Doctor Candiru posted:How big are the containers? Anything less than 5 gallons and blight-like issues come sooner. Why would that matter? From reading around, I thought blight was a fungus that usually gets splashed up onto leaves from the soil below (then spreads), not a space issue
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Sep 29, 2018 10:22
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cakesmith handyman posted:I'm struggling to lay this out in my head, neither of the hedges are on the south of the plot are they?
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Sep 29, 2018 12:31
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Nosre posted:Why would that matter? From reading around, I thought blight was a fungus that usually gets splashed up onto leaves from the soil below (then spreads), not a space issue I've never heard the container thing exactly, but I do know that the health of the plant affects its disease resistance (things like soil health, nutrient availability, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if more soil and root space factored into that.
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Sep 29, 2018 15:27
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I ended up doing a lot of garden stuff today! It's October already but for some reason, my garden treasures just won't ripen. I'm waiting for them to turn red before I tear everything down for the year. My garden gem plant must be having a mid life crisis or something because as soon as it started cooling down, it went crazy with fruit. This time, I have a whole wave of tomatoes that are slightly larger than the first few and they're actually ripening at the same time.   But forget that. I wanted to share what happened to my watermelon! Last week, it broke off the vine.   I made this.  It was the size of a softball. I cut it open today to see what was inside and was surprised to find that it was better than I expected. There's red flesh inside! I ended up tasting it and it was surprisingly sweet. This might be a dinky little watermelon, but I'm amazed that one actually grew and that I was able to eat some of it. After I tasted it, I took the rinds and went back out to the bridge and returned it back to the earth from whence it came.
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Oct 4, 2018 05:01
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Does anyone know what this is called? I'm looking for the most effective way of removing it. Someone recommended a Hula Hoe, but that seems more suited to normal weeding than these. Thanks 
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Oct 9, 2018 15:52
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What (if anything) is wrong with my satsumas? Just noticed some of them are starting to turn and thought I’d try and see if they were sweet yet, and I noticed two of them had some funky looking spots on them. Flesh inside looked (and tasted) fine. Probably nothing, but I remembered reading something from the extension service last year about some new disease in our area (south Alabama).   
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Oct 24, 2018 23:49
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Is it possible to kill strawberry runners? I thought they were indestructable but mine look very sorry for themselves, possibly because they were separated from the mother plant too early? They each had a cluster of leaves and some root nubbins. Thanks to some stormy weather they had to be cut free and potted individually. Now they are beginning to look sad and the leaves are curling up. Can they be saved?
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Oct 26, 2018 00:48
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Give the runners time before you start worrying. Some signs of stress are totally normal if you've had to deal with weather, etc. Make sure the pots aren't water logged and let them do their thing.
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Oct 26, 2018 01:10
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What (if anything) is wrong with my satsumas? Just noticed some of them are starting to turn and thought I’d try and see if they were sweet yet, and I noticed two of them had some funky looking spots on them. Flesh inside looked (and tasted) fine. Probably nothing, but I remembered reading something from the extension service last year about some new disease in our area (south Alabama). Holy crap there's a lot of things that can bother citrus. Looks like sunburn maybe? Though the defined edges makes me think maybe not. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/IPMPROJECT/ADS/Fruit_disorders_in_citrus.pdf http://citrusagents.ifas.ufl.edu/agents/futch/PDF/Master_Gardener_Training_9-10.pdf
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Oct 26, 2018 04:18
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Woad report: I harvested some plants, and extracted a bunch of indigo using calcium hydroxide. Right now it's all a big frothy blue suspension, but I'll be letting it settle out over the next few days. (May post pics if I get a chance.) Also apparently woad is super-invasive out here, so I'll need to make sure it doesn't seed next year (fortunately it's a biennial.)
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Oct 29, 2018 07:40
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Woad report: I harvested some plants, and extracted a bunch of indigo using calcium hydroxide. Right now it's all a big frothy blue suspension, but I'll be letting it settle out over the next few days. Please post some pics! I'm very curious about natural dying.
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Oct 29, 2018 13:48
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I took some pepper plant cuttings that I will overwinter indoors once they root. I have a short season and they didn't produce much this year, so hopefully the head start will help next season. If you've never tried cloning pepper plants, it's really easy. Did anybody else try a SIP setup this year? It was not worth the time, effort, and expense, in my experience. Would not recommend.
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Oct 29, 2018 16:54
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Is cloning more productive than growing from seed? Our seed-grown peppers go nuts every year, but I could always use more. e: Also, has anyone done this with sweet potatoes? I'm about to harvest mine, but I'd love to keep one alive over the winter for free slips next year.
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Oct 29, 2018 17:07
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vonnegutt posted:Please post some pics! I'm very curious about natural dying. Will do soon. Meanwhile, the process I'm following is this one: http://www.woad.org.uk/html/extraction.html (Except I'm using calcium hydroxide to alkalinise it.) My stuff looks pretty much exactly like that, although I only had 250g of plants. For dying I'm planning on using this method: https://botanicalcolors.com/indigo-instructions/ Basically indigo dye works by switching between a reduced form which is water soluble but green/brown, and an oxidised form which is insoluble but deep blue. To extract it, you make tea with the leaves, then alkalinise and oxygenate the solution, and pretty blue stuff precipitates out. To dye, you use calcium hydroxide and fructose (or some other reducing agent) to get it back into the reduced form. Then you dip fabric in it, and expose it to the air, where the dye goes blue and sticks. I haven't got hold of fructose (the local health food shop got an attack of the vapours when I asked about it -- apparently it's bad juju or something), but may try out using honey (since it's basically just a concentrated fructose-glucose solution). Got to rush to work, but may post more!
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Oct 29, 2018 17:13
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Is cloning more productive than growing from seed? Our seed-grown peppers go nuts every year, but I could always use more. It seems more productive for me than growing from seed due to my short season, but I guess it really depends on how many cuttings you take and how mature you intend to grow them indoors before moving them outside. You could wind up with a bunch of seasonal houseplants that you may or may not want. Of course, you could just have one big over-winter mother plant and then clone that a bunch of times when you would otherwise start seeds. Playing Pepper God is pretty fun. All you need to do to root most pepper cuttings is leave the cut ends in a jar of water, so it's a fun zero-cost experiment. I have no experience at all with sweet potatoes, but if you have a cutting to spare it certainly seems worth a try.
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Oct 29, 2018 17:27
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OK, cool. Yeah I looked up sweet potatoes and you can just throw some of their cuttings in a jar too. Plants are crazy.
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Oct 29, 2018 17:34
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If you want a quick primer on modern indigo dye and it's chemistry for funsies, I highly recommend Nile Red. https://youtu.be/6yhR242MnwA
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Oct 29, 2018 17:50
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:It seems more productive for me than growing from seed due to my short season, but I guess it really depends on how many cuttings you take and how mature you intend to grow them indoors before moving them outside. You could wind up with a bunch of seasonal houseplants that you may or may not want. Of course, you could just have one big over-winter mother plant and then clone that a bunch of times when you would otherwise start seeds. Playing Pepper God is pretty fun. Whoa I didn't know you could do this.. I have a sweet habanero plant that really killed it this year and I'd love to take cuttings from or even try and bring inside for the winter Any other tips for choosing where or how to cut an end?
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Oct 30, 2018 00:05
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Whoa I didn't know you could do this.. I have a sweet habanero plant that really killed it this year and I'd love to take cuttings from or even try and bring inside for the winter I wish I'd known you could do this too. I just moved everything into planters and tucked it into the basement under grow lamps so that I'd get a lot more fruit and so I could winter them and not loose them. I have a pair of Carolina Reaper plants that haven't gone dormant that I may try this with. I'm also looking for seeds for starting Er Jing Tiao (二金条), but the most I've found is typically either dried peppers or crushed dried peppers. Has anyone had success in using seeds from dried peppers for starting plants? I suppose I can just try to germinate a bunch of them in a warm moist paper towel, but it would be nice to know if it's just a fool's errand.
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Oct 30, 2018 03:58
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Suspect Bucket posted:If you want a quick primer on modern indigo dye and it's chemistry for funsies, I highly recommend Nile Red. https://youtu.be/6yhR242MnwA Thanks! I kinda skimmed that on mute, but that was a proclick. The timelapse of the jeans turning blue in the air was particularly rad.
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Oct 30, 2018 04:36
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Jhet posted:I wish I'd known you could do this too. I just moved everything into planters and tucked it into the basement under grow lamps so that I'd get a lot more fruit and so I could winter them and not loose them. I have a pair of Carolina Reaper plants that haven't gone dormant that I may try this with. It probably depends on how they were dried. If they were naturally dried (ie. on the plant or in the sun), they'll probably germinate, but if they were dried in an oven at higher temperatures they might not. I'd assume most store bought seeds will be the latter. However if you have some spare seeds lying around you may as well try it!
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Oct 30, 2018 14:19
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Whoa I didn't know you could do this.. I have a sweet habanero plant that really killed it this year and I'd love to take cuttings from or even try and bring inside for the winter It's totally worth a try! I haven't done habenros before, but jalapeno cuttings root practically by accident. I have some arbol, bell, and banana pepper cuttings in water right now. The stems all vary in size, so it's going to be interesting to see which one roots first. Fast and free pepper cloning method: 1) Select and cut a healthy, vigorous stalk or branch from existing plant. A good starting length is probably about 5-8 node segments. Your actual clone will be the top 3-4 nodes of this larger cutting, ensuring that it is green, new growth instead of older, woody stuff. 2) Node sites are prime for potential root production. Choose the node site where you want the roots to come from, and cut it at a 45 degree angle with a razor blade. 3) Place cutting in a jar of water. It's probably better if the cut end is suspended in the water and not resting on the side or bottom, but it will probably be okay if it touches. 4) Replace the water every week or two, or as it gets cloudy or discolored. 5) You should see roots forming within 3-4 weeks. It's tempting to put them in soil as soon as you see tiny roots, but give the roots a little more time to develop before you transplant them. 6) Gently transfer them to a pot and growing medium of your choice. It will probably take a week or so for them to establish themselves, but once they exhibit new growth you can treat them as any other starter. There are certainly other (likely faster and better) ways to clone plants, but this one is low effort and costs nothing. I learned it from rooting rosemary cuttings, and historically this is how friends and neighbors shared plants. Even today it's not uncommon for people to wrap cuttings in damp paper towels, put those in gallon sized ziploc bags, and mail them around the country. Jhet posted:I wish I'd known you could do this too. I just moved everything into planters and tucked it into the basement under grow lamps so that I'd get a lot more fruit and so I could winter them and not loose them. I have a pair of Carolina Reaper plants that haven't gone dormant that I may try this with. Let us know how it works!
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Oct 30, 2018 17:43
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My late season peppers have turned partially black/dark purple. These are Johnnys Paper Lanterns, early and productive habaneros. Any idea what's going on? I got a ton earlier in the season that proper ripened. I ate a little disc from it and the inside looks more green. Still crazy hot. 
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Oct 31, 2018 00:12
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Looks like they're in the process of turning red or orange. That color is pretty much exactly how my poblanos look if I leave them on the plant too long and they start to fully ripen.
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Oct 31, 2018 15:12
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kedo posted:Looks like they're in the process of turning red or orange. That color is pretty much exactly how my poblanos look if I leave them on the plant too long and they start to fully ripen. This season I had a banana pepper or two do that also. I still ate them and they were fine.
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Oct 31, 2018 15:58
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Yeah the color change doesn’t mean they’re going bad or anything, just ripening. A lot of peppers sold as green in supermarkets (notably jalapeños or poblanos) are just peppers that were harvested early because that’s how we like to eat them. They both become a little sweeter and fruitier when they turn red. I usually let mine change color because it’s a cool flavor you can’t get easily otherwise.
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Oct 31, 2018 17:10
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mischief posted:Give the runners time before you start worrying. Some signs of stress are totally normal if you've had to deal with weather, etc. Make sure the pots aren't water logged and let them do their thing. You were right - I think one has definitely died a death but the others have new leaves growing, so they're probably going to be OK 
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Nov 4, 2018 01:25
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Jhet posted:I wish I'd known you could do this too. I just moved everything into planters and tucked it into the basement under grow lamps so that I'd get a lot more fruit and so I could winter them and not loose them. I have a pair of Carolina Reaper plants that haven't gone dormant that I may try this with. I took cuttings of the Carolina Reaper plants a few hours after I originally posted this last week. After only a couple hours the leaves had perked back up and were firm and greener. So I took a handful of cuttings from my Caribbean Red Pepper (which is basically an extra hot habanero). Those too perked up right away. I should be able to take a few more Reaper cuttings once I pick the rest of the peppers this week, in which case I'm going to probably have some to give away if they produce roots. I got about two dozen peppers on two plants, and the Caribbean Reds produced about four dozen total between the two. Neither are as productive as the 100 orange habaneros I got from two plants this summer. They were very productive, but I'll probably run out of hot sauce before next harvest. I really did need more plants...
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Nov 5, 2018 18:25
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I just took cuttings from my Thai chili plant as well based on this thread. Mods change this thread title to Peppers and Pepper Gardening - you are what you pepper, coz we’re all going to be drowning in pepper plants.
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Nov 5, 2018 18:47
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Setting up to start Naga Viper, Dorset Naga, 7 Pot Barrackpore, Trinidad Douglah x Red Butch T, Orange Butch T, Red Scotch Bonnet, 7 Pot Douglah, 7 Pot Primo, Carolina Reaper, and a couple different color Habaneros. I got out of the serious pepper thing after some bad results a few years back where I just didn't have the time or resources to do it right. I've got time, land, resources, and most importantly poo poo loads of seeds to take another good swing at growing some serious heat. As an aside, ordering pepper seeds long enough will make your seed collection look almost identical to a drug dealer's cabinets. So many baggies. I finally got some thermostats for the heat mats and will be using two self watering starter trays and moving to a grow light if needed. Probably use the same setup to start some fancy tomatoes next year as well. I've been using slips almost exclusively for the last few years. I've still got a few of the orange and red habaneros setting fruit but temperatures are dropping pretty quickly and I expect the garden to be completely empty soon. I had big plans for fall/early winter garden but I'm the loving worst and always fail miserably at it. Once the peppers are up I'm going to rake up all the dead stuff I can get hold of and layer with cardboard for the winter. We had squash beetles really badly out of nowhere right at the end of the season and I'm trying not to let them overwinter if at all possible. They're just about impossible to fix without going scorched earth on their rear end. I plan on adding a few more tons of compost and tilling out the other half of the dog lot to give us some more room. Also going to retire the old nylon mesh trellis netting in favor of the Tenax Hortonova stuff I experimented with this year. I'll have to add some more supports but that stuff is really excellent for peppers, determinate tomatoes, and cucumbers that want to run. I'm still trying to find a magic bullet for my indeterminate tomato plants. We regularly grow 8-12' tall plants and they pretty much just destroy everything we've tried to run them up. I also had success using construction fence on a 10' tall firring strip frame but they never last more than a year or two. Works really well for cucumbers that want to just run like crazy. Anyone looking at the superhot pepper adventure, I highly highly reccomend PuckerButt.com and PepperHead.com - both great sites with awesome product. PuckerButt will also be your only source for Pepper X once Ed gets it stabilized. I've had it in the Last Dab Redux that First We Feast made and it is a whole new world of heat. Unreal. mischief fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Nov 5, 2018 |
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Nov 5, 2018 22:55
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I harvested real, actual sweet potatoes the other day. Now I realize I have no good way to cure them.
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Nov 5, 2018 23:09
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I'm tickled to hear about all of the pepper cuttings being taken and I'm stoked to hear how it works for everyone's various varieties. If there is a seed swap for next season maybe we could include a cutting swap in it.
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Nov 6, 2018 00:47
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I harvested real, actual sweet potatoes the other day. Now I realize I have no good way to cure them.
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Nov 6, 2018 00:49
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:I'm tickled to hear about all of the pepper cuttings being taken and I'm stoked to hear how it works for everyone's various varieties. If there is a seed swap for next season maybe we could include a cutting swap in it. "Anyone want a cutting from my beautiful sweet and very little heat jalapeno?" <sends bhut jolokia> Joking aside I'd be very into this! mischief posted:Setting up to start Naga Viper, Dorset Naga, 7 Pot Barrackpore, Trinidad Douglah x Red Butch T, Orange Butch T, Red Scotch Bonnet, 7 Pot Douglah, 7 Pot Primo, Carolina Reaper, and a couple different color Habaneros. Keep the thread updated I'm trying to get on this level. Super excited to try these sites out as well. Using a heating pad to germinate made most of my seeds that weren't doing anything last year POP. Its on this year kedo posted:I just took cuttings from my Thai chili plant as well based on this thread. Mods change this thread title to Peppers and Pepper Gardening - you are what you pepper, coz we’re all going to be drowning in pepper plants. Pepper and Pepper Gardening - Hope your Bhut doesn't burn as much as your mouth does
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Nov 6, 2018 00:56
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:"Anyone want a cutting from my beautiful sweet and very little heat jalapeno?" <sends bhut jolokia> It gets to be a reputation. We'll have outside people come through the office asking about local wings, etc and they always get sent my way. "...so I hear you like hot stuff." 
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Nov 6, 2018 01:04
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:If you drive through south/central Mississippi this time of year, there are people selling them out of the back of pickup trucks for almost free. My local cheap produce place has 25lb bags for like $5 .I've never grown them (except the vine as an ornamental) because curing them seemed complicated. Yeah I just wanted to give them a shot because it might be fun. Root vegetables in general don't seem worth the effort unless you enjoy growing them or want to try a less common variety. These are Myanmar Purples from Baker Creek.
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Nov 6, 2018 02:48
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