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AnonSpore posted:Comin' over from GWS for some help. Is there a vetted guide out there for how much to water herbs? I'm just getting my feet wet with some herbs and out here in the bay area sun they seem to dry out way faster than the "water once a week" I'm seeing on some of these guides would suggest. It's only been a week but the parsley and cilantro are already looking sickly as hell, and my basil is also pretty withered. It doesn't help that apparently the symptoms of root rot from overwatering and of dehydration seem to be indistinguishable? Thanks for posting this, because I wanted to ask more or less the same thing. It feels kind of silly to ask, but how wet exactly is "wet" soil with regards to watering? For the soil to need more water, does it need to be bone dry for the first 1-2 inches, or just kind of very lightly damp? As for me, my south-window facing herbs are doing well; my Thyme is absolutely kicking rear end, as is the Marjoram. The Tarragon not so much, but it's doing a decent job, as is the Rosemary. The north-window herbs are doing less spectacularly; my Holy Basil is doing well at least, but some of my Genovese Basil keeps wilting and turning brown, and the Cilantro is growing horizontally off the sun-facing side of the pot and looks a bit depressed. The Parsley seems okay, if a bit yellow. The Chives are kind of awkwardly leaning in various directions, but maybe they just do that? I gave them more water today, so I'm hoping that it's just dehydration and/or shock from being moved into my apartment. I cut several of the woody stems on my basils before I read that I shouldn't do that as well, oops. I don't want to kill these little guys. 
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Jul 27, 2019 20:54
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rosemary is the cockroach of herbs. i have rosemary sprouting from the dormant roots of a withered, desiccated plant that didn't get watered for like a year. why cant more tasty plants be like rosemary
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Jul 27, 2019 21:22
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I'm struggling this year. I moved houses, from a place with extremely hard clay, to a perfect loam. I used to be able to water my tomatoes once a month during a hot California summer, now I feel like I am watering every other day. I guess I'm going to have to install a watering system. All this watering by hand is taking the joy out of gardening.
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Jul 27, 2019 22:31
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Basil is almost impossible to over-water. Honestly in my herb experience (the only type of plant I can grow  ) as long as the pot has holes and is draining okay, you're not going to over-water them. I do it daily in summer and have never killed an herb.Cilantro is different than other herbs though, it grows once and then dies more like a leafy plant. You can't just harvest the same plant all year like a basil. I don't know if parsley grows the same way. A lot of people will cut most of a cilantro when it's mature, then let the remaining bit go to seed and replant itself.
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Jul 27, 2019 22:33
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Yeah, the pro move with cilantro is to get like a two week cycle going so you have a perpetual crop going, I guess the nice thing is it grow like a weed and the seeds are pretty handy.
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Jul 27, 2019 23:00
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AnonSpore posted:Comin' over from GWS for some help. Is there a vetted guide out there for how much to water herbs? I'm just getting my feet wet with some herbs and out here in the bay area sun they seem to dry out way faster than the "water once a week" I'm seeing on some of these guides would suggest. It's only been a week but the parsley and cilantro are already looking sickly as hell, and my basil is also pretty withered. It doesn't help that apparently the symptoms of root rot from overwatering and of dehydration seem to be indistinguishable? Italian basil, as Grand Fromage says, is hard to overwater unless you're keeping the ground soaking all the time. And if you're looking for a general reference work, once again I'll recommend your local master gardener programme's handbook. I don't know if the one for your area specifically covers watering instructions for cilantro and basil (although it wouldn't surprise me) it'll cover general growing instructions for your area/hardiness zone.
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Jul 28, 2019 08:56
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AnonSpore posted:Comin' over from GWS for some help. Is there a vetted guide out there for how much to water herbs? I'm just getting my feet wet with some herbs and out here in the bay area sun they seem to dry out way faster than the "water once a week" I'm seeing on some of these guides would suggest. It's only been a week but the parsley and cilantro are already looking sickly as hell, and my basil is also pretty withered. It doesn't help that apparently the symptoms of root rot from overwatering and of dehydration seem to be indistinguishable? I'm not sure that's entirely a watering problem - to me it looks like leaf scorch. If so, a combination of too much sun exposure and the plant not able to transport enough water fast enough to affected leaves. Were these plants recently moved from a protected location to full sun like, a week ago? If so, this is similar to transplant shock when the seedlings aren't hardened off gradually. If the sun is strong enough hardening off doesn't matter. After the hot summers we've had the last five years I keep some shade cloth handy to get certain crops through scorching weather. Is there wind hitting the location? That dries plants out quicker. Are those clay pots they're in? If they are, that will only make things worse and once a week definitely won't keep anything but cactus happy. I'm north of you on Vancouver Island. My outdoor pots are minimum of 8 litres/2 gallons, either glazed or plastic, and get a daily drip of around 2 litres / 1/2 gallon of water every morning. During a heat wave if an emitter clogs the plants react within a day or two. All the pots have a layer of mulch on the soil to help keep things evenly moist otherwise the surface is cracking by late afternoon. Keret posted:Thanks for posting this, because I wanted to ask more or less the same thing. It feels kind of silly to ask, but how wet exactly is "wet" soil with regards to watering? For the soil to need more water, does it need to be bone dry for the first 1-2 inches, or just kind of very lightly damp? I struggled with keeping indoor pot plants (despite my AV that's plants in pots, not  ) happy. Species can vary widely in what they like. Some do best if kept more or less evenly moist, others need to dry out completely between waterings. Herbs are often towards the "evenly moist" side of the spectrum, especially the mints. I eventually got a cheap moisture meter. It's not a precision scientific instrument but it was accurate enough to train my finger. I still take it out to the garden every once in a while to double check the performance of the drip irrigation system. It came with a handy chart listing houseplants and their preferred moisture ranges.
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Jul 28, 2019 09:03
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So I planted a bunch of daikon that are supposed to be at maturity in three months. It has been three months. I pulled one to see what they look like and... it was a dinky little piece of poo poo, not even remotely close to full size. I was about to harvest and replant for fall, but I have maybe three months until first frost and so I'd just get another set of trash daikons. I'm not sure how the harvest dates work, I assume they're just a guideline? I'm thinking I should leave these alone and let them grow until the end of the season, planting a second crop seems pointless.
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Jul 28, 2019 18:17
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Grand Fromage posted:So I planted a bunch of daikon that are supposed to be at maturity in three months. It has been three months. I pulled one to see what they look like and... it was a dinky little piece of poo poo, not even remotely close to full size. I was about to harvest and replant for fall, but I have maybe three months until first frost and so I'd just get another set of trash daikons. I'm not sure how the harvest dates work, I assume they're just a guideline? I'm thinking I should leave these alone and let them grow until the end of the season, planting a second crop seems pointless. My radishes grew pretty fast, could it be not enough sun or water?
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Jul 28, 2019 19:45
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For sure they don't get enough sun. Nothing I can do about it though except hope if I leave them in the ground they'll slowly develop into bigger rads.
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Jul 28, 2019 20:14
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Hexigrammus posted:I struggled with keeping indoor pot plants (despite my AV that's plants in pots, not I may need to look into that, thanks for the heads up. My north-window gang of plants seems to be in general disarray still. I probably have not been watering them enough, so this morning I watered them a lot more (without drowning them). They don't seem to be thriving, though: My genovese basil is especially depressing looking. It's showing leaf drop and the leaves are curling/wilting and developing brown spots here and there. One of the stems is dead also, I guess.    The chives are a bit dried out, but otherwise okay I suppose?  The cilantro is growing sideways towards the sun, and seems kinda blah but maybe that's just cilantro.  The parsley seems okay, if a bit yellow in places.  On the bright side, the holy basil seems to be hanging in there just fine. What should I do, goons?
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Jul 28, 2019 21:14
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I would pick all those dying basil leaves asap and probably some of the medium/larger ones as well. My theory, generally, is that my leafy greens never bounce back so if I'm not planning on eating them now or soon I won't eat them in the future so they might as well get picked and tossed leaving more room for healthy new growth. I also would have probably broken those basil up in to individual plants so they don't fight each other for nutrients or light, this will lead to better harvests Grand Fromage posted:For sure they don't get enough sun. Nothing I can do about it though except hope if I leave them in the ground they'll slowly develop into bigger rads. Yea for sure. Careful they don't go too far, some of my older rads I forgot about went soft and nasty on me
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Jul 28, 2019 21:22
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Keret posted:What should I do, goons? Water them regularly and it'll bounce back. I've always found cilantro to be meh when I grow it, but that's because the plants don't last that long and if you want a lot of cilantro it means you're reseeding it regularly. The basil looks like it's been too thirsty and the parsley's yellow leaves are at the base where they're just not getting enough light and will just die back. Not the end of the world. The other thing you can do when you cut the tops of basil is stick them in water until they start rooting and then plant them to keep them going all year. I'll probably give it a try myself this winter.
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Jul 28, 2019 21:24
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Thanks for the tips guys, I was on the verge of just burning it all down and giving up (especially since I seem to have picked up a bit of a whitefly infestation on top of everything) but I took your advice to heart and also went down to a local nursery for additional help. Hopefully I'll have better results next time I come around.
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Jul 28, 2019 21:54
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Zucchini lasagna was good but don’t want lasagna again for a bit probably. Have air fried up a few batches of breaded zucchini strips. They taste like what I remember from a restaurant I went to growing up but my wife doesn’t like them from a pregnancy aversion so that’s out. We’re making a second batch of zucchini bread and muffins. Three things doesn’t seem like too much but I’m out of ideas. Our onions are reaching maturity and it looks like the carrots too. Here in a few weeks once the tomatoes are good to go I’ll have the whole garden salad ready without needing anything from the grocer.
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Jul 29, 2019 07:45
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Jhet posted:The other thing you can do when you cut the tops of basil is stick them in water until they start rooting and then plant them to keep them going all year. I'll probably give it a try myself this winter. That sounds like a good call. To do that, do I need to cut the entire large stem I guess? How large should it be? Also, what other vegetables have you all had success with growing inside? My dining room has three entire south-facing windows that are being wasted when they could be growing who knows what. I was thinking of attempting spinach and arugula, and maybe chiles or a dwarf citrus tree? I don't know if they'll get enough light indoors though, even with a south-facing window.
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Jul 29, 2019 15:04
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Keret posted:That sounds like a good call. To do that, do I need to cut the entire large stem I guess? How large should it be? I don't have enough room in a south window for citrus, but we have a coffee plant in a north facing window. Chiles all need more light than you'll be able to give them to fruit, so unless you're going to stick up grow lights it won't be great. Fruiting plans have different requirements from the light that are hard to give them indoors. Leafy greens do well in window sills, and I'm planning on doing some pak choy and misome in my sill in the autumn. I have a horned mustard that does well in cooler weather that wouldn't mind the cooler air by the window in late autumn too. That might take some exploring and failing with seeds before you find what works good for that particular window. I'm sure other people have things they like to grow in their windows too. You should only need to cut 3-5" of basil and take off the bottom most leaves before putting it into water. Supposedly it just starts to root pretty quickly, but be sure to change the water regularly so algae doesn't grow. You may also be able to put rooting hormone on and put it in starting mix, but for a less robust stem I'd worry about it rotting quickly.
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Jul 29, 2019 15:26
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I agree, Id start with easy things like leafy greens and work my way up from there if it works to save myself some disappointment
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Jul 29, 2019 15:37
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Jhet posted:I don't have enough room in a south window for citrus, FWIW I have lemons in a north window and they do fine. The spot gets a glance of direct light for like 30 minutes in the evening, and that's it. I have a bunch on this ledge for the cold six months of the year, and this one in the center is there all the time and pretty happy (the pictures look pretty bright, but that's phone compensation or else you wouldn't be able to see the plant):   Bonus: Orchid got crown rot so I had to operate and dust it up with cinnamon. Hoping it keeps going long enough to give off a keiki 
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Jul 29, 2019 16:21
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Nosre posted:FWIW I have lemons in a north window and they do fine. The spot gets a glance of direct light for like 30 minutes in the evening, and that's it. I have a bunch on this ledge for the cold six months of the year, and this one in the center is there all the time and pretty happy (the pictures look pretty bright, but that's phone compensation or else you wouldn't be able to see the plant): Do you get fruit from the lemon? I'd want to get a couple a year if I could just for the fun factor. My wife collects houseplants and uses most of the north facing space we have like that complete with radiator. I might be able to convince her to fit one in, but the coffee plant and bay laurel take up the biggest spots. The coffee plant got frost burn when it got very cold last year (we had some of that crazy -50F weather for a couple days). That and I'm going to move the rosemary bush inside for the winter. It's gotten so large this year I'd hate to loose it in the snow and cold.
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Jul 29, 2019 16:34
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Jhet posted:Do you get fruit from the lemon? I'd want to get a couple a year if I could just for the fun factor. My wife collects houseplants and uses most of the north facing space we have like that complete with radiator. I might be able to convince her to fit one in, but the coffee plant and bay laurel take up the biggest spots. The coffee plant got frost burn when it got very cold last year (we had some of that crazy -50F weather for a couple days). That and I'm going to move the rosemary bush inside for the winter. It's gotten so large this year I'd hate to loose it in the snow and cold. Oh, no fruit, I should have added that. It's strictly an experiment/for fun thing: They're not even dwarf varieties, grew 'em from seed. I'm pruning various ones with different levels of toughness and seeing how they do
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Jul 29, 2019 16:39
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Nosre posted:Oh, no fruit, I should have added that. It's strictly an experiment/for fun thing: They're not even dwarf varieties, grew 'em from seed. I'm pruning various ones with different levels of toughness and seeing how they do I've always wanted a lil lemon tree, if you care to share pics I would be very grateful. That is so cool
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Jul 29, 2019 16:59
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Keret posted:Also, what other vegetables have you all had success with growing inside? My dining room has three entire south-facing windows that are being wasted when they could be growing who knows what. I was thinking of attempting spinach and arugula, and maybe chiles or a dwarf citrus tree? I don't know if they'll get enough light indoors though, even with a south-facing window. Comedy option: jackfruit 
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Jul 30, 2019 00:58
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 That's quite the set of testicles on that tree.
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Jul 30, 2019 01:31
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Platystemon posted:Comedy option: jackfruit Would grow that
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Jul 30, 2019 01:54
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Don't post homegrown.
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Jul 30, 2019 05:14
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Jackfruit tacos are pretty good.
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Jul 30, 2019 05:41
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bengy81 posted:Jackfruit tacos are pretty good. Word. I like simmering shredded jackfruit in BBQ sauce too.
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Jul 30, 2019 14:20
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So I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any squash this year. I'm in Northern Colorado, I put in my summer squash about the first week of June, and despite seeing a ton of male flowers over the last few weeks, I haven't seen a single female, my cukes and melons were slow to take off due to how mild June was, but I'm getting fruit. Any thoughts? My winter squash and pumpkins look to be in the same boat, I planted them at the end of June.
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Jul 30, 2019 14:52
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bengy81 posted:So I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any squash this year. I'm in Northern Colorado, I put in my summer squash about the first week of June, and despite seeing a ton of male flowers over the last few weeks, I haven't seen a single female, my cukes and melons were slow to take off due to how mild June was, but I'm getting fruit. Any thoughts? Dont give up on the squash yet mine were way behind and did the same thing a few weeks ago
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Jul 30, 2019 15:06
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bengy81 posted:So I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any squash this year. I'm in Northern Colorado, I put in my summer squash about the first week of June, and despite seeing a ton of male flowers over the last few weeks, I haven't seen a single female, my cukes and melons were slow to take off due to how mild June was, but I'm getting fruit. Any thoughts? Got any pics? Many varieties have delayed female blooming, and it may just take a while, especially if its been mild. Have you had relatively cool nights? If it seems like you may not get any female flowers, try trimming the plant to 3-4 main shoots, and trim any new shoots that may occur. This can limit vegetative growth and can encourage the plant to use its energy on its reproductive cycle. Bonus: save the super green trimmed shoots of the squash/pumpkinshoot, steam them, and eat them with a bunch of chili, lemon, and fish sauce. I am obsessed with this.
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Jul 30, 2019 16:19
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I was about to pull one of my kabochas because it was just a couple inches tall for literally months, but then a few weeks ago it went ape and has grown up, has like a dozen female flowers on multiple vines. Squashes are weird.
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Jul 30, 2019 17:43
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We have squash bugs here. I'm lucky if I can get one or two squash off most plants before they get murdered, and once the squash are dead they move in to anything vaguely similar (melons, etc). Kind of thinking about just not planting any next year.
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Jul 30, 2019 17:58
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My summer squashes have also done horribly this year. Last year we had more than we knew what to do with. Beetles are definitely partly to blame, but they were there last year too, and if anything we have been more vigilant this year. Just a bad year for them I guess. At least we're drowning in tomatoes. And a random butternut squash that must have grown from compost. Had a few cucumbers, which was more than could be said for last year, but I don't think we gave them quite enough water during the heat wave, so they be dead now.
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Jul 30, 2019 18:33
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I don't expect any of my squashes to actually develop into an edible thing, but the plants themselves have survived.
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Jul 30, 2019 18:53
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SnakeParty posted:Got any pics? Many varieties have delayed female blooming, and it may just take a while, especially if its been mild. Have you had relatively cool nights? If it seems like you may not get any female flowers, try trimming the plant to 3-4 main shoots, and trim any new shoots that may occur. This can limit vegetative growth and can encourage the plant to use its energy on its reproductive cycle. Bonus: save the super green trimmed shoots of the squash/pumpkinshoot, steam them, and eat them with a bunch of chili, lemon, and fish sauce. I am obsessed with this. Yoooo what?! That's very cool I didnt know that... which parts are these? Have a pic? Sounds delicious
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Jul 31, 2019 15:10
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Yoooo what?! That's very cool I didnt know that... which parts are these? Have a pic? Sounds delicious ill cook some up this weekend and send some pics. it takes like 10 minutes, and is super healthy and yields highly satisfying poops on account of all that good plant fiber.
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Jul 31, 2019 18:19
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 I haven't ever seen someone mention long sweet pointed bell peppers in this thread. Does anyone have an idea whether they are particularly prone to rotting like this? It's such a shame, they were otherwise doing so well. What would cause this? E: internet suggests calcium deficiency, maybe? I'll try that anyway. Flipperwaldt fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jul 31, 2019 |
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Jul 31, 2019 20:52
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There are green peppers that naturally grow that shape. Are the plants for sure the rounder cultivar?
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Jul 31, 2019 21:27
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Grand Fromage posted:There are green peppers that naturally grow that shape. Are the plants for sure the rounder cultivar? E: I threw 'bell' in there as an indication of the zero spiciness level, not the shape. Flipperwaldt fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jul 31, 2019 |
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Jul 31, 2019 21:33
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