Gardening: the beets must go on

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Gothmog1065 posted:

This year we had 3 varieties of tomatoes, cucumber, sqaush/zucchini. They all seemed to thin/dry out at the same time.

Basically my cucumber and tomato plants both kind of went bleh at the same time. Leaves browning out/dying. One cucumber vine I thought I stressed (probably did regardless) because I took some pretty big 'sucker' vines off of it at once (Didn't keep up with it like I should have). However, they're both kind of just withering out at the same time. Even the smaller cantaloupe that we planted is pretty much doing the same thing. I'll try and get some pictures of the plants tomorrow. The tomatoes are still coming off so they may be just end of life.

Hmm shade might help and it�s certainly worth a try. Maybe try covering the west half of it or something so it still gets morning sun it just has a little protection from the hot afternoon sun.

Are they wilting? They are numerous bugs and diseases can make a plant look water stressed- squash vine borers for squash, fusarium/bacterial wilt for tomatoes, and I�m sure something else for cucumbers. Stuff also just gets tired and played out at the end of the season as the death by a thousand tiny fungus/bug cuts makes them look ratty. You might not have a huge aphid/stink bug/hornworm/black spot problem, but I guarantee you have a few of them and that all starts to add up by late summer. Make sure your tomatoes are indeterminate varieties too-determinate ones grow X big, make a bunch of fruit and then quit. Indeterminate ones will basically keep growing until they have filled all the empty space they can find.

I�m 400 miles south of you, and in western NC things are probably even different, but around here the tomatoes give up the ghost in early July. I wouldn�t be surprised if by mid-august they were quitting in NC. Okra, eggplant, pole and bush beans, some squash if the borers don�t get them and peppers will all keep producing in the heat, and need the heat in the case of okra and peppers.

# ? Aug 9, 2021 01:48

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# ? May 28, 2024 04:27

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

Thanks to the thread for the long bean recommendations. My only regret is that my trellis is only like 6.5 feet high. What ridiculous plants.

# ? Aug 9, 2021 19:52

Paradoxish: Dec 19, 2003; Will you stop going crazy in there?

Sockser posted:

One cucumber plant out of 10, plus some early replacements, survived the cucumber beetle plague
And then last week I spotted a cucumber beetle on it
So long, sole cucumber plant. You weren�t even the burpless plant, you gently caress.

I'm three plantings deep in cucumbers and so far I've got a handful of survivors from the second group and the third seems to be mostly in the clear now, although there were casualties. No one from the first group ever had a chance.

Cucumber planting shouldn't be like storming Omaha Beach.

# ? Aug 10, 2021 23:09

Chad Sexington: May 26, 2005; I think he made a beautiful post and did a great job and he is good.

Having the opposite problem with my zuccs. Mold is getting to them before I can eat them all.

I have half a dozen giant ones now too through my negligent picking, but they at least last a long time.

# ? Aug 11, 2021 00:16

Joburg: May 19, 2013; Fun Shoe

Hail has killed or maimed all of my plants. Gardening in Wyoming is not worth the trouble.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 15:57

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

That sucks, sorry.

But it's been a tough year for hail out your way. Lots of farms have lost thousands of acres of crops to hail this year. Not to mention drought. It's likely to be a record year for crop insurance payouts.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 16:03

Barry Soteriology: Mar 1, 2020

The forecast for my area is a week of rain. Can I use undiluted liquid fertilizer on my plants, expecting the rain to dilute it for me?

# ? Aug 15, 2021 16:22

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

The forecast for my area is a week of rain. Can I use undiluted liquid fertilizer on my plants, expecting the rain to dilute it for me?

Nope. High chance of it "burning" on contact. Get it on in there as long before the rain as possible.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 16:38

trilobite terror: Oct 20, 2007; BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

Motronic posted:

Nope. High chance of it "burning" on contact. Get it on in there as long before the rain as possible.

look dude, taking a warm shower and upending a pot of boiling water on myself before immediately jumping into an icy lake are functionally the same thing ok?

# ? Aug 15, 2021 16:54

i am harry: Oct 14, 2003

Joburg posted:

Hail has killed or maimed all of my plants. Gardening in Wyoming is not worth the trouble.

Two years ago I went to the beach from colorado for three weeks and had all these potted veg plants. Not wanting to bother any neighbors I got a couple paddling pools and filled them with water in the shadiest part of the backyard deck and left all the plants in the water.

Upon returning they were all doing great and extremely happy so I put them out again and a week later a 40min golf ball hailstorm completely shredded every single plant. Got to eat about 4 ripe cherry tomatoes off 4 plants the whole year.

I�m going to be building some sort of erectable screen, maybe out of canvass like a ship sail, that I can rush out and pull up if it happens again.

i am harry fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Aug 15, 2021

# ? Aug 15, 2021 17:47

Chad Sexington: May 26, 2005; I think he made a beautiful post and did a great job and he is good.

It's only August and I have a ways to go yet, but I'm already excited about next year. I was used to a lack of productivity in my community garden plot, so I was unprepared for how successful my backyard garden would be. So my gauge of what we like to eat and how much of it we even can eat was off. But already thinking next year...

Will plant half the number of tomato plants and only cherries and canning tomatoes. We just don't make it through the slicers and they are so much water they can poorly. Holy poo poo do I have so many tomatoes canned rn though.
Cutting bell peppers entirely and relegating some of the hot peppers to pots to limit size. I have several bottled hot sauces, half a dozen containers of dry and powdered hot peppers already and my habaneros are still going crazy and the ghost peppers are just starting to produce. May look at other less punishing varieties next year.
I'm thinking of trying out a three-sisters bed. Has anyone done one? Summer squash is way too productive, but would like to give winter a squash a try and pay more attention to a pumpkin plant. Corn would be fun, but I know they're finnicky. And I kind of want to try a pole bean instead of a bush bean.
My asparagus has been ferny as gently caress, so I expect it to be super productive next year.
I want to add stuff we use a lot of like potatoes, garlic and onions. I've never had success with onions, weirdly.
More herbs and flowers for pollinators.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 17:58

Barry Soteriology: Mar 1, 2020

Thanks for the advice, Motronic. Is there a rule of thumb minimum time to water and fertilize plants before rain? I don't think it's gonna rain day and night non-stop, so hopefully I can find some time in between bouts of rain to fertilize my plants.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 17:59

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

Thanks for the advice, Motronic. Is there a rule of thumb minimum time to water and fertilize plants before rain? I don't think it's gonna rain day and night non-stop, so hopefully I can find some time in between bouts of rain to fertilize my plants.

If it's going to rain hard I like to give them a day, like water in the morning, hopefully no significant rain until it gets dark. Seems to work for me in my soil type, YMMV. Earlier is always going to be better (less waste, less runoff).

Chad Sexington posted:

Will plant half the number of tomato plants and only cherries and canning tomatoes. We just don't make it through the slicers and they are so much water they can poorly. Holy poo poo do I have so many tomatoes canned rn though.

Since I didn't put a garden in this year due to timing (needed to move it, also needed some trees down before moving it to it's new location) I ordered 100 lbs of plumb tomatoes from the CSA. I may have gone overboard.

(we'll no doubt go through them, and maybe have a year of not having to buy any canned tomatoes)

# ? Aug 15, 2021 18:06

Chad Sexington: May 26, 2005; I think he made a beautiful post and did a great job and he is good.

Motronic posted:

If it's going to rain hard I like to give them a day, like water in the morning, hopefully no significant rain until it gets dark. Seems to work for me in my soil type, YMMV. Earlier is always going to be better (less waste, less runoff).

Since I didn't put a garden in this year due to timing (needed to move it, also needed some trees down before moving it to it's new location) I ordered 100 lbs of plumb tomatoes from the CSA. I may have gone overboard.

(we'll no doubt go through them, and maybe have a year of not having to buy any canned tomatoes)

Goddamn! I stand corrected: YOU have a lot. We only have about a third of that, with a couple batches of sauce in the freezer too.

# ? Aug 15, 2021 20:06

Bloody Cat Farm: Oct 20, 2010; I can smell your pussy, Clarice.

Any idea why my black krim tomatoes produced a ton of tomatoes while my Amish paste barely produced any?

# ? Aug 17, 2021 19:40

showbiz_liz: Jun 2, 2008

showbiz_liz posted:

Definitely not beetles - they're not shiny and they didn't move at all, not when I moved the leaves and not when I sprayed them. Also smaller than those photos.

Thrips looks like a good possibility! I'm looking at photos of the feeding damage they cause and it looks very close, as do some photos of tospovirus damage, which they transmit (though it's hard to be sure about that part). If they are infected with a virus, can I still use this soil again next year? drat I hope so because I garden in containers and have probably $400 of potting soil down there at this point.

I wish I had a better camera... would love to pin this down just for curiosity's sake, since it seems like the treatment is the same regardless.

OK well the plot thickens... I finally got some better photos of these pests on the eggplant leaves and they are not spider mites, thrips, or flea beetles. When I checked previously I only saw the brown segmented ones, not the black ones, and I am only guessing that I'm looking at immature and mature stages here, rather than two different pests.

Segmented brown guys

Shiny black guys

Scale of shiny black guys

Damage to top of leaf

The brown ones don't move at all no matter what I do, the black ones move a LITTLE bit but not much at all. I never found them more densely concentrated than this. Almost all leaves had none or one, a couple had two or three. But almost every leaf has damage over every bit of its surface.

showbiz_liz fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Aug 19, 2021

# ? Aug 19, 2021 01:03

Hexigrammus: May 22, 2006; Cheech Wizard stories are clean, wholesome, reflective truths that go great with the marijuana munchies and a blow job.

I'm going to guess those are scale insects, another family of sap suckers. I think some have a segmented larval form so you could be right about the black and brown being the same insect.

I've only had to deal with them on fruit trees and the species I've seen tend to cluster together rather than occur singly and that looks like a lot of damage for a single insect. Are they clustering on the plant stem where they're harder to see?

The only other thing I know about them is dormant oil spray kills them if they get out of hand.

Bloody Cat Farm posted:

Any idea why my black krim tomatoes produced a ton of tomatoes while my Amish paste barely produced any?

Could be the heat waves. Tomato pollen shuts downs above a certain temperature and fruit won't set. In past summers we've seen a drop off in production following a short period of intense heat in late July / early August. The heat wave this June kicked the crap out of some varieties, including a black whose name I can't remember. Our Roma paste tomatoes didn't have a problem setting fruit but the fruit has been taking forever to ripen. If this heat dome nonsense continues we might have to pay more attention to finding varieties that can handle heat. "San Francisco Fog" is only useful if you have cool, damp, and fog.

Apparently there's a problem around here with corn developing tassels in inappropriate places, something else caused by high temperatures during certain phases of growth.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 03:28

showbiz_liz: Jun 2, 2008

Hexigrammus posted:

The heat wave this June kicked the crap out of some varieties, including a black whose name I can't remember.

I planted Paul Robesons along with Early Girls and Yellow Pears, and have been hugely disappointed at the yield of the Paul Robesons while the other two have been consistently giving me as much as I can use or more. I wonder if this is why - in NYC we've had a couple pretty brutal heat waves.

Oh and - scale insect looks very possible. If neem oil is effective on them, then maybe there were more before I sprayed and I just didn't notice them? I was holding up leaves to spray the undersides though, so if there had been a big cluster I ought to have seen them, even if I didn't know what I was looking for exactly. I will check the stems!

showbiz_liz fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Aug 20, 2021

# ? Aug 20, 2021 03:44

Fitzy Fitz: May 14, 2005

Still looks like flea beetles to me. Maybe you just got some lazy ones.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 12:20

Barry Soteriology: Mar 1, 2020

My tomato plant has 4 hornworms at the moment. I'm a lazy hippie, so im kinda like hey, the plant is pretty strong looking so if you guys wanna get a nibble here and there, im ok with it. Should I instead be drowning these guys whenever I see them? Will the plant get overwhelmed if I don't keep the hornworms in check?

# ? Aug 21, 2021 17:40

RedChesterfield: Nov 18, 2010; "You know you've done enough shit to go to hell."

I'm wondering if anybody here has experience growing/harvesting tobacco. I've got a half dozen plants in my backyard as a bit of a goof, and I'm trying to decide if this is the weekend I'm going to try stalk harvesting them. Stormy weather on Monday has me a little concerned that they could get chewed up.

For context, they've all had their flowers topped 1-2 weeks ago. Some have had their bottom leaves yellow and deteriorate to the point that I tossed them. August seems early to take them down here but I am truly ignorant, and everything is growing ahead of schedule this year.

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:07

Benagain: Oct 10, 2007; Can you see that I am serious?; Fun Shoe

I forget your username but to the fellow chicagoon who gave me some tomato seedlings those fuckers exploded and are producing like crazy. Thank you!

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:07

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

My tomato plant has 4 hornworms at the moment. I'm a lazy hippie, so im kinda like hey, the plant is pretty strong looking so if you guys wanna get a nibble here and there, im ok with it. Should I instead be drowning these guys whenever I see them? Will the plant get overwhelmed if I don't keep the hornworms in check?

You will be amazed at how many little nibbles they take. If they are the ones that get in the fruit they will make you really sad. My personal policy towards them is �terminate with extreme prejudice�

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Aug 21, 2021

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:12

Fitzy Fitz: May 14, 2005

I toss hormworms far enough from my plant that they won't find their way back. Something will eat them. Circle of life etc.

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:18

mischief: Jun 3, 2003

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

My tomato plant has 4 hornworms at the moment. I'm a lazy hippie, so im kinda like hey, the plant is pretty strong looking so if you guys wanna get a nibble here and there, im ok with it. Should I instead be drowning these guys whenever I see them? Will the plant get overwhelmed if I don't keep the hornworms in check?

They will eat every leaf on a plant and absolutely kill it.

Best solution is a nice little pair of scissors to cut them in half, put them somewhere a bird will find them. BT spray to follow. No quarter for those fuckers and don't lose sleep.

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:39

trilobite terror: Oct 20, 2007; BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

My tomato plant has 4 hornworms at the moment. I'm a lazy hippie, so im kinda like hey, the plant is pretty strong looking so if you guys wanna get a nibble here and there, im ok with it. Should I instead be drowning these guys whenever I see them? Will the plant get overwhelmed if I don't keep the hornworms in check?

if they haven�t ingested any herbicide/pesticide they make a lovely snack for most carnivorous/omnivorous pets

I prolly wouldn�t just because one never knows, but if you happen to know a cool cat or bird or turtle or raccoon they�d probably be really happy with �em

# ? Aug 21, 2021 18:40

Barry Soteriology: Mar 1, 2020

I like fitzy's idea of just chucking them into the yard. I think I'll go with that. Just murdering them myself seems kinda wack. If they can provide a meal for a bird or something, that at least seems "right."

# ? Aug 21, 2021 20:06

Jhet: Jun 3, 2013

RedChesterfield posted:

I'm wondering if anybody here has experience growing/harvesting tobacco. I've got a half dozen plants in my backyard as a bit of a goof, and I'm trying to decide if this is the weekend I'm going to try stalk harvesting them. Stormy weather on Monday has me a little concerned that they could get chewed up.

For context, they've all had their flowers topped 1-2 weeks ago. Some have had their bottom leaves yellow and deteriorate to the point that I tossed them. August seems early to take them down here but I am truly ignorant, and everything is growing ahead of schedule this year.

I don�t have personal experience with it, but when I lived in Kentucky this is the time of year I�d see it be cut and hung to dry in the barns. Might be a week or two early, but if the plants are slowing down with growth and there�s weather coming you can either cover or cut. They certainly look the right size, so good luck deciding!

# ? Aug 21, 2021 22:39

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

RedChesterfield posted:

I'm wondering if anybody here has experience growing/harvesting tobacco. I've got a half dozen plants in my backyard as a bit of a goof, and I'm trying to decide if this is the weekend I'm going to try stalk harvesting them. Stormy weather on Monday has me a little concerned that they could get chewed up.

For context, they've all had their flowers topped 1-2 weeks ago. Some have had their bottom leaves yellow and deteriorate to the point that I tossed them. August seems early to take them down here but I am truly ignorant, and everything is growing ahead of schedule this year.

Don't harvest if the leaves are wet. Or glove up.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 00:19

Draadnagel: Jul 16, 2011; ..zoekend naar draadnagels bij laag tij.

Found my first hornworm this year. We've been renting for years and i always had a little vegetable garden and never seen one. This year we bought a house and I didn't have the time to do a proper garden (the garden needs a lot of work and i've been focussing on getting the ground in order and rubble/weed free) so we just dumped some flowerseed mixes around the garden. A hornworm showed up and i instantly recognised it because of this thread. But, because i didn't have anything i really cared about in the garden i just let the fat bugger live. A month later we found the biggest most badass moth (hummingbird moth) and felt really excited.

The worm might be bad if you're gardening, but the moth is fantastic.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 13:04

trilobite terror: Oct 20, 2007; BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

Draadnagel posted:

Found my first hornworm this year. We've been renting for years and i always had a little vegetable garden and never seen one. This year we bought a house and I didn't have the time to do a proper garden (the garden needs a lot of work and i've been focussing on getting the ground in order and rubble/weed free) so we just dumped some flowerseed mixes around the garden. A hornworm showed up and i instantly recognised it because of this thread. But, because i didn't have anything i really cared about in the garden i just let the fat bugger live. A month later we found the biggest most badass moth (hummingbird moth) and felt really excited.

The worm might be bad if you're gardening, but the moth is fantastic.

start a butterfly/moth garden. It�s super duper easy. If you want to buy some fancy (endemic only pls) caterpillars you can throw some bird netting over them to protect them from predators and then take it off when they�re ready to fly.

Or at least plant some drat milkweed for the mighty monarch

# ? Aug 22, 2021 13:34

mischief: Jun 3, 2003

There's a monarch farm near us that is super cool. They have a huge open air greenhouse type structure with metal mesh around it that they raise them in and then book parties, etc for releases. You can also just go visit. We did my youngest daughters birthday there one year and she still talks about a decade later.

If you wear the right color clothes you end up covered in butterflies. They are beautiful creatures and to see that many in one place is an experience.

Hornworms can suck a fart through asbestos though. No quarter.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 13:40

Draadnagel: Jul 16, 2011; ..zoekend naar draadnagels bij laag tij.

Ok Comboomer posted:

start a butterfly/moth garden. It�s super duper easy. If you want to buy some fancy (endemic only pls) caterpillars you can throw some bird netting over them to protect them from predators and then take it off when they�re ready to fly.

Or at least plant some drat milkweed for the mighty monarch

Yeah when we get our garden in order i'm for sure gonna go hard on a butterfly/moth garden. The butterfly population is in decline here and this year i saw so much more butterflies then the years before. And besides, a field of overgrown flowers is really pretty.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 13:49

i am harry: Oct 14, 2003

Draadnagel posted:

And besides, a field of overgrown flowers is the universe�s vision of pure beauty.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 15:39

Dukket: Apr 28, 2007; So I says to her, I says “LADY, that ain't OIL, its DIRT!!”

So, I was gifted a couple of horse radish- big chunks of root and the greens cut back.

What I'm reading is full to partial sun, well drained soil and very aggressive.

Anyone have something to add?

I'm really not sure where we're going to put it. We've just moved into this house and haven't decided where anything is going yet. I'm coming to the conclusion that I may just put it any where and figure out something better next year.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 17:32

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Dukket posted:

I'm really not sure where we're going to put it. We've just moved into this house and haven't decided where anything is going yet. I'm coming to the conclusion that I may just put it any where and figure out something better next year.

Do that. Find a nice spot you can keep clean/weeded just to overwinter them. They'll take to being moved just fine.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 17:44

Barry Soteriology: Mar 1, 2020

I checked my tomato plant, and I saw one with the white spikes growing out of it. From what I read, it's a parasitic wasp. The article said let it go and the parasitic wasps might spread to the other hornworms. Works for me.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 20:22

DurianGray: Dec 23, 2010; King of Fruits

Topo Chico Debarge posted:

I checked my tomato plant, and I saw one with the white spikes growing out of it. From what I read, it's a parasitic wasp. The article said let it go and the parasitic wasps might spread to the other hornworms. Works for me.

Where I am, it's pretty rare to see a hornworm that HASN'T been parasitized. I thought the wasp eggs were just a natural part of the worm for a long time until I looked it up.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 20:28

Jabronie: Jun 4, 2011; In an investigation, details matter.

Anybody ever get surprising seeds from your packs? I gave a neighbor one of my tomato transplants and it turned out to be that sweet, goldon sun variety. I started with the standard large cherry, sweet 100, beefsteak packets.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 13:45

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# ? May 28, 2024 04:27

Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

I pruned my peach trees.

The mulch smells like almonds. It�s nice.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 15:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on

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