|
Just hip checking bees out of the way to swab my echinacea with a Qtip. Flicking butterflies off my milkweed to lick the stamens myself. Roaring with fury as ants attempt to climb the peonies I am already perched atop
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 18:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 18:16 |
|
|
Just to maximize the amount of seed that gets produced. One of the ecologists that I volunteer with mentioned that pollinator populations aren't doing well this year in our area due to the weather in Spring. Also, there's a bunch of plants where I work that send up an inflorescence that makes it super obvious which flowers were pollinated and which weren't, and only like 1/3 of the flowers were pollinated. I'm going to ask the ecologist next time I see him, but I'm also looking for a small project to do this weekend 
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 18:57
|
|
|
Tomato trellis update: modified low and lean working really well so far. Hopefully it’ll carry them through the season.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 20:43
|
|
|
stranger danger posted:Just to maximize the amount of seed that gets produced. One of the ecologists that I volunteer with mentioned that pollinator populations aren't doing well this year in our area due to the weather in Spring. Also, there's a bunch of plants where I work that send up an inflorescence that makes it super obvious which flowers were pollinated and which weren't, and only like 1/3 of the flowers were pollinated. Some pollen-bearing plants, tomatoes for one, need vibration, as from a bee, to fertilize. If you're feeling particularly toolsy, grab your electric toothbrush and have at it. Or your Hitachi.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 20:47
|
|
|
 
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 21:37
|
|
|
After all this rain my big booty tomate are burstin!
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2022 22:23
|
|
|
everything reminds me of her
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 00:04
|
|
|
That's a gorgeous sight. I love Angel Wings! We got a couple of flushes out of our buckets. Felt good.  Then Gaia decided laugh at our puny efforts and do this in the swamp:  I'm going to take the spent buckets and dump them under the blackberry hedge along with fresh wood chips. They can fight it out with the winecaps already established at one end. The blackberry hedge is going to become an invasive species Thunderdome!  That Old Ganon posted:They don't get direct light until about 1700, and that lasts until sunset, so what I've been doing is using the grow light at night and turning it off when I get up the next day. The balcony is west-facing and light doesn't start to creep in this way until 1300-ish. A lot of garden plants are photoperiod sensitive. I wonder if the legginess might be partly due to them trying to bolt to flowering because the 24 hr light is messing with their growth hormones.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 00:13
|
|
|
I'll get right on the grow light correction, thank you, friends!
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 00:50
|
|
|
stranger danger posted:Just to maximize the amount of seed that gets produced Zinc, vitamin D, and citrulline 
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 01:07
|
|
|
So Bambi got inside my garden AGAIN. I have 8-foot poly fencing around the perimeter. It sags in a couple places, so I was out there tying some rope at the highest spots to make it look even more intimidating. But as luck would have it, Bambi's friend Thumper clued me into what I think is the actual weakness. I saw him in the garden as I was tying up the rope, which technically shouldn't be possible because of the chicken wire I have on the ground level, but obviously rabbits are wizards. He really quickly made it out of the fence on the opposite side before I could even get over there. That's when my unobservant rear end realized... OH. Bambi ripped down the chicken wire and is going UNDER the poly netting.  I stapled it back up and have now zip-tied it to the poly, so it should be much harder to get through now. I also fiddled with my security camera settings because it's really annoying that my camera has twice now showed a deer in my garden... but never early enough to show me how or where from. Not helpful.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 20:56
|
|
|
You should shoot that deer
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 22:50
|
|
|
Soul Dentist posted:You should shoot that deer That's always an option out here. I guarantee Thumper wouldn't make it out alive either. You could also try getting some eyelet screws and some light gauge braided wire and run it through the squares at the top of the chicken wire and the tip top of the plastic netting. I have to do it with the nylon trellis netting to keep the centers from sagging and it's pretty painless and cheap. Deer will also startle pretty easily until they realize there's no actual threat so hanging old CDs or things that make noise on the fence could run her off for a while as well.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2022 23:37
|
|
|
mischief posted:That's always an option out here. I guarantee Thumper wouldn't make it out alive either. Yeah I was going to hang some pie pans or something too. I set up a few posts with fishing line tied between them a few feet out from the fence too in the hopes she won't see it and she'll spook. Soul Dentist posted:You should shoot that deer Alas, the county does not smile on this plan. Nor would my wife, I suspect.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 01:13
|
|
|
I too disobey the county and my wife. I have to surreptitiously pellet gun and trap the squirrels of my neighborhood - which makes getting ripe tomatoes harder - but honestly the extra challenge makes the vegetable gardening more satisfying. Nobody will ever inform the government but my wife is ever vigilant
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 01:46
|
|
|
In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom?
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 03:49
|
|
|
That Old Ganon posted:In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom? I use these and cut up milk cartons for germinating seeds, usually goes OK. Go for it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 07:31
|
|
|
That Old Ganon posted:In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom? I expect that they have zero UV resistance for food safety and cost reasons so won’t last long, but sure, why not?
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 07:53
|
|
|
That Old Ganon posted:In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom? W/ nesting cups like that if you're going to transplant later you can cut one cup in half vertically and nest half of it inside another cup to make it easier to extract the root ball later (I do my starts in solo cups that way)
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 11:29
|
|
|
I keep out deer with a 4’ electric net fence, 30’ of dog yard, then a 3 wire fence to keep the dogs out of my garden. Squirrels will come into the dog yard but haven’t been brave enough yet to go all the way to the garden. One chicken has started to frequent the garden in the morning and she’s been breaking some of my seedlings but hopefully she will eat the flea beetles that have ravaged my callaloo.  My real trouble is the fire ants. I am trying to stick with spinosad bait in the garden and direct spinosad application on the mounds, but drat those things are prolific! If anyone has some great advice please share. Also, I’ve been harvesting hornworms for the ducks. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 13:22
|
|
|
That Old Ganon posted:In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom? We just have a rolling pile of tofu cartons, take out containers, and other garden/farm related plastic that we press gang into seed starting until they fall apart. Recycle what we can but we're pretty hard on them. Peat pots are a great idea at a certain scale, I guess. Once you've got a proper sized garden or anything bigger they're just a waste of water in my opinion. We tried the little self watering cell type deals for a few season as well trying to reduce waste on the peat pots and even with the little plastic cells you end up transplanting before you are ready to put them in the ground. Make friends at your local nursery, generally they will be happy to give you pots and stuff. You can get all kinds of neat stuff from a commercial grower. We grow a lot of peppers and other nightshades and starting in a bigger pot makes a huge difference when you can avoid the transplant shock until the plant is established, it's just a question of having the room. Joburg posted:My real trouble is the fire ants. I am trying to stick with spinosad bait in the garden and direct spinosad application on the mounds, but drat those things are prolific! If anyone has some great advice please share. I tried searching the thread but Motronic always has on point advice for killing bugs dead. We zapped a bunch of fire ants nest recently with his recommendation and I cannot remember the chemical. Shoot him a PM, he knows his stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 17:18
|
|
|
That Old Ganon posted:In regards to replacing the peat pots, my roommate has a bunch of these things he never uses. Those containers from takeout places when you get soups/curries etc., could they be a decent replacement if I put holes through the bottom? I use a collection of cleaned yogurt/sour cream/sour cream containers. Most food plastics like that are all kind of the same. Use them until they break or you get a fungus on a start, then toss them and replace with whatever you have in your fridge. For seeds that are super touchy, I even lay (not snap) the lids over the container to increase temps and decrease moisture loss before germination. Of course, I watch them and remove the lid as soon as they germinate, but it helped make the difference in germination rates and times in my current setup.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2022 20:24
|
|
|
So I have this combination raspberry/blackberry bush corner that was here before I was and it was perfect the first year. It was weak the second year but nothing really noticeable. But any plant experts know what this is? It seems to have complexity grown inside the two plants and overgrown them. You can almost see the berry plants still trying to grow in the bottom middle   I was dumb enough to just assume one of the berry plants was growing big till I noticed it had no thorns. Who is this rude plant. Sorry if the pics are bad my phone is old and all I got.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 10:37
|
|
|
Box elder? Helps to know where you live so that we can rule plants in/out.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 13:15
|
|
|
Joburg posted:
Holy cow, are you serious? Look at the size of them!
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 14:26
|
|
|
kafkasgoldfish posted:Holy cow, are you serious? Look at the size of them! I try to find them on my tomatoes before they get that size, but ...
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 14:29
|
|
|
I plant in a combination of trays (which I reuse) and solo cups for larger plants.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 14:30
|
|
|
rojay posted:I try to find them on my tomatoes before they get that size, but ... I know! I check my tomatoes most days but apparently missed those monsters. They were so big that the ducks had trouble eating them.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 14:38
|
|
|
rojay posted:I try to find them on my tomatoes before they get that size, but ... I had a couple that big last year but the parasitic wasps got to them first so I let them be. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 16:29
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:Box elder? Helps to know where you live so that we can rule plants in/out. Oh whoops sorry. That would help. Central New York,
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 17:20
|
|
|
Whitenoise Poster posted:Oh whoops sorry. That would help. Central New York, It really does look like box elder to me (which is found in NY). They have the opposite branch structure, red/green coloration, and compound, serrated, lobed leaves like your picture. They're also fast growers, which would explain how they surprised you like that. Nice trees once they get big. Native too, but common enough that I'd never feel bad about removing one.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 17:33
|
|
|
Box elders can also attract box elder bugs (surprise, surprise) which are basically harmless, but a nuisance because come late fall they WILL find any crack or hole to get inside tour house to overwinter. I have a silver maple (another tree they love) and I have to spray for them every year because if I don't, I can't enter my tool shed without them just falling from the doorway all over me.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 19:33
|
|
|
Yeah a quick google image search seems to confirm that's my guy. I appreciate the help because googling "tall weeds" wasn't helping. Time to figure out how to dig this plant up without destroying the berries inside.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 20:29
|
|
|
Whitenoise Poster posted:Yeah a quick google image search seems to confirm that's my guy. I appreciate the help because googling "tall weeds" wasn't helping. Time to figure out how to dig this plant up without destroying the berries inside. Google lens and the Seek app help if you can put in a picture of it. It'll get you into the right area usually. Either way you'll probably want to pull those out before they take over the berry canes. Wear hard sleeves, jeans, and gloves.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 20:32
|
|
|
Whitenoise Poster posted:So I have this combination raspberry/blackberry bush corner that was here before I was and it was perfect the first year. It was weak the second year but nothing really noticeable. But any plant experts know what this is? It seems to have complexity grown inside the two plants and overgrown them.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 21:30
|
|
|
One of my tomato plants has all its leaves curled up like this, but I don't see any sign of pests or otherwise distress. I started it from seed and it's been like this this entire time. It's like 6+ft tall now, and has lots of tomatoes on it, but the leaves are still all curled up. Looking online, it looks like it's usually due to water or heat, but I don't think either of those are issues right now. Are there any other potential causes or should I just not worry about it? Also, after 3 years, my pineapple grown from a top finally fruited! I covered it with a net to keep the squirrels out. It's only around fist sized right now, but I'm unbelievably excited about this one. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 21:46
|
|
|
If it were me on the box elder, I'd cut it down to a stub 4" or so above the ground, kill any other sprouts or leaves it pops up, wait until fall when you're pruning, and pull it then.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 21:54
|
|
|
Box elder? I think you mean Manitoba Maple 
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2022 23:47
|
|
|
Joburg posted:I know! I check my tomatoes most days but apparently missed those monsters. They were so big that the ducks had trouble eating them. A couple years ago I learned if you go out at night with a blacklight flashlight they're really easy to spot.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2022 08:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 18:16 |
|
|
Oh sure NOW the cucumbers decide to come up. Whatever. I'm over your poo poo, plants.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2022 15:13
|
|
