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Sounds like your female flowers might not be getting pollinated. If not pollinated, the would-be fruit simply rots and falls off
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Aug 3, 2011 06:18
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Help! My lemon tree is infested with these white fluffy thingies: The ants love it and it seems like I won't be having any lemons this year. From what I've gathered on the web, it might be something similar to Ceratavacuna lanigera (it's "mosca branca lanigera" in Portuguese, but I can't find the english translation for this) and it can be treated with Savona. Can anyone here confirm this?
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Aug 3, 2011 11:44
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Looks like whiteflies maybe First step is controlling the Argentine ants. They feed on sugar from aphids and whiteflies and the like. You can mix borax with sugar to make a syrup then place this mixture somewhere they'll find. They'll feed the sugar to the colony and hopefully they'll die. You can buy the sugar boarx solution premixed under the brand name Terro Once the ants are dead and unable to defend their food source, it is much more likely natural predators will come in and kill the pests. You can also spray with a soap oil solution that should kill them but is only a temporary fix
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Aug 3, 2011 21:14
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dwoloz posted:Looks like whiteflies maybe Terro ant baits are AMAZING. I used them inside recently and they do the trick, really, really well.
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Aug 3, 2011 21:32
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Appachai posted:Caterpillars ate 2 of my huge basil plants in a week. I bought some of this I've gotta say the contempt you gardeners seem to have for nature is really surprising, I can't believe all the slug, snail and caterpillar murdering going on here! There's more than one way to skin a caterpillar; instead of spraying horrible chemicals on baby butterflies, why not become a PRO gardener and try your hand at some companion planting! Granted, you have to plant flowers which is an outrage! But think how  you can be with flowers around your crops, making it all look beautiful, friendly for wildlife and not damaging your own crops.For the caterpillar problem, if you have the space, I'd recommend Nasturtium flowers as they really attract caterpillars. Also they'll help attract ladybirds which will eat the main threat to your Basil; aphids. I can't believe you'd spray insect killer onto something you're gonna be eating, it seems so pointless growing your own anything if you're just gonna put chemicals on anyway. Errrrryone needs to start companion planting or drip feeding, that way the sluggos can't get to your precious gooncrops.
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Aug 4, 2011 15:36
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Personally I handled my slug problem by going to a local pond, snagging a few tadpoles, raising them to toads and then letting them go in my backyard. Had the added bonus of being a really cool science lesson for my kids. So how's that for   In all seriousness though, if you want to get rid of caterpillars and companion planting isn't possible/doesn't work, you're much better off using diatomaceous earth than whatever pesticides Joe Schmo at the hardware store recommends.
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Aug 4, 2011 16:21
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larry mullet posted:I've gotta say the contempt you gardeners seem to have for nature is really surprising, I can't believe all the slug, snail and caterpillar murdering going on here! the next night I saw one on my mint plant but it seems they don't like mint as much as basil. I also read somewhere that adding bacillus Bacillus Thuringiensis to my soil may kill them off. Has anyone ever used that?
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Aug 4, 2011 16:26
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Marchegiana posted:Personally I handled my slug problem by going to a local pond, snagging a few tadpoles, raising them to toads and then letting them go in my backyard. Had the added bonus of being a really cool science lesson for my kids. So how's that for Pfft. We have toads in my garden, I see them by the water-butt. You know where the phrase "lazy toad" comes from? Cos I do. They're poo poo at controlling my slug problem 
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Aug 4, 2011 18:12
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I caught the evil son-of-a-bitch eating my container gardens' bounty! A chipmunk. Actually I did not catch him being not as fleet-o'-foot but saw the hole he ran to after he made his escape down my porch stairs. "Time to die!" I whispered to myself as I grabbed a gallon sized bottle of Super-Duper-Orange-California-Lye-Based-Clean-All bought at a Dollar Store a couple of years prior to moving here... No. The woman would not let me use up our precious cleaning solution. She handed me a bottle of generic FeBreeze which I doubt will impact the chipmunk except for her reading off the label of possible asthma dangers. I poured it down his hole anyway. At least next time I will know he's been on the porch by the smell...
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Aug 5, 2011 22:44
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Enigmatic Troll posted:I caught the evil son-of-a-bitch eating my container gardens' bounty! A chipmunk. Actually I did not catch him being not as fleet-o'-foot but saw the hole he ran to after he made his escape down my porch stairs. Wait...you are trying to kill of a chipmunk in your backyard by drowning it in cleaning fluid? Are there no sort of animal cruelty laws where you live?
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Aug 6, 2011 13:08
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Senor Tron posted:Wait...you are trying to kill of a chipmunk in your backyard by drowning it in cleaning fluid? Uh... seconding this, what the gently caress. Why don't you just use some capsaicin repellent?? 
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Aug 6, 2011 15:19
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There's also liquid fence and blood meal as well. Hell, you could just get a dog to help you with your chipmunk problem. Or possibly get some chicken wire to keep it away from the plants.
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Aug 6, 2011 20:58
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I just sprinkle my beds and pots with cayenne pepper and reapply every week or so. Keeps the squirrels out, as well as my nosy dog and the cats who like to nap in the warm mulch on the beds at night, and no one has to die a slow, tortuous death of chemical poisoning. As a Dallas resident, I would just like to say "gently caress you very much, Mother Nature" for this unceasing heat. Out of 32 fall tomato transplants put out the 2nd week in July, I've lost 7 of them, and three more are looking less and less likely to make it. And that's *with* a sun shade erected over the entire bed (I'm broke so I just sewed two white bedsheets together as the shade cloth). *sigh* Luckily I overplanted, I'd only originally planted on putting out 25, but jfc, I hope this heat breaks soon. The peppers are surprisingly doing all right considering, I haven't even needed to rig a shade cloth over that bed. All my containers are doing amazingly well for the heat, since I moved them all of them to mostly shade with dappled sun peeking through all day, and only about an hour of full sun. Everything else is dead and was pulled a month ago due to a squash bug infestation that got away from me. No homemade pumpkins for Halloween for me.  Today was the 36th day in a row of 100+ degree weather. We break the all-time record for consecutive days over 100 in less than a week (42 is the old record). I really do like it hot and all, (I prefer it between 85-90) but even for me, this has long since passed ridiculous. All the cold-season vegetable seeds I ordered two weeks ago sit on my desk taunting me daily. =(
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Aug 7, 2011 03:14
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Yeah, I've got shade up and am watering my tomatoes twice a day right now thanks to this stupid heat. Miserable.
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Aug 7, 2011 04:19
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I need garden-starting advice. I live in Oakland, CA (zone 9). This is a pic of my space, cleared of its mat of weeds over the past couple weeks.  The yard's about 10 feet wide and about 20 feet long where the sun shines (there's a narrow alley with an orange tree behind to the right). That fence on the right is in the south, so most of the yard gets several hours of direct sun per day. I want to put down a raised bed and otherwise use containers against the walls and/or hanging off the fence. The rectangle on the ground in that pic is 4x6, though I might go 4x8 and still have room for a couple chairs and a table in the sun. Having thought that far, I run into my total lack of experience and knowledge. At some point, I'd like tomatoes and peppers and some kind of leafy greens. I'd also like to plant some white sage, and some pretty flowers and such. So, questions: - If I want to use a raised bed and containers, should I still test my yard dirt for pH? - How high do you build a raised bed box? many internets say 6", but this thread seems to like 12? Cedar? - What can I plant in August? bisonbison fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Aug 7, 2011 |
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Aug 7, 2011 15:27
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Need some advice on my oregano. Is it normal for oregano to drop leaves and turn woody, especially near the base? It seems that my plant sends out long runners and then starts to die from the base outward, dropping leaves and turning woody. There are tiny new runners growing, but I'm afraid I'm slowly killing my plant and don't know why 
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Aug 7, 2011 15:51
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bisonbison posted:I live in Oakland, CA (zone 9). This is a pic of my space, cleared of its mat of weeds over the past couple weeks. -You don't really need to test your yard dirt for pH, because you're going to be filling your raised beds with compost or imported topsoil, right? So none of your stuff will be growing in the dirt. -completely up to you, your budget and what you want to plant. Some people make raised beds a metre high so they don't have to stoop to tend them (or if they're in a wheelchair). 6 inch seems very small to me, hardly worth building a bed for. If you go for 12 inch, you'll have happier root vegetables as they'll have lots of lovely loose soil to expand into. -quick crop salads like radishes and perpetual spinach. Winter root vegetables; parsnips, carrots, swede. I wouldn't plant anything that needs to flower to give you produce because you might not have time within the season, but I'm not from Oakland so I don't know what your climate is like year round. That plant on the right is a banana tree, right? Does it give you bananas?
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Aug 7, 2011 16:49
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bisonbison posted:I need garden-starting advice. I wouldn't bother getting a test but it wouldn't hurt either. You should definitely be aware of any lead in the soil which is unfortunately common. Alameda County has a free test kit You can pick up compost for free the last Saturday of the month at Berkeley Marina (turn right at fork). Get there early, it goes fast 10-12" height I think. Masonry is much more durable in the long run, wood will rot in a couple seasons if touching soil. You can often get bricks for free on Craigslist. If you really want wood though go with redwood instead of cedar and consider lining the inside with plastic sheeting (but leave the bottom open). You can use treated posts and 1x redwood fencing to save some money Too late for any summer crops but its the perfect time to start seeds for fall. Tons of options. Check out this planting guide for general recommendations http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/programs/communitygardening_planting_guide.asp There are micro-climates all over the Bay so take recommendations with a grain of salt, just try things and see what works for you I just seeded beets, kale, bok choy, kohlrabi, dill, cilantro, parsley, spinach, chard and broccoli
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Aug 7, 2011 17:59
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madlilnerd posted:That plant on the right is a banana tree, right? Does it give you bananas? A friend told me it's a Bird Of Paradise plant. I don't know - it hasn't bloomed since I've lived here. dwoloz posted:Too late for any summer crops but its the perfect time to start seeds for fall. Tons of options. Check out this planting guide for general recommendations http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/programs/communitygardening_planting_guide.asp Thanks. Went and got redwood yesterday, built, sited and leveled the box, and now I just need to get some stakes to help support the long sides. edit:  More questions: - For a lining, which I think I'll do, I'd like to just staple it, but do I need to get a staple gun or will an ordinary desk-type stapler work well enough? - With starting seeds, is that like starting a tray of cups with seeds in them? Is there a good beginner's guide to that somewhere? bisonbison fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Aug 8, 2011 |
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Aug 8, 2011 14:44
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bisonbison posted:A friend told me it's a Bird Of Paradise plant. I don't know - it hasn't bloomed since I've lived here. Get a staple gun, they're cheap. A regular stapler isn't going to hold anything as the staples are going to pull right through the material the second any pressure is put on it.
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Aug 8, 2011 17:09
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I went outside today to look at my plants, and all my tomatoes have a split running along their skin!  They seem healthy otherwise, so what the gently caress? Why can't I have normal healthy plants? Between this, my curvy, U-shaped cucumbers, and my other plants that aren't blooming at all, my garden is very... odd.
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Aug 8, 2011 17:32
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neogeo0823 posted:I went outside today to look at my plants, and all my tomatoes have a split running along their skin! From what I've read, splitting is caused by a period of drought followed by a period of heavy watering. They swell up and split and you end up with emo looking tomatoes. Still perfectly edible.
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Aug 8, 2011 18:53
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Well that's good. This is my first year actually actively trying to grow stuff, and each day something funky pops out of the ground and grows like it's not supposed to, and I keep worrying I'm killing off some $40 worth of plant seeds. However this, combined with my squash having blossom end rot is really teaching me that I need to be more consistent with my watering. When will I learn to water properly? 
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Aug 8, 2011 21:25
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The thing to remember is that we all have a distorted view of produce. The stuff you see in shops, hell, even on some farmers markets, is carefully selected and bred to look as perfect as possible. Tomatoes and peppers are mostly grown hydroponically these days, which gives perfect results because of carefully managed nutrients and water uptake. The great thing about growing your own produce is that you can pick cultivars that taste great but might not transport as well as those chosen by shops- they bruise easily or don't grow uniformly. They also turn out strange shapes- like your cucumbers. There's nothing wrong with curvy cucumbers, supermarkets just don't want to buy them because they're harder to wrap in plastic and pack neatly in boxes.
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Aug 8, 2011 22:06
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This year has been the worst year for my garden, I swear. Now that the deer have killed half my plants, the others have been choked by weeds because I didn't get weed fabric down (and it's hard to motivate yourself to weed in the heat when pregnant), I've been watching my remaining flourishing plants. My husband has been particularly watching the progress of his watermelons, since it's the one plant in the garden that's really "his." So we check on his biggest one, probably about 4-5 inches wide at the time, only to find a small rodent has happily nibbled a couple large holes in the bottom. They haven't touched the cukes, the zucchini or the summer squash, just the watermelon. So, any ideas on how to prevent the critters from eating all our viable watermelons? (I'm compiling a list of things to correct for next year and it keeps getting longer. Fertilize, don't use grass clipping for compost, lay weed cloth down right after I get my rows put in, put up wire fencing and deer netting right away, and above all, don't be pregnant during the summer.)
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Aug 8, 2011 23:40
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bisonbison posted:More questions: Make sure also you wrap your lining under the wood to protect it from ground contact. Staple gun is the way to go. If you don't want to buy one check out the Oakland Tool Lending Library, they're awesome
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Aug 9, 2011 03:10
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I managed to get a few tomatoes out through the heat, and I saved the seeds from them. I pre-sprouted them in some wet paper towels and just now I put them in some MiracleGro potting soil in those little styrofoam egg cups that eggs come in and set them on a west facing windowsill; I watered them a little from above but set the cups in a dish of water, with holes in the styrofoam. Will they grow? I think this is what children do in kindergarten but every time I try to garden something bad happens. Plants grew in lovely soil and before the invention of grow lights, right? What are some seed growing tips and websites?
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Aug 11, 2011 04:00
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I hope this is the right thread to post this! I'm trying to grow a chilli plant and it doesn't seem to be doing very well. I got it from seeds months ago and after starting slowly I gave it some liquid feed which made it shoot up an inch rapidly and since then it's kind of stagnated. I make sure the soil is always moist but the leaves look pretty sickly with yellow and greyish splotches on and it has hardly grown since. Does it need re-potting, more fertiliser? I'm apparently terrible.
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Aug 11, 2011 18:15
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concerned mom posted:I hope this is the right thread to post this! I'm trying to grow a chilli plant and it doesn't seem to be doing very well. I got it from seeds months ago and after starting slowly I gave it some liquid feed which made it shoot up an inch rapidly and since then it's kind of stagnated. I make sure the soil is always moist but the leaves look pretty sickly with yellow and greyish splotches on and it has hardly grown since. Does it need re-potting, more fertiliser? I'm apparently terrible. Definitely looks like the pot is too small. Also, I feed mine between 2 and 4 times a month. Before I started doing that, the leaves were all droopy and yellow. You don't want most common chili pepper plants in soil that is too moist. My plan is to water only when the soil completely dries out to about 2 knuckles deep.
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Aug 11, 2011 18:45
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Yeah, get that thing into a larger pot, give it plenty of calcium carbonate-heavy fertilizer(I like to use an organic one based off of fish, but if you're bothered by the smell you might do something like get some Jobe's tomato spikes and load up the pot), and plenty of potting soil to expand those roots into. I have had the best results with the Miracle-Gro Organic Choice potting soil, personally, with nice big gallon-size pots. I personally wouldn't worry about overwatering it so long as it has good drainage available, all my pots have been soaking wet for most all of the summer from all the rain down here and they've gone nuts with the growth and fruiting. The key point is really to just not have standing water in the pot, that can and will cause things like root rot. Also if you're at a latitude further south than about mid-Georgia, keep it in some shade most of the day. Mine all bleach their leaves yellow after a day in the full Florida sun.
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Aug 11, 2011 23:44
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concerned mom posted:I hope this is the right thread to post this! I'm trying to grow a chilli plant and it doesn't seem to be doing very well. I got it from seeds months ago and after starting slowly I gave it some liquid feed which made it shoot up an inch rapidly and since then it's kind of stagnated. I make sure the soil is always moist but the leaves look pretty sickly with yellow and greyish splotches on and it has hardly grown since. Does it need re-potting, more fertiliser? I'm apparently terrible. That's what happened to mine after I put them in the sun. I picked off the bad leaves and they stagnated for a long while. However now they're growing again and flowering. Does anyone know how to pollinate chillies? When do I do it, and how? I just have a few small white flowers about a centimetre across.
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Aug 13, 2011 13:33
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Usually bugs would pollinate them, but you can use your finger or a q-tip. Simply rub up on the stamen to get some pollen on your finger, then brush the long, thin tube-looking thing (that's the stigma of the pistil, the lady part of the plant) and voila, you've just sexed a plant. Go have yourself a victory smoke. The flower will fall off and a pepper will begin to grow shortly thereafter.
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Aug 13, 2011 20:38
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Actually peppers and tomatoes (in fact most plants in Solanaceae) are wind pollinated, so giving the plants a good shake is generally enough to pollinate them.
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Aug 13, 2011 21:08
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I found a more on-topic thread for this.
theacox fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Aug 15, 2011 |
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Aug 14, 2011 03:31
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Garlic! I have no idea what I'm going to do with this much garlic. I might have to start eating it raw.
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Aug 14, 2011 20:10
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Faldoncow posted:Garlic! I'm going to take a wild stab at it and say lots of "Chicken with 40 cloves" nights and a shitload of latin-style roast pork as well. You can also cross the
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Aug 14, 2011 21:53
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Does anybody know any good ways to pickle radishes? I have a bunch of extras and don't want to have to eat them really fast like milk about to expire.
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Aug 15, 2011 00:51
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It's burgin' time! 
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Pickling can either be done the old fashioned lacto-fermented way or the cheating vinegar way. To ferment, place the veggies, spices, etc in a crock or other container. Adding an oak or grape leaf will keep the veggies crunchy (tannin). Add approximately 2tsp salt per pint jar and mix well. The key to success is keeping all the veggies fully submerged in water; they will rot if exposed to air. Use a clean weight like a plate to keep everything submerged. In about 4-6 days they should ready (timing can be adjusted to your taste)
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Aug 15, 2011 01:55
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I'm interested in starting a small garden. I have a lot of space that just gets used for nothing. The weather is good year round so that's a plus. Biggest problem(which well, is frankly a cool problem to have in southern California) is my area has rabbits EVERYWHERE. I don't want to construct some chicken wire monstrosity or leave anything that's going to kill them. So basically I would like some tips on keeping rabbits from eating everything.
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Aug 15, 2011 09:02
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Spring is only two weeks away in Sydney and I think I'm going to start the vege patch up again after neglecting it over Winter. I had a whole bunch of stuff in there including tomatoes and peppers and basil and onions but I went away for 6 weeks and got my family to tend to it whilst I was gone. They did a good job of eating the tomatoes but unfortunately pretty much let it and everything else grow wild as hell and only really watered it. My basil was the size of a mountain and I think the tomatoes had way too many suckers. So now I want to plan it a bit better. What can I plant that is quite easy to just let go crazy and doesn't require clipping/watching/pruning. Im going away again a couple of times over summer (shorter than 6 weeks though) and so really the only thing I could tell someone to do is water it every day/second day. Im thinking stuff that lives underground? Ive got about a 3-4 metre square raised bed. Sydney weather so quite warm in Spring and hot in Summer.
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Aug 15, 2011 10:26
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