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luloo123 posted:I don't think that they will directly harm the plants, but they probably help to spread the mold. Fungus gnats will harm your root systems.
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May 7, 2012 20:34
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Thanks to everyone who's been providing input on the gnat problem! It's becoming obvious the gnats are going to be a problem for us and the plants, so I'm going to try and redouble my efforts to get rid of them. Is it possible that I have so many and I've have trouble getting rid of them because they're coming in from outside? Or how do you get an infestation started?luloo123 posted:This is a silly question, but have you been wiping down the infected leaves with a cloth occasionally to wipe off some of the fungus? This may also help to control some of the gnats. It's definitely not a silly question! I have not been wiping the leaves down; I've just been removing the infected leaves, as the leaves with the black spots have crunchy black spots. 
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May 8, 2012 21:37
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Are you sure they are fungus gnats? They have a very short life cycle and will breed quickly. They thrive in wet soils, so a biological control is to establish very firm wet/dry cycles with your plants. Allow the plant to reach the point of incipient wilting before watering. This may only help some, and not fully eliminate the problem. For further biological controls, nematodes have been shown to be extremely effective for fungus gnats. The gnats are ubiquitous to your surroundings, so giving them a 'perfect home' will bring them in larger quantities. There really is no way to eliminate them completely short of soaking with pesticide drenches constantly, and even then you'll only establish a stronger, more resistant gnat which will then go on to torment the rest of the world. In short, ensure adequate air movement around the containers and plants and do not keep substrate constantly damp. You could be confusing them with white flies. Besides actually looking at the insect to tell the difference, you can tell by the way they move around the plant. Fungus gnats tend to 'hop' from leaf to leaf, not really flying very much at all. White flies will fly around and leave immediate area of the plant habit but will return shortly. White flies are considered more of a nuisance pest, whereas fungus gnats in large quantities can be very detrimental to plant health. The black crunchy spots are probably insect dung. Or are they leaving necrotic spots in leaf tissue? If that's the case, then they are neither fungus gnat or white fly.
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May 8, 2012 23:26
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BlackHattingMachine posted:Are you sure they are fungus gnats? I'm not sure if they're fungus gnats without a shadow of a doubt; this is my first garden of any sort, so I'm very inexperienced. I looked up pictures of fungus gnats to see if that's what I have, but I can't really tell--they just look like gnats to me. As far as how they move, I've mostly just seen them on the plants, but they seem to fly in small circles around the plants if disturbed. As far as the leaves are concerned, it definitely looks like necrotic spots in the tissue itself. On some leaves, it starts at the tip, and on others, the spots are truly spots. I can post a picture tomorrow, if that would be helpful in identifying the problem. Again, I'm very new at this game, and I really appreciate everyone's help! But, because I'm not very experienced, I'm not used to describing conditions, so please let me know if I need to clarify anything! It's not my goal to give terrible information! 
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May 9, 2012 02:21
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Niemat posted:It's not my goal to give terrible information! And you're not! There's a large variety of pests that can affect crops both indoors and outdoors. Knowing all of them and the management controls necessary to prevent crop damage is a full time science gig. Your necrotic spotting bugs me; it could be caused by the insects but it might be a wholly unrelated issue. Let's forget about it for the time being and focus on your flying pest problem. The best way to figure out what you've got is to capture one. This is the super easy part. You could go to a garden store and buy sticky traps. This is a sheet of paper covered in sticky stuff. Verrrrry scientific. Or, you could try just using some Scotch tape or duct tape, whatever tape you have handy. Place it next to your plants and, from the sound of it, wait two minutes til a dozen land on it. Aha! Now you've got them! See if you can find a magnifying glass of some kind, maybe someone's eye glasses or whatnot laying around, McGyver it up. Under some bright light, examine what you've trapped and compare it to pictures until you find your victim(s). Only then can you really begin to combat the situation.
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May 9, 2012 02:50
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Niemat posted:Again, I'm very new at this game, and I really appreciate everyone's help! But, because I'm not very experienced, I'm not used to describing conditions, so please let me know if I need to clarify anything! It's not my goal to give terrible information! Sooooo, I randomly woke up at 4am with the dreaded insomnia and my mind started to wander. Chances are, whatever you do, you are just staving off the inevitable. Get rid of the gnats, and there's the downy mildew to contend with. Get rid of the downy mildew, and there's still the gnats. I would advise against using harsh chemicals because, really, who wants to use that stuff in their home. I have a radical idea for you. Get ready to replace your plants! Here are the steps: 1) Find a few nice sized bottles (they don't have to be huge) and fill them with water. 2) Cut off a few robust branches from your plants. Wipe down the leaves and stem with a damp cloth to avoid any of the nasty stuff from your old plants spreading to the new plants. 3) Double check to make sure that they do not have any necrotic spots or downy mildew (discard any that do or you'll just be back to square one). 4) Put the bottom of the stem in the bottle of water. (You may need to tape them in place if they don't have enough leaves to keep them from sinking. Conversely, you may need to snip off some branches from the cutting if the bottom of the stem is not very deep in the water). 5) Wait. In a few days you will start to see wispy roots starting to pop out from the bottom of the stem. 6) Wait a few more days. Plant the mint in a new pot with new soil. OR if you are like me, just keep the new plant in the bottle of water indefinitely and you will have the starts of a brand new hydroponic garden. **note** If possible, start your cuttings in a different window than you have your other plants. Growing in water should keep the gnats in check because you are removing their soily home, but starting the cuttings in a different window may keep the other nasties at bay. I have done this with basil and tomato plants with amazing results (and the internet tells me that it works with mint too). The best part is that, if you choose a big enough bottle, you don't have to water them all that often! And, even though it seems to be against all reason, I have never had a problem with mildew on the leaves. The stem that's under water may grow some algae and the water may turn green. I just drain the water and put new in. It never seems to hurt the plant. If you want to do this, it's best to start soon. That way, if some of the cuttings don't work out, you can cut some more. Or, if you are happy with the results, you can start a brand new hydroponic mint forest. Sorry for the wall of text. luloo123 fucked around with this message at 10:34 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 10:28
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Okay, I'm not sure if this is a step forward, backward, or things we already knew, but I've firmly established that the gnats follow the mint plants. In my frustration, I moved the two mint plants to my other container garden area, and, a few days later, the other area is CRAWLING with gnats like nobody's business, while the other area has literally two gnats (both of which I killed). However, now I'm worried about the other half of my garden (my peppers!! ), so I moved the two mint plants outside onto the front step. BlackHattingMachine, I'm working on trying to catch a few of them! They're staying really close to the plant/soil/pot, unfortunately, so I'm not getting many takers on the tape.  I set out a new vinegar/soap concoction, though, so hopefully I can catch a few there. luloo123 posted:I have done this with basil and tomato plants with amazing results (and the internet tells me that it works with mint too). The best part is that, if you choose a big enough bottle, you don't have to water them all that often! And, even though it seems to be against all reason, I have never had a problem with mildew on the leaves. The stem that's under water may grow some algae and the water may turn green. I just drain the water and put new in. It never seems to hurt the plant. Okay, I cut off three of my strongest looking peppermint branches (gently caress the spearmint at this stage in the experiment) and placed them into a bottle of water to see if they get little roots. I don't drink a lot of bottled beverages, but I'm working on getting each of them their own bottle! Have you gotten good yields from your plants with this method? It sounds really neat, and I'm definitely looking ahead to in case all of my plants are infected...  I also took a picture of a few of the necrotic areas on some leaves:   These are just the tip necrotic spots; I couldn't find any good in the middle of the leaf necrotic spots. Also, traditionally the spots have been a little larger.
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May 12, 2012 22:17
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Niemat posted:Have you gotten good yields from your plants with this method? It sounds really neat, and I'm definitely looking ahead to in case all of my plants are infected... With both the tomatoes and the basil, I really began by accident. I have an Aerogarden which produces basil faster than I can eat it and the plants start to burn on the lamps. I cut off a huge chunk of the plant and put it in a glass of water for future consumption, and it started to grow roots. It ended up getting quite big and I had to "replant" it into a 1 quart plastic deli container. I cut 1x1 cm hole in the top of the container and worked the root ball through the hole (I ended up cutting a slit in the lid to help get the roots through). I had the plant for about a year before I ended up going away for 10 days. It was fine when I got back, but I forgot to water it before I left for another week and it ended up dying. In short, the basil did great and I am an idiot! The story with the tomatoes is similar, but I didn't have a very good yield because I just don't have enough natural light in my tiny apartment and not enough room to set up artificial light. If you want to get really fancy, you can hook up an aquarium bubbler to help stimulate root growth and even buy yourself some hydroponic plant food. Honestly, though, I never gave nutrients to my basil and it did just great. I did provide nutrients and a bubbler for my tomato plants and I think that's the only reason I actually ended up with ANY fruit. Please keep me updated. I spent about a year experimenting with hydroponic gardening, and I ended up with a pretty good system. I would have something going now, but I'm going away for much of the summer.
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May 12, 2012 22:47
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 We built an above ground 8x8 garden in the yard. Our soil is rooty and rocky (though I planted turnips behind the garden above, because they will grow deeper than the garden is). Basically I just laid newspaper over the grass and piled on about a yard and a half of dirt, to a six-inch depth. My husband did the boards and supported them with rebar and u-nails. The newspaper will turn into mulch. We live in Vancouver, and I had no luck last year due to it not being sunny until August--back then we lived in a townhome, so most stuff was in pots. I managed to grow some mustard greens and some herbs though last year. This year it is sunny and beautiful so far, and I am hoping for better luck, plus we have a little more space. I planted snowpeas first, because they can endure frost (and up til two weeks ago we were still getting cold at night), so they are the only things showing up in the garden. I do have some tomato plants I germinated in pots, which I'll transplant soon. I just finished planting the garden last weekend: leaf lettuce, bush beans, carrots, strawberries, bunch onions (perennials), cilantro, cinnamon basil, and dill. The sticks are used only for markers of where some stuff is. The copper stuff on the side of the garden you can see is used to repel slugs, which love lettuce, which is planted right there. Copper ions actually shock slugs...anyway, you can buy copper netting, but my mother-in-law bought me some of those copper scrub things, so I just unraveled them and nailed them on. I will also plant some pumpkins in another area of the yard in late May or June, somewhere where we'll have space to grow them. Someone mentioned thyme earlier. I have a plant that has lived through three winters (in a pot) and is doing wonderfully. I like going out to get a little when I make spaghetti  Anyway, other than always helping my parents with their gardens, I've never had my own until now. If the thread is still around, I will post updates. It's cool to see an urban garden thread.
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May 13, 2012 10:27
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I'd be a little careful with using random sticks, peas can pull pretty hard and they're a PITA to tease back up if they bring down their trellis. Also, using mildewy, mossy branches with poo poo still hanging off them, could potentially end up with some sort of soil fungus type issues. I'd peel the back off the random sticks first, that'll also keep them from spontaneously sprouting too, if they're fresh.. I've had an annoying surprise when a couple dozen filbert saplings I'd cut for stakes, all rooted and started trying to take over!  I love the idea of unrolling copper scrubby pads, though!
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May 14, 2012 18:09
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Thanks for letting me know about the sticks. I don't even think these were dwarf peas, so I'll need to get some tall trellises.
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May 15, 2012 03:22
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Niemat posted:
I had a fungus gnat infestation last year when I brought some plants home from the nursery. The best solution I found was strict watering control (as other's have mentioned) and using mosquito dunks to kill off the larvae. Mosquito dunks are basically floating donuts filled with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, a bacteria that kills larvae of fungus gnats (and other insects in the same family). Take a dunk, crush it into powder, add to a gallon of water and let sit overnight. Use this water the next time your plants need a watering and thoroughly soak the soil. You may have to repeat this a few cycles but it really works. The Bti only kills the larvae, so any alive parents keep laying eggs, hence the requirement for a few cycles. Ok, a few questions of my own! I recently moved to South Carolina and decided I had to take advantage of the sun. My plants (all container plants) now include:
Everything is growing great, but I'm a bit concerned about my jalepeno and green pepper plants. The jalepeno is growing like a weed but I'm worried it is going to outgrow it's pot. It's current planted in a pot about 8 inches wide by 12 inches deep. The plant is just about a foot tall now and growing fast. How soon should I move it to a larger pot? How big of a pot should I get? The green peppers share a big pot, maybe two 15 inches wide by 20 inches deep. With these guys I'm concerned four plants in the pot is too much. Thoughts? Edit: Photos!  Indoor window box of herbs. You can see the plastic divide between the chives and the oregano - it separates two different types of soil and helps keep the moisture levels compartmentalized.  Tomato plant. Bonny Select hybrid...little disappointed we didn't get an indeterminate plant, would have been nice to get tomatoes all season long  The green peppers in question. Poor guys, I think I'm going to either prune them off or get new pots.  Jalepeno plant (sorry for the bad picture)  Basil plant!  Anyone know what these light yellow splotches/tracks are? Bugs nibbling on the leaves? Nutrient deficiency? polyfractal fucked around with this message at 17:39 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 15:03
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GNATS!
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How big is your tomato plant pot? I have a couple tomato plants and jalapeno plants, but the tomatoes are starting to outgrow their pots, which look similar in size to yours. I'm thinking I'm going to move the tomatoes to a bigger pot, then the jalapenos into the old tomato pots. Is there anything I can start growing now from seedling size? Maybe some habaneros or similar? Also, when are you staking your tomato plants? e: my tomatoes are mortgage lifters if that makes any difference
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May 16, 2012 16:02
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TECHNICAL Thug posted:How big is your tomato plant pot? I have a couple tomato plants and jalapeno plants, but the tomatoes are starting to outgrow their pots, which look similar in size to yours. I'm thinking I'm going to move the tomatoes to a bigger pot, then the jalapenos into the old tomato pots. Is there anything I can start growing now from seedling size? Maybe some habaneros or similar? Also, when are you staking your tomato plants? The tomato plant is maybe 1.5 feet tall, and 1.5-2 feet wide at it's widest. I think we'll start staking it sometime this week. It's still holding itself upright pretty well, and since it's determinate I believe it will stay pretty compact and bushy. I believe your mortgage lifters are indeterminate tomato plants though, which means they will grow like vines and need more serious structural support. You'll probably want to sucker them as well. This is a good video about suckering (and winding tomatoes, but that's probably not easy to do without a greenhouse): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJgA4n-sCE8 I'm not a gardening expert in any capacity, but I do know my jalepeno plant is growing like a weed. You could probably start a hot pepper plant from seed and have it catch up with the others if you have some good sunlight. Think they take like a week to sprout, and shoot up like weeds after that.
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May 16, 2012 16:52
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incoming photobomb, note my hitchhiker thumb plant #1  plant #2   jalapeno plants (putting these into the 2 tomato plant pots once the tomatoes go to bigger pots)   Questions: Are my tomato plants supposed to look all droopy like that? Am I overwatering? underwatering? I usually water once a day or so unless it rains. Also, should I move them out from under the shade (the spot gets real good sun in the morning, pic was taken right around noon) out to where that sidewalk is in the second pic, where there is no shade at all, except right before the sun goes down? The jalapenos seem ok where they are to me. That porch is facing South, backyard is not an option, our 3 dogs will destroy all of the plants. If it matters, I'm planning on caging these bad boys, and already have purchased 2.
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May 16, 2012 19:03
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TECHNICAL Thug posted:Questions: Are my tomato plants supposed to look all droopy like that? Am I overwatering? underwatering? I usually water once a day or so unless it rains. Also, should I move them out from under the shade (the spot gets real good sun in the morning, pic was taken right around noon) out to where that sidewalk is in the second pic, where there is no shade at all, except right before the sun goes down? The jalapenos seem ok where they are to me. That porch is facing South, backyard is not an option, our 3 dogs will destroy all of the plants. If it matters, I'm planning on caging these bad boys, and already have purchased 2. Sweet plants, especially those peppers The tomatoes look a bit droopy to me. Are you checking soil dampness before watering? The top 1-2 inches of soil should be pretty dry before you water again. Tomatoes love lots of sun, so I'd definitely move them on to the walkway to get more sun. The plants look a bit leggy to me...are they leaning towards the sun? That's a sure sign they want more light. A happy plant will be roughly symmetrical all the way around. Also, are you fertilizing? Container plants need regular fertilizing, and tomatoes are nutrient monsters. I stuffed a few tomato fertilizer spikes (6-18-6 formulations) into my tomato and pepper pots. I like to supplement this with a really dilute 24-8-16 solution when I water. You have to be careful with the nitrogen in peppers (and tomatoes to a lesser degree). Too much nitrogen will give you beautiful plants that never yield fruit. Obligatory "I am not an expert tomato plant grower" disclaimer.
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May 16, 2012 19:26
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Thanks for the advice. I generally stick my finger down and it's usually bone dry up top, with some moisture by the time i get my second knuckle in, I'm probably overwatering. I bet though, that once they start living out in the full sun (I'm going to go ahead and move them) the heat difference will dry them out sooner. The tomato plant by the jalapeno plant leans really bad to one side, though I blame that on my poor potting skills. I haven't done any fertilizing, so that is probably another thing I'm doing wrong. I'm going to make a trip to home depot after work and get some larger pots and fertilizer. This is my first go-round growing anything, so I definitely appreciate your 'non-expert' advice, it's definitely helpful.
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May 16, 2012 19:36
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TECHNICAL Thug posted:Thanks for the advice. I generally stick my finger down and it's usually bone dry up top, with some moisture by the time i get my second knuckle in, I'm probably overwatering. I bet though, that once they start living out in the full sun (I'm going to go ahead and move them) the heat difference will dry them out sooner. The tomato plant by the jalapeno plant leans really bad to one side, though I blame that on my poor potting skills. I haven't done any fertilizing, so that is probably another thing I'm doing wrong. I'm going to make a trip to home depot after work and get some larger pots and fertilizer. This is my first go-round growing anything, so I definitely appreciate your 'non-expert' advice, it's definitely helpful. Goodluck! I'm sure they'll perk right up once you move them into the sun and give them a little fertilizer. And you're definitely right about the sun drying out the soil faster...it makes it a lot more difficult to overwater them which is always nice. As to fertilizing, spikes are easy and maintenance free. If you don't feel like spikes, soluble fertilizer work great if you dilute them. The directions on most soluble fertilizers say add every two weeks at some large dosage. You can do that, but it puts the plant through a "feast or famine" cycle each time. Plants would prefer a 1/4 or 1/8 dilution on a regular basis instead of full dosage every two weeks. It also sates my neurotic desire to fuss over my plants
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May 16, 2012 20:39
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Got home from a week-long business trip and found these on my babies   First blossom on my tomato plant  Baby jalapeno blossom  Baby green pepper blossomes!
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May 23, 2012 17:24
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stake/cage the gently caress out of your tomatoes folks I underestimated the height my (potted) tomato plants would grow by about 3 feet. and now like one has given way under its own weight, tottled over, and creased halfway up the stalk - it seems to be recovering and growing in it's new strange hunchback position, but still. tomato plants get huge as gently caress. plan for it.
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May 24, 2012 07:19
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I picked up some 5' fence posts (the steel green ones) for about $2.25 each, and strung some rope between them to act as a trellis for my tomatoes. Then I used some sisal or other natural-ish twine to tie the stem to the horizontal line (use a figure eight, with the twine looped under a leaf stalk - be careful of the flowering bits) I kinda wish I went with either 6' or 8' posts, since all my tomatoes are indeterminate and I'm pretty good about removing suckers.. If they get as high as my posts are, I can either bolt on some sort of extension, or hopefully run the stems along the highest horizontal line. We'll see how much of a jungle my garden can grow this year! In the past I've just used the weak round plastic/aluminum poles, one per plant, but in the end my plants were all well over 6' high and the posts required all sorts of support lines, hopefully this will be a better system. No determinate tomatoes this year, but in the past I've needed at least the 4' or so heavy duty cages for those.
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May 29, 2012 15:30
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For trellises, we also made our own for snow peas (for tomatoes I already had a bunch of round cages from last year). I bought some 6-foot bamboo poles, which were very cheap, about six bucks for five of them. I laid the poles on the ground and fastened chicken wire to them. I have to thin out the peas this weekend. I'm hoping to give some to a friend for transplanting. Jenny of Oldstones fucked around with this message at 22:04 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 22:01
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Next year, I'm going to make two parallel trellises for my snow peas, I think it'll help them grow up and spread more evenly, and be easier to pick. Contributions: The radishes are coming up nicely, they'll be ready to harvest within a couple days.   Peas are doing great, I pulled a dozen or so off a couple days ago and scarfed them. The bed in the other picture has peas started directly from seed, a week or two after these guys who were starts... I expect to be rolling in peas this summer!  Money shot:  Pretty sure that I jumped the gun on my pepper plants, it refuses to stay over mid-40s temps at night, and my poor peppers are not happy with me, no matter what I've tried. Next year I'll have some hoop houses over the beds, but this year may be a wash for my two bell peppers.  Some rear end in a top hat's been loving with my roses, though:  The leaves look pretty blighted with something, I don't know too much about roses but I thought that it might be due to lack of airflow, so I thinned this rose out a good deal, shortly after this pic:  edit: oh poo poo, I posted in the wrong thread, oops! coyo7e fucked around with this message at 17:45 on May 30, 2012 |
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May 30, 2012 17:38
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I've got some questions about starting a small indoor hydroponics herb garden. A bit of googling led me to AeroGarden, which is more or less what I had in mind (although I can imagine constructing a similar setup for a fraction of the price). But what about stuff like power consumption and natural light cycles interfering with the artificial ones? Not sure if this is the right thread, or if I should head to TCC and ask the weed growers.
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Jun 4, 2012 14:54
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midnightclimax posted:I've got some questions about starting a small indoor hydroponics herb garden. A bit of googling led me to AeroGarden, which is more or less what I had in mind (although I can imagine constructing a similar setup for a fraction of the price). I actually made my own hillbilly Aerogarden" last year and it worked out pretty well. It would have been much better if I had more natural light in my apartment or if I had space to rig up artificial lights. You will need: A sponge that is not very dense Seeds Toothpicks An aquarium bubbler Flomato (or similar nutrient for hydroponic plants) A small plastic container A one gallon paint bucket with a lid One or Two lids from soda bottles Waterproof silicone caulk Dowel Rods Knife I started my seeds in a small plastic container (I think it was a small butter container) filled water that I dissolved a little Flomato in. I used a non-dense approximately 1x1x2" sponge suspended via toothpicks over the plastic container as the growing medium. I cut a slit in the top of the sponge and planted my seeds making sure that the bottom 1/2" of the sponge was underwater and that the seeds were planted above the water line (don't know why, I think I was afraid that they were going to drown). I hooked up an aquarium bubbler to keep the water moving and to stimulate root growth. When the plants were about 3" tall and the roots were getting pretty long, I moved them into their new home which were one gallon plastic paint buckets from Lowes (one plant per bucket). To prepare the paint buckets, I cut a square in the center of the lid of the bucket. The square should be slightly smaller than the sponge so that it will stay in place without too much fuss. I also cut a hatch in the lid so that I could fill the bucket with minimal trouble. I also drilled a hole in the lid for my aquarium bubbler so that the water keeps moving. After running into trouble with a lack of a support system, I came up with an idea to build dowel rods into the bucket. First I drilled a dowel rod sized hole in the lid of a soda bottle and glued it to the bottom of the inside of the bucket with waterproof silicone caulk. I then drilled a corresponding hole in the top of the bucket and shoved my dowel rod down through so that the bottom of the dowel was nestled in the hole in the soda lid. This worked amazingly well to keep the dowel rod from wiggling and gave extra support to my tomato plants. I actually wish I had rigged up two dowel rods to give the plants extra support. Once the initial set up was done, it really didn't take much work to keep it going. The buckets didn't have to be filled very often with nutrient water and they just kind of did their thing while I tried to avoid fussing over them. I think I have pictures somewhere if you are interested. Now, I do have two actual Aerogardens, and have never had much trouble with natural/artificial light cycles. Even in the summer, the light is only really off for about 7 hours which is less time than there is full darkness here in Ohio. Plus the light is closer and more intense than what the plants would get indoors from natural light, so it isn't that big of a deal. I think this is more of a problem when you are growing pot or growing industrially. Power consumption was very low since aquarium bubblers and fluorescent lights don't take much power. Even with both of my Aerogardens running, my electric bill only went up by a few cents. Again, if you have a whole room of plants, this will be more of a concern.
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Jun 4, 2012 18:31
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luloo123 posted:I actually made my own hillbilly Aerogarden" last year and it worked out pretty well. It would have been much better if I had more natural light in my apartment or if I had space to rig up artificial lights. Thanks for all the info! Good to know power consumption isnt' that big of a deal. There's not much light in my kitchen anyway, so I guess I can skip building some sort of cabinet. Some pictures of your hillbilly Aerogarden would be cool though.
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Jun 4, 2012 20:13
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I think my jalapeños are actually banana peppers. Thanks farmers market lady. Or maybe not I don't know. PuTTY riot fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Jun 8, 2012 05:17
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TECHNICAL Thug posted:I think my jalapeños are actually banana peppers. Thanks farmers market lady. this happened to me too, I literally don't know what the gently caress. bought some seeds and plants labelled jalapeno/serrano, and 1/2 my plants look like this, firmly banana pepper territory. no idea.
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Jun 20, 2012 09:27
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I'm having some trouble with my indoor herb planter, and I was wondering if any goons could help troubleshoot. I have an 8" planter full of chives, basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano that I purchased from a farmer's market three weeks ago. It's already dying. I trimmed the basil back last weekend because growth had tapered off, but it was originally flourishing with rich green leaves, and I picked the flowers off regularly. Now,there are gigantic holes in the leaves and the stems are brown at the top. You can see in the background the mostly dead thyme plant.  The oregano's leaves are browning at the tips.  The once-lush chive and parsley plants are now yellow and shriveled. I have read that brown means not enough water, yellow means too much, holes could mean cutworms or any number of things. I keep the soil damp, plant in not very heavy sunlight, away from the A/C, and I have four Miracle-Gro plant food sticks in the soil. Does anyone have any suggestions? Edit: Can't spell.
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Jul 10, 2012 14:45
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Tig Ol Bitties posted:I'm having some trouble with my indoor herb planter, and I was wondering if any goons could help troubleshoot. I have an 8" planter full of chives, basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano that I purchased from a farmer's market three weeks ago. It's already dying. I think you might be overwatering. Plants in nature rarely have their feet wet all the time. Try to let them dry out before watering and, if possible, water from the bottom by placing them in a sink with a few inches of water for an hour. This is supposed to help build stronger roots. The plant food sticks might be stressing them, as well. How many did the box recommend to put into a planter of your size?
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Jul 10, 2012 15:31
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luloo123 posted:I think you might be overwatering. Plants in nature rarely have their feet wet all the time. Try to let them dry out before watering and, if possible, water from the bottom by placing them in a sink with a few inches of water for an hour. This is supposed to help build stronger roots. I will let it dry out more, and try putting it in the sink. It has huge roots that are popping out of the soil in places. The box recommended four for an 8" diameter planter. Do you think I should remove one or two? The plants were dying before placing them, but they didn't seem to help.
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Jul 10, 2012 15:47
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Tig Ol Bitties posted:I will let it dry out more, and try putting it in the sink. It has huge roots that are popping out of the soil in places. Oooh, if you have roots showing, you probably need a bigger planter. I have never used the plant food sticks, but from what you said, they probably aren't the culprit.
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Jul 10, 2012 18:39
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luloo123 posted:Oooh, if you have roots showing, you probably need a bigger planter. I have never used the plant food sticks, but from what you said, they probably aren't the culprit. I will definitely pick up a bigger planter. I'm really new to gardening, so do you have any size or soil suggestions? Thank you for your help, by the way.
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Jul 10, 2012 19:58
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Tig Ol Bitties posted:I will definitely pick up a bigger planter. I'm really new to gardening, so do you have any size or soil suggestions? Thank you for your help, by the way. I get a lot of my information from the radio show/podcast "You Bet Your Garden" and Gardening Answers A-Z on its website. This week's episode's question of the week was about herb gardening. I haven't heard it yet, but it might give you some great information. Here's the website: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/ I suggest that you get some nice yard waste compost to fill your pots. It is a great way to get nutrient rich soil without using chemicals.
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Jul 10, 2012 23:35
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My poor cilantro.  It sprouted fine and grew fast, now a bunch of it is laying down like that. Do I need to tie it together and stake it? Are there too many seedlings and I should pluck out the ones that are lying down?
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Jul 16, 2012 10:10
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Those are VERY leggy - they could use a lot more light. You'll also want to thin them out, yes, but that will only affect them once they get bigger (thin them out now, though). I wouldn't want more than a couple seedlings in a pot that size.
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Jul 16, 2012 14:25
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I'll try the other window but that's probably all the light they're going to get. I don't have any outdoor options.
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Jul 16, 2012 14:34
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Grand Fromage posted:I'll try the other window but that's probably all the light they're going to get. I don't have any outdoor options.
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Jul 16, 2012 17:40
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Light's not an option. I think the other window might get some more sun, and these decided to sprout during monsoon season so there hasn't been much direct sunlight at all during their little lives. I'll pluck out the ones that are lying down and see what happens.
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Jul 17, 2012 05:02
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Grand Fromage posted:Light's not an option. Why?
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Jul 17, 2012 05:15
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