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I decided to get into gardening this year. I've read a lot of resources online and checked through the latter part of this thread, and I was hoping to get feedback on my first attempts. I'm growing tomatoes and basil from seed in small pots while I figure out where to permanently locate them. I keep the pots on a ledge outside my house that gets some sun during part of the day, and I'm puzzled by the differences in the basil plants despite being exposed to roughly the same conditions. Some of the leaves are very wrinkled or seem drier than I'd expect, while others have leaves that seem well-shaped and flat. Some have started to yellow or spot. Some of the things I've read say that I might be overwatering, and some say that I might not be watering enough... Any thoughts? They are potted in a seed starting mix.    
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May 21, 2014 19:04
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 16:57 |
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Is that mold growing on the soil, or residue from the plug? If it is in fact mold you're definitely watering too much. I see what you mean with the discoloration, but I see nothing that looks detrimental. Just some standard growing pains. If they get any more yellow then share some new pictures and we can check it out. How often are you watering them?
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May 21, 2014 20:01
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jvick posted:Is that mold growing on the soil, or residue from the plug? If it is in fact mold you're definitely watering too much. I started the seeds in one of the Jiffy greenhouses that comes with peat pellets. The white stuff in the pictures is some of the netting that was around the original pellet. I didn't see anything in the instructions about removing it so I left it in place - otherwise I thought the pellet would come apart. I'm watering somewhere between every day and every other day, depending on how dry the soil appears. The weather has been weird here, from up to 100 to the 80s. Are the leaves supposed to be wrinkled or nice and flat, like in one of the pictures above?
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May 21, 2014 21:09
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Breaky posted:
So did anyone know what these guys were?
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May 21, 2014 21:22
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A new pest approaches! 
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mentalcontempt posted:Are the leaves supposed to be wrinkled or nice and flat, like in one of the pictures above? Sweet basil leaves typically are not flat, but convex, like yours.
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May 21, 2014 21:23
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They appear to be Leafminer Eggs You're gonna want to deal with them asap.
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May 21, 2014 21:25
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Fart Car '97 posted:They appear to be Leafminer Eggs Thanks. Googling on it now but any suggestions for killing them? I just took a look and almost every leaf of every spinach plant has them on it and have some kind of small amount of damage.
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May 21, 2014 21:28
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mentalcontempt posted:I'm watering somewhere between every day and every other day, depending on how dry the soil appears. The weather has been weird here, from up to 100 to the 80s. As they grow more leaves, they'll get the surface to evaporate more water through, but currently you're probably drowning them. Wrinkling like in all but your last picture is pretty normal. And even that doesn't seem very problematic; it's just a symptom of stress; maybe the overwatering. The difference between the different pots may be due to how dense the soil in them is. Some might not allow water to seep through to the bottom as well/quickly as others.
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May 21, 2014 21:42
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Flipperwaldt posted:You might think about watering a bit less then. Like a shotglass in each pot every week. Check daily and increase from there if you see the plants actually wilting, like with the leaves hanging almost straight down. Ok, thanks, I'll cut back on the water. I've been so worried about keeping them hydrated that I might be doing more harm than good. I feel a little better about their health after reading the comments here. How would I know if they're getting the right amount of sun?
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May 21, 2014 23:02
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Plants that don't get enough sun will either be stunted and dwarfy, or they'll get really tall and spindly to the point that they cannot support their own weight. The latter is generally what happens when you leave them in total darkness for a few days, though.Grand Fromage posted:I have but can't find anything about it, nobody here I can find has ever heard of the concept and poking around online revealed nothing. It may be possible but not anywhere I can find. I'm stuck with sprays for now. It does seem to be killing them, fortunately.
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May 22, 2014 00:04
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/\/\ He lives in Korea, IIRC. Probably a bunch of shipping issues.
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May 22, 2014 01:07
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AlistairCookie posted:/\/\ Yeah, I'm sure he'd have to find them in country. Shipping live anything international is usually a poo poo show (and for good reason).
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May 22, 2014 01:29
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coyo7e posted:I'm not sure what the hangup is, are you having trouble findind someone who'll ship to you, or having trouble finding somewhere that sells and ships them? The majority of gardening and seed catalogs should offer them. I even found them on amazon just now. http://www.amazon.com/Orcon-LB-C1500-Ladybugs-Approximately-Count/dp/B000MR6WRG I live in Korea. There may not be anywhere that sells them. If there is, I can't find it and can't find anyone else who knows. I went to a couple big gardening stores and asked, they just looked at me like I took my dick out and said no. Soapy water I have. 
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May 22, 2014 02:28
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My mizuna is bolting. It's been pretty warm recently but I'm growing it on a north-facing balcony so I figured that'd slow its development. Nope. For 10 days, I've been cutting back the stems that are starting to flower as well as just thinning it out in general, but it hasn't given up. Should I admit defeat? I let a few of the plants bolt and the flowers are quite pretty and attracted a hummingbird the other day. One of my spinach plants started bolting too but I cut off that stalk and it hasn't tried again.
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May 22, 2014 05:02
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Grand Fromage posted:I live in Korea. There may not be anywhere that sells them. If there is, I can't find it and can't find anyone else who knows. I went to a couple big gardening stores and asked, they just looked at me like I took my dick out and said no. Soapy water I have. Did you go in and ask for ladybugs, or have you asked for what to do about aphids? Local garden stores are usually full of knowledgable locals who can probably point you to a Korean solution.
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May 22, 2014 12:46
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Just checking in again to vouch for the efficacy of using a dish soap and water spray solution to kill obvious and visible pests. Maybe three grape flea larvae survived my initial bombardment.
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May 22, 2014 14:45
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What are your thoughts on not letting plants set fruit too early? If a tomato plant of mine is under 1ft and started setting fruit now I think I'd want to cut it and wait until the plants get a little bigger later in the year for a better harvest?
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May 22, 2014 16:08
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Well my tomatoes survived the winter. And with all the pruning talk, here are what mine look like now. I've started to thread the stalks through the wires in the greenhouse. The fruit set is spectacular considering I got 1 tomato last year. 
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May 22, 2014 16:42
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TheToxicEuphoria posted:Just checking in again to vouch for the efficacy of using a dish soap and water spray solution to kill obvious and visible pests. Maybe three grape flea larvae survived my initial bombardment. Gonna keep doing this until I don't see a single one of them.
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May 22, 2014 16:51
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cheese eats mouse posted:What are your thoughts on not letting plants set fruit too early? If a tomato plant of mine is under 1ft and started setting fruit now I think I'd want to cut it and wait until the plants get a little bigger later in the year for a better harvest? If it's blooming at 1 ft, in my experience (assuming it's a store-bought plant) it was already pretty rootbound and stressed from being in a dinky little container on a shelf at the store, for too long. I wouldn't take this as gospel for every plant however, every source I've seen either only mentions pruning suckers, and/or specifically states to ignore/avoid the flowers. Some say that any pruning of anything reduces yields however in my experience, without pruning my plants break themselves apart from the weight of their own branches and fruit, unless you've got a bunch of gardening tape and a will to use it. FWIW my lazy-rear end roommate brought home 40-50 bucks worth of tomatoes and peppers without consulting me and I allowed him to use some of the space in my beds - despite him leaving the loving things on the deck in the 70-80 degree sun for 3+ weeks. They've mostly begun to flower so I'm curious to see if they try to actually, you know, grow now that they're in the dirt.
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May 22, 2014 17:28
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Ahh I was wondering. I saw somewhere to remove any early blooms on yound plants. It was my friends tomato plant that was fruiting at under 1ft., but she said it was a patio tomato variety so it's going to be small anyway. I was wanting to know anyway for whenever mine start to blossom.
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May 22, 2014 17:42
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I might kill blossom too late in the season to favor the branches that have already set fruit.
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May 22, 2014 18:11
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http://imgur.com/Q2KGTsr,ndCOH7L,UFqdhf3,aS4DbAb,uSFsp30,Bu8ri08,girPbAUcheese eats mouse posted:Ahh I was wondering. I saw somewhere to remove any early blooms on yound plants. It was my friends tomato plant that was fruiting at under 1ft., but she said it was a patio tomato variety so it's going to be small anyway.
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May 22, 2014 18:51
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It takes a certain amount of time to go from flower to ripe tomato. At a certain point in the season new flowers won't have time to make it to ripe fruit so you're better off pruning them so the energy goes into the fruits that will ripen. Are those 4x8 beds? with 2x12s for sides? I need to make Mom at least one raised bed and saw some 2x12x8' cedar boards at the lumber yard for $20 each.
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May 22, 2014 19:00
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Are those 4x8 beds? with 2x12s for sides? I need to make Mom at least one raised bed and saw some 2x12x8' cedar boards at the lumber yard for $20 each. That's just a good deal on Cedar anyway. I'd get them for that.
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May 22, 2014 19:43
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Cpt.Wacky posted:It takes a certain amount of time to go from flower to ripe tomato. At a certain point in the season new flowers won't have time to make it to ripe fruit so you're better off pruning them so the energy goes into the fruits that will ripen. In my experience the utility-grade cedar goes FAST this time of year, I spent a couple weeks calling in to the store a couple times a day until the new shipment had arrived, instead of rooting through the half-dozen sad-looking ones which were in the yard the first time I went in. One of my beds is old 2x6 fir scrap from my dad's shop, and another is 2x12 fir from his scrap as well (in the back, with lots of visible splits). They have held up more than satisfactorily over the last couple seasons. My ultimate plan (if I still have my house in a year,) is to cover the area in 3/4" river rock and add in 2 more beds next year for 6 total, lined up parallel in the same spot they're in now. Then ultimately I could fit 9 beds in the yard there, and then bring out the fence to encircle them and make them part of my back yard (my rear end in a top hat neighbors drive all over my lawn at 3am when they get home from the bar all shitfaced, which is why there're concrete blocks lined up so oddly - also why the blocks are busted from drunk asshats hitting them with their cars..  )The black plastic are my old beds from 2 seasons ago, I intend to solarize them and the beds from last year, and then utilize the dirt next year. The railroad-tie bed was here when I bought the house, the wood is so rotten it sounds hollow when you knock on it, and eventually I'm going to remove the ties and then put that dirt.. Somewhere away from my garden?  edit: I do have a bhut joloka in one of the beds, looking forward to hurting myself trying to use them to cook with. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 20:49 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 20:41
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coyo7e posted:
I've got two that are currently sitting on my windowsill waiting for the day they can finally go outside. And about 5 habaneros that I'm going to give at least 3 away, and jalapenos that I'll give away 3. I'm going to make wicked pepper jelly this fall. I should pick up a few bell pepper plants just for that.
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May 22, 2014 22:42
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My stuff is finally going in the ground. That was painful and I still have irrigation to finish.
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May 22, 2014 22:45
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Bout to have a poo poo ton of pepperoncinis. Probably gonna make fridge pickles out of them.
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May 22, 2014 23:07
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Speakin' of peppers, I planted these various Chilli plants in the last week of march (as what was generally advised to me), and I was wondering if they appear to have sufficiently grown in that time.   I was just curious, from some of the pictures and stories I've seen on this thread, and from the chilli plants I've seen at local garden centers, they seem to be a great deal more developed than mine. Still, I don't know when they were planted, but hey.
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May 22, 2014 23:59
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They could use bigger pots but they look pretty healthy.
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May 23, 2014 00:12
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Yeah, I'm going to shift them over to bigger pots when I get them. I've got a bunch of "12 pots already, I have to get some more. Some of the leaves of my cayenne plants seem to be dead, should I just leave them or prune them?
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May 23, 2014 00:24
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I think my aphids are under control, I only found one live one today and a whole lot of corpses.  I sprayed off as many as I could with a squirt bottle. The eggs also mostly turned from white to a dark color.vonnegutt posted:Did you go in and ask for ladybugs, or have you asked for what to do about aphids? Local garden stores are usually full of knowledgable locals who can probably point you to a Korean solution. I tried both. They had this all-in-one poison that was crazy expensive that he wanted to sell me, I said no. Most of my plants are herbs (Koreans don't use any herbs in cooking so buying them is difficult and expensive, other than the few types you can score at Indian/Vietnamese groceries) so I don't want to put anything toxic on them. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 03:00 on May 23, 2014 |
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May 23, 2014 02:57
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When should I harvest my potatoes, onions, and shallots? The potatoes have died back greatly but there is still a good chunk of living green on the plants so are they still producing tubers?  My squash and zucchini continue to be insane  Every single one looks like this when you get up under the foliage: 
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May 23, 2014 20:20
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I believe onions are good to go when the top has died back. I don't know if shallots follow onions or garlic more closely (garlic gets harvested when the tops are about half dead, as opposed to all the way dead.) As for the potatoes, I pull mine when they look like that, more or less, although mine don't lose their leaves quite like that. They get all yellow and lovely on the bottom half or so though. How many weeks has it been for them? Do you recall if you have an early, main, or late potato? You can always check and gently dig around in the dirt with your fingers until you come across a potato. If it's big enough for your liking, pull them. 
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May 23, 2014 22:47
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Shifty Pony posted:
WOW. I'm jealous. My tomatoes suffered a move (gently caress rear end in a top hat landlords and illegal evictions), but LOVE the new backyard. Thankfully I designed the tower to be easily dis/reassembled.  
Same Great Paste fucked around with this message at 00:23 on May 24, 2014 |
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May 24, 2014 00:19
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toe knee hand posted:My mizuna is bolting. It's been pretty warm recently but I'm growing it on a north-facing balcony so I figured that'd slow its development. Nope. For 10 days, I've been cutting back the stems that are starting to flower as well as just thinning it out in general, but it hasn't given up. Should I admit defeat? I let a few of the plants bolt and the flowers are quite pretty and attracted a hummingbird the other day. I think it was nutrient stress, rather than the heat. Yellow spinach leaves clued me in. Fertilised and they've all been behaving.
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May 24, 2014 03:59
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AlistairCookie posted:How many weeks has it been for them? Do you recall if you have an early, main, or late potato? 13 weeks but I cannot recall the variety beyond "red". I dug a bit and they are about racquetball sized now.
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May 24, 2014 18:28
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/\/\ 13 weeks is a bit early, even for an early potato. But racquetball size is a good red potato size, for me anyway (I like red potatoes to be small, new potato sized.) Leave them for a couple more weeks to get a little bigger (and give some borderline sized chits a chance to become real potatoes), or pull them now. Whatever makes you happy.
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May 24, 2014 19:00
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 16:57 |
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The garden, plus bonus shots of the deck/dog/wife because why not?
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May 26, 2014 05:09
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