23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Dave: Thank you. I agree. Lots of good info on youtube. Also, lots of bad info. Just like here on GW. The trick is to weed through the BS and try to extract the good info and put it to use. I wasn't trying to tear apart the video, but so much info in it was simply wrong or too general. It works for that guy. And generally, sticking a plant in a pot will yield "something." I was simply trying to point out that the info goes against widespread proven thoughts on how to get the BEST out of one's pepper plants.
With that said, I think I need to now refute some of the op's objections to my post...lol
djkj: I'm not asking you to believe everything I say. I was simply granting you your request for my original post for disagreement on the video. Hey, if it works for you and you're happy with your results, keep doing what you're doing. We're still in deep disagreement about a few things and I feel I need to stress that certain points are just wrong.
First, I agree 6 weeks is a general guideline, but to others reading this post, you'll be much happier giving at least 8 weeks for annuums and 12 for chinenses. If your plants are outgrowing your starter pots, simply pot up.
Second, totally disagree about containers needing a constant water content and the whole drip idea. I already stated that pepper plants like to dry out between watering. Doesn't matter if it's a container or in ground... wet feet are wet feet and the whole "dry out between waterings" is one of the most widely agreed upon practices regarding growing healthy pepper plants. Yes, in general, containers need more frequent waterings, but they should still be dried out between waterings. I just went through a week of triple digit temps and single digit humidity. Guess how many times i watered both my container peppers and in ground peppers... ONCE. deeply. Plants are looking awesome. If you're to take anything out of my posts, it should be the watering regimen.
Third, like i said, love mulch. Just the whole idea of leaf litter harboring pests. If that's all that's available, it far outweighs using nothing at all.
Fourth, If you feel you get the production you want using organic ferts in smallish containers, then, by all means, keep using. I use mainly organic also, but anything smaller than a barrel, I use synthetic for the reasons I already pointed out.
Fifth, "gardener's secrets." Perhaps if it's a "secret," it might be because it's not widely believed to be mainstream knowledge because it simply has no merit to reality. Don't get me wrong, fish ferts are a great supplement.. I simply don't believe it's a bloom booster. Healthy soil will get you all the blooms you want and regulating soil temps will keep blossom drop to a minimum.
Sixth, epsom salts. Once again, should only be used if your plants are showing they need it. Too much of ANYTHING can be detrimental. Most soils have plenty of Mg and even most potting mixes have lime in them that would provide the plants with the Mg they need.
Seventh, I've cut down on my use of DE because of it's ineffectiveness when wet and it's indiscriminate on beneficial insects. For slugs/snails, I have found iron phosphate baits (Sluggo, Korry's, etc) to be much more effective. Neem oil for cutworms or any other caterpillar is simply not a cure. If you had success with it on cutworms, I say coincidence. MAYBE(and it's a stretch) the anti-feeding properties of neem kept them away, but it's not known to kill them. I like the toothpick method I mentioned -- ever since i started doing it, I haven't lost a single seedling to cutworms.
Eighth, BER. Get Ca in the soil well in advance and you don't have to worry about BER. Regarding "sprays," WHY??? Sounds like a whole lot of money spent and time spraying EVERY flower just to HOPE you don't get something that could have been remedied from the beginning by getting some Ca in the soil.
Anyhow, there you go. If you're happy with your methods, keep doing it. I just thought I'd try to help you(and others) have even BETTER success. Like you said though, YMMV.
Good luck and happy capsaicin season!
Kevin
Yep. However, I have found that the water blasts in the beginning really help. Also, the directions call for weekly and then bi-weekly intervals. In the beginning 2 weeks, I up the ante because of the rapid rate of re-popualtion of whitelfy. So, for the 1st week, water blasts every 3-4 days, then neem treatments ever 3-4 days for 2 weeks. After that, populations are usually low enough to control with bi-weekly treatments. Yellow sticky traps used in conjunction are also effective. But, lacewings are truly the best, so think about planting some flowers to attract them.
I just posted a thread that may help.
Kevin
Here is a link that might be useful: Beneficial insects/IPM
They taste great. Interesting about the Orlando F1s. I looked them up, and they're dwarf plants, mostly for container gardening. They don't get much over 2 feet tall, I read. Their fruit are supposed to be "finger length", but mine are 6-inches long. For grilling, long, sausage-shaped eggplant are marvelous.
Yes, it was water in the spray bottle. The plants with vegetables on them that were sprayed were banana peppers and tomatoes. Other plants that were sprayed were basil, kale, and cilantro, as well as cucumbers and squash that don't have any vegetables on them yet. I don't usually use a spray bottle to water my garden, my husband was just misting the vegetables we just bought before putting them in the ground as it was too hot and sunny to water the garden. We usually water the soil and roots well. I do really have all these concerns and it does drive my husband batty, hence why I am asking these questions on here so I don't bug him about this. I live in southern Virginia and my full grown banana peppers were bought that way at a garden center. I also have a green tomato. The plant I'm most worried about being exposed to the Mean Green is my basil as it's something that can be eaten whenever, but after reading these comments I'm pretty sure it will be ok.
This post was edited by valialee on Thu, May 29, 14 at 18:10
Link to your other post since all of these concerns seem to be related.
Here is a link that might be useful: Your other post
Yeah, Early in the season with cool temperatures, and occasional rain, West NY State, plants won't need a lot of watering. I have not watered mine for longer than a week now. Some are nice green, some are slightly light green. I guess it also depend on the variety and genetics to some extent.
'I worry planting them in the ground there will compete with nutrition and space, and anything behind it wouldn't get enough sun.' It does sound a less than optimal spot but in that case it would have been less than optimal for the planter too. In the ground your plants would actually have had more nutrients than in the planter because they were far too densely packed in there. In the ground plants can seek out water and nutrients. They can't in a planter. For next season remember that a Brussels sprout plant can be 3 feet tall and almost as wide. Same goes for kale. They really aren't good choices for a planter unless it is huge. At the end of the season they are really hard to pull and have thick trunk-like stems.
Regarding broccoli, once it starts to head up you need to use it or it will just go to flower. It can't 'bounce back' from that state.
I think these need to be in containers way, way bigger than you've got. These are much too shallow and small, more for marigolds or herbs than the kind of vegetables you are trying to grow.
You should be closer to a 5 gallon bucket for one or two plants.
There are still a few tubers and or plants available on ebay but they are expensive. I will order them in the fall so I can start them indoors in grow bags this Feb. I'll move them outdoors mid to end of may as I'm in mid west Wis. I would imagine I should have a fairly large grow bag. lol
I pulled them up and we had them at dinner last night. They were very good. But........It probably cost about $12 for the four of them. (as seedlings) haha I only planted them 4 weeks ago, but they were ready to eat. This was my first time planting them, so I guess I didn't realize they were almost eating sized when I bought them. Maybe that's why the nursery hadn't sold any yet, since people might have known they were already too big?
Oh well......live and learn, right? At least they were very good!
So.....now I know. Maybe next year I'll plant them from seed.
Please tell me what septic manure is?
I do not remember ever fighting bad bugs when I lived on the farm, and the nearest vege garden to me was at least a half mile away. I didn't own a sprayer or know what sevin was.
Now that I live in town and try to raise a little of my own healthy food, its nearly impossible to do without resorting to some kind of pesticide.
Last year the worst enemy was flea beetles. They were never ending. The grasshopper invasion was horrible.
No one around me gardens, or for that matter mows the grass or weeds until the city gives them a citation. I feel doomed living here where I can't raise anything good to eat without spraying.
I use a lot of manure but the stuff never comes with a certificate of purity. Because of some hefty paranoia on my part I try to set the stuff aside to age gracefully into dowager-hood. I have a bin for cold composting, but if there's room it sits in a bed.
So, the first year it gets to sit and grow flowers or such. Lots of field marigolds; crazy about those. Because of a suggestion I read here, I have one un-aged bed growing okra (and marigolds), and since nobody actually eats okra, it's really just a cover crop.
Next year the two flower beds that are sitting sort of fallow will get food in them. Marigolds too since they're unstoppable self seeders. I figure that any trace pathogens and perhaps herbicides will be minimized by then. Until that time, I think of the beds as septic, as in germy and dangerous to health.
I come from deep in the chemical culture. I dipped my dogs in sevin, sprayed the yards for ticks with malathion, fogged my house while still inside it, and hoarded some of the last bags of DDT in Virginia. I've driven perhaps 2 million miles in my life, most of which was inhaling Carbon Monoxide loaded with tetra-ethyl lead. I used to play with mercury in my hands and spit it through a pea shooter. I've inhaled herbicides that our government said were harmless. I believed in the slogan of better living through chemistry.
I don't believe those god damned bastards any more. I just had to draw a line and stick to it. Had to start being careful.
In the last year I've used two chemicals. Chalk that up to luck. One was mosquito dunks as a source of BT for house plants that got a bit loaded with gnats. The other was Epsom salts. Knock on wood. Knock on wood again. Everything else came from stable manure, plant waste, and household garbage. Again, luck, and a willingness to let stuff get eaten by critters.
Sorry. I'll shut up now. Goodbye.
Could you re-post the picture? I can't view it within the post, nor open it by clicking.
Where are you located ? what have been the temperatures like ?
Cucumbers, generally, cannot tolerate cold. They are more cold sensitive than peppers and eggplants, more like basil.
I have killed more cucumbers and basil than anything else, due to cold weather and itching to plant out.