23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Do a Gardenweb search for Chilli Thrips. It's a fairly new invasive pest working it's way up from the Gulf. It hit me for the first time this year in the Highland Lakes area. Many of the big box store starter plants were even showing CT damage around here a couple weeks ago.

Here's a recent thread on them...
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg0511302622994.html?27

Could be 2-4-D herbicide damage. People use "weed and feed" on their lawns all the time and the drift affects sensitive plants.

more specifically radicchio.

I'm very grateful - thank you.

Sunni, I think what you are looking for is called a Japanese Red. I grow them every year here in Florida with great success. I order my seedlings from tatorman.com, and have never been let down. The seedlings are shipped out around mid April. Hope that helps...Farmer Joe in Florida..

Hello!
MeriClone Labs is open again after a hiatus. Please visit our website to see our available varieties.

MeriClone

Evan William
MeriClone Labs

Here is a link that might be useful: MeriClone Labs Sweet Potato Plants

I think it works because that plastic is slippery and they perhaps cannot climb up. Before I did that, bunch of my small plants were eaten up and I thought it was cutworm until one morning I caught the slugs in the act. I have several seedlings still intact for few days now.

I had the same issue this year (first time) and used the same solution, successfully.-- used cardboard tp rolls, cut in half.
For me, I think it was also because I had mulch too close to the seedlings, so I took that up too.

Yeah the wind snapped off one of my only two watermelon plants and I need to replace it with a store-bought one. They come 4 to a pot, and it kills me to have to snip off 3, but like was already mentioned, if I try and separate them, all 4 might die. Cucurbits are not like lots of other plants that can be roughed up and survive.

Raptor666: I have separated them before without problems. I in fact look for pots at the store that have more than one in it but they should not have grown too large so the roots are not wrapped around.

Here is how I do it: Cantaloups and watermelons are generally sold at the seedling stage with just one or two sets of true leaves. Water the pot well so the soil medium (which is usually peat moss or some thing else really porous and falls apart easily) is well soaked. Take the plant out of pot. I take a thin sharp nail or similar wire. Poke the ball vertically and just separate those roots. If the roots are already going around in the pot then first take a sharp blade and make a few vertical cuts only on the outside of the root ball so to divide those wrapped up roots. Plant each one individually directly in the prepared garden soil.

Thanks, Dave! I always appreciate your insights.

You're welcome. :)

Dave

The only worry I would think is if the soil is both cool and soggy... beans dislike that. One day or two with summer ahead... I wouldn't worry much about it.

Like Noki said, I'd only worry about seeds rotting in soil that's too wet for too long, but beans and corn are on the larger side and wouldn't do that quickly.

Though...even as I type that, I'm reminded of the cherry tomatoes that drop on the soil in the summer, somehow last all the way through fall, winter and spring and come up as volunteers the next year. So maybe rotting seeds are more a myth than a reality....

Where are you? You seem to have a mix of warm and cool weather plants. Broccholi, spinach and usually chard being cool weather and the rest warm weather.
I have found with warm weather veges, if it's too cool, they simply aren't ready to grow and wait for the weather they want, then take OFF!
Also, sometimes if you buy starts that are root bound, they don't do well. Just a couple of thoughts. Nancy

I'm in NY. It's definitely been cool weather here, but I've had one of the tomatoes and two of the peppers in "Wall-O-Water" type things, and they aren't doing any better than the ones without them. And the chard hasn't grown any either, while the ones that I shoved into spaces in some crappy window boxes that I can never get to grow ANYTHING have doubled in size.
I started most of the plants myself, and tried to tease out any roots that were looking like they were starting to be rootbound, and the roots didn't look anywhere close to as rootbound as you often find in starts you buy - but needing to get the beds built & filled did put them about a week behind the other garden spots were plants are doing better. Would a week be enough time to become rootbound?

Thanks for your replies, everyone!

My soil in my community garden plot tested at 7.8. We still grow tomatoes, tomatillos, corn, beans, peas, and other random small plants tucked in with no problem. Add as much compost as you can and you should be fine. We're on our third year with the community plot and notice a change for the better each year with the continual composting.

I have two new strategies I'm trying this year. I did row covers last year. They worked, but were kind of a PIA.

Firstly, I'm painting the leading vines with Sevin. That way, the Sevin doesn't get everywhere. Not on the leaves, flowers, or fruit. Just on the vines that the SVBs are trying to penetrate. Just the leading vines. Not the leaf stems. I don't care if they kill a leaf. Takes about fifteen minutes every two weeks to do this, though when the vines are tangled, it gets a bit confusing. A cheap one-inch paint brush works great. I suppose a sprayer with a narrow spray head would work as well.

Secondly, I'm mounding dead leaves and mulch on the vines. The leaves stick up out of the mulch. If you bury the vines, the SVBs can't find them. If the vines root, so much the better. Of course, at the end of the season, you just dig the mulch in. Now, this is for vining squash. Might not work as well with upright squash.

So far so good. No SVB damage seen.

I did what Dan is doing last year, and 50% of the plants survived. I also slitted open plants that stopped producing, although between the borer and the slit they survived but never produced much after that. Still, it is a problem to give away all those zucchinis in late July and August.

The sprinklers are watering our alfalfa field. We have an awesome gravity fed watering system in our area - we have hand lines but many farmers use wheel lines. There is a natural lake in the mountains that feeds the system from May until October - cold clear water - 24/7 - Love it !! One of many wonderful places to live for a great quality of life if you like rural living - like we do!

Gorgeous spot! Your determination to garden is inspiring.

If you have a smart or I phone, there's an app that will get back to you within 24 hours with a plant ID. I think it was called garden compos. They aren't 100%, but can be helpful! Nancy

There's Name that Plant Forum right here on GW which will probably get you an answer within an hour or so. I think it is probably a Radish too. But whatever it is it has bolted and is of no further use as a veggie except to eat the seed pods if you want to. So you might as well pull it up.

Just for clarification if you didn't follow the link, Velvet leaf is Abutilon theophrasti.

Velvet leaf used to be called butterprint here. The seed pods make a distinctive radial pattern that was imprinted on butter.

Yea, I usually wait for the plant to dry up before collecting seeds...

It doesn't get too cold here during winter and I've seen people plant bok choy in the fall... Insects and bolting are too problematic here late spring and summer. Have you played with planting times, growing a few plants at different times of the year?

Thank you! I will just leave a plant or 2 for seeds and pull the rest. I thought I started them both early enough. It was the beginning of March right before a big snow. They started to come up and then bolted right away! I have more success in the fall for sure.