24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I had five of those monsters on my property
Dug caverns under the shed, ate anything we specifically planted, etc... I poured jugs of amonia in the openings of their dens, there are two openings to each den. You may be able to find their underground trail by indentations in your yard. I punched a pvc pipe through that and dumped more amonia and covered the exits to keep in the stink. Eventually only two came back and I repeat the process. I will also spread the dog's droppings in around the opening and a friends used kitty litter. I dump that down the pvc pipe.
Sometimes I leave the dog tied up by the shed during their normal feeding time, too. If you can send them far away, do so. They are extremely destructive to anything you try to do to your yard.

I've never had it myself in my eggplant, but I understand that blossom end rot looks a lot like what you're seeing. Calcium deficiency can lead to that. Have you had your soil tested? Is this the first year you've grown eggplants and had this trouble?

What do you mean I don't believe you? I do I just dont know what it is. I cross referenced your description with Google images and they look like pretty decent matches to me fitting all criteria..... brassica and tastes like horseradish/wasabi and is bulbous and green and white.
Dont worry I'm out of guesses now. Still interested in knowing what it is. Although, I think I already ordered macomber turnips seeds.

Sun scald would be on the top or side of the pod, not the bottom.
You may want to pick the pepper. If it is getting squishy, it won't get any better. Sometimes if it is really hot out, +105, then the texture gets weird. But, based on the picture you're having problems from uneven watering or it is ripening and the discoloration is the new color. Pick it and post a picture of the bottom of the pepper. Really hard to tell from the picture you've got and the pod isn't going to get any better.


Well, maybe I'm blind with optimism, but it appears the damage has been put on pause. I prunes off as much of the dead branches as I could yesterday and today there is maybe 5% of what I clipped from three days of damage and that seems to be most of the foliage that had spots yesterday but still seemed dark green and pretty healthy. The thick branches I pruned showed no color variation in the core and the one long black 'mark' appears to have faded somewhat. No spots on fruit, softness, or apparent rotting.
I did cut open a tomato earlier that had been picked a week ago or so and it did have some rotted looking internal area. The tomato has been in a cooler for about ten days. No external marking but definitely something was wrong internally.
The black krims took a beating, but the yellow pears and currants were demolished, basically no leaf left on a couple of them. The white tomato still growing, flowering and fruiting appears stronger and bigger. Mr. Stripey, big pink, green envy, super tasty, and northern exposure all seem to have had very very little damage at all.

"This animal is a crazy violent lunatic that just destroys".. sounds all too human. But most likely, it was just a deranged squirrel.
It's very sad what happened to your garden. Looking on the bright side, this is also an opportunity to learn a great lesson about gardening in your area, which you can build on and use for many years to come as you go on your gardening path. Just don't give in to this sinister wood imp, that would be totally depressing.

bardamu_gw thank you for your kind message. I was getting emotional and it was an exhaustive experience because every morning I would go out and there would be mindless damage. It is a deranged animal but not a squirrel. The claw and tooth marks are way too big and the damage shows a much heavier animal. And it always happens well into the night. The squirrels are at it all day long but not at night. Thank you, I am learning! K.

"This is not from eBay. It does not even matter where the seeds come from."
It matters a whole lot where the seeds came from. In your other post you did say they were from ebay. Ebay seed sellers have no standards other than those they give themselves. Not exactly a good place to buy high quality seeds. The seeds you got could have been cross pollinated as I suggested in your other post and/or the seeds could have been saved from a hybrid plant, in which case what you've got will always remain unknown. And even if what you have is a pure variety, there's no way to know what it is.
Rodney

I already said the seed is not from eBay. It comes from an old seed collection I received from a friend. I do not like to repeat it again....
I planted several packets of old seeds and most of them did not sprout. It was a flat tray, I thought I could ID them after I plant the one coming up....
Again, if you do not have any to add and help, pls stay away. I do not want to argue with anyone.
And I do not like someone telling me what to do....

You can grow any varieties that appeal to you. The timing is the secret. I harvest kale most of the winter after a late summer or fall planting.
I very much like Tronchuda (Portuguese) kale, which is reported to be fairly heat tolerant. I usually plant some in the late winter to harvest as long as it tastes decent.


Could be a flea beetle. In most places, brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, etc) require protection of some sort from flea beetles and cabbage butterflies. I use row covers, but you must put them on before the butterfly lays the eggs that will hatch into the caterpillars that eat the plant and make such a disgusting mess.


The soil doesn't get as hot as you'd think a few inches down. The water at the bottom of my pool is downright cold because of the soil temperature that deep. It's just the surface that gets hot. I've got kale seedlings already that I direct-seeded and they're fine. I'm in PHX. So, sow away and just keep it moist and it should be fine.

Thank you both for the input. I have some other plants that have been ravished, and by the compete devastation, I'm guessing it's hungry caterpillars there as well. I've searched the foliage carefully but haven't spotted the culprits. So I think I'll give the BT a try and see how it goes.

also consider Neem oil as an alternative. IMO it is probably a better option because it STOPS critters from eating the plant from the getgo. BT only kills AFTER they ate the plant. the real question is how long does it take BT to kill after they took a single bite?
Neem oil works against ALL leaf eating bugs, while BT only works specifically against caterpillars. from what i gather about Neem oil is that its suppose to be safe for the good bugs (lady bugs, bees, etc). not sure about BT, but Neem oil is also organic.


At this point probably not. The seed beans themselves are already infected/
Dave



During June and July we had only three days in a row when it didn't rain. It has been an unusually wet summer here and the rainfall made for a very lush garden. In fact, I have had a super summer for tomatoes and most of my pepper plants are three feet tall!
It's only been in August that I have needed to water with soaker hoses that I laid in May but haven't had to use until now.
T of summer,I like Armenian "cucumbers". Very tasty,never bitter,hugely productive and it has the prettiest shape. Slices look like they were somehow shaped fancy because they have little ridges in them and the skin is very tender.