23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Cutworms may be prevalent where there was sod. If you plant toatoes, peppers, or brassica plants you can put a little collar of aluminum foil around the stem about an inch above and below the surface.
Unfortunately, you may may still wake up one morning to find a row of beans mowed down. If this happens, try to find the critter just under the soil at the last plant eaten, and send him to the Elysian Fields.
Here is a link that might be useful: cutworm
I think you are going to find the Growing from Seed forum here the most helpful. Lots of FAQs covering all the basics including equipment needed, how-tos, recommended soils to use. Just click on the blue FAQ button there.
While many gardeners routinely grow their own transplants from seed indoors, using rockwool is not common or recommended as it is used primarily in hydroponics and has some unique issues potting mixes do not have.
Personally I would return them to the store that pushed them off on you. But if you want to use rockwool specialty equipment will be needed and the folks on the Hydroponics forum here can best help with that,
Good luck.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed forum
I agree with Wayne_5's method. With a last frost day in mid-May, you could put yours out around June 1. I suggest you start over by planting new seeds 3-4 to a cup around May 1. As he said, it's best if they are no more than three or four weeks old when you plant them outside. Before putting them outside, use scissors to cut all but one of the seedlings out of each cup leaving the healthiest one. Can you give them more light? They need to be very close to a sunny window, and they need sun all day. If you have fluorescent lights, you can grow them one or two inches under the lights and give them 16 hours of light a day.
We all make rookie mistakes. That's how we learn. Don't get discouraged. In my many years of growing plants I've probably killed many more than I was able to brag about.
karolena - I agree with howel above - all containers require regular supplemental feedings - weekly is common. Plus your plant is very likely in far too small a container. Very, very few tomato plants can do well in only 3 gallons. They are quickly root bound in such a small pot and that means water and nutrients run right through the pot.
You might also want to do some reading here on the problems with using dry/granular organic fertilizers in containers, especially small containers. There is no soil food web or bacteria in there to convert the organics to a useable form.
Dave
Thanks Dave and Howel.
My father-in-law follows The Garden Master system http://thegardenmaster.com/. I got some hand me down 5 gallon bags from him but they were not holding up well so I bought what I thought were 5 gallon nursery pots on Craig's list. They turned out to be 3 gallon. He feeds his once a month but it is a special concoction he got from the system. I guess his stuff is extra potent and that 2 gallon difference is significant. I will up the foliar feeds to weekly and see if that helps. I was not aware of problems with using granular fertilizer in containers I will definitely look into that.
I was leery of using a synthetic fertilizer precisely because I wanted to establish some good bacteria and was afraid synthetics would be a detriment to doing that. The rest of my veg looks good but maybe I will run into similar problems as they mature.
Thanks again for the help!
dianega,
can you post a pic or two of the terraces where you plan to grow the melons? Do they get full sun? I don't think you necessarily need to limit yourself to the compact varieties. It may require more intensive methods, but the vining types might work just fine in your situation.
It's best stored after dessication in order to remove a lot of it's moisture. You can buy or build a dessication chamber which range from complex machines to a simple large jar with silica gel.
After dessication it's best stored sealed in a near-air-tight container and inside another container. Small petri dishes (with covers) sealed with parafilm are excellent for this...then into a piece of tupperware (or similar).
After that it's into the fridge or freezer.
1-2 years of good storage this way.
If you want something a bit more low-tech and you're planning on a shorter storage time then you can collect tassels or knock a bunch of pollen off a tassel into a paper bag. You need to store this in consistently dry place without much moisture/humidity and give it time to dry. Once dried out it's generally good for a few weeks to a couple months without losing too much effectiveness. This method is a bit less consistent, but it's generally a good one if you have a quick turnaround for the pollen use and you can get the tassels/pollen dry + keep it dry.
I'm a little north of you but our zone is 6b, I planted late March. Normally we plant mid March. You've gotta do what you gotta do. I'd say in the future cheat. You could easily fashion a small greenhouse over a bed to get the soil ready earlier. Little clear plastic, pvc hoops and you can get a jump on the season before the weather gets hot. My people are only just forming their first leaves. I think in the future I'll be cheating too. Or should I say cheating some more.
I planted Sutton's Harbinger peas April 5, and they just popped up today. Soil temperature is around 49 degrees by me now. I'd say get them in. A link to soil temperatures: http://www.isws.illinois.edu/warm/soiltemp/displaymap.asp?data=bst#toptitlebar
Going to rain a few days this week here, check your forecast again before you plant. I think I'm going to hold off until the weekend - also supposed to be another couple of around-freezing nights. Haven't checked soil temp yet here, but we have been below freezing almost every night last week even though days are warm so holding off with beans too.
Just trying to get my lettuce and kale starts hardened off to plant later this week after the freeze.
As queer as it sounds I'm to the north of you but i'm in a warmer zone. I heard showers for tomorrow perhaps but I'm not seeing terribly cold weather in the forecast. I've watched poatoes growing mulched with leaves in February before. One bed I'm confident in and the other two i'm iffy because one is lower in a valley if you will and the other doesn't have as good soil. I mulched with straw so there will be some insulation.
The soil and white outer layer also look dry. Maybe they aren't in a moist or watered enough environment and that's why they look dry or wilted?
As you said, you only watered when the pods were hydrated. The dome should normally keep the moisture and humidity, but since it looks like something didn't keep that level of humidity (including their location near the sill and radiator), then you can water a little more also.
I gave up on the peat pods last year. Never had anything that survived. I am sure there was a large amount of user error on my part so I am not going to bash them.
My best results have come from using coir. (The Jiffy brick.) The one that is a hard brick like thing in the store. You take it home. Take it out of the plastic, put into a container. Add warm water it will swell up. Note it will just nearly fill up an 8 quart wash pail when it expands.
I fill the hydrated coir into starting pots, Poke a hole to the needed depth with the sharp end of a pencil. Place the seeds in the hole. Use my finger tip to knock the sides of the hole in loosely. Then into a mini greenhouse in the closet. I then keep an eye on them by checking twice a day till I see something sprout. As soon as I see even one coming up I move it to the area with light. Any that did not sprout will do so as long as you do not let the coir dry out.
Edmonton, eh? You can seed the lettuce now. It's much colder out east in SK and MB. So far, March and April have been about 5 degrees C below normal. I haven't been able to plant anything outdoors apart from my high tunnels. Two years ago, I had already planted stuff an entire month earlier in the year.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Mon, Apr 21, 14 at 18:34
You shouldn't have any issues using the potting soil. Beans are not heavy feeders and really don't need a lot of nitrogen as they actually create it on their own, so heavy fertilization should be avoided. I rarely fertilize my beans, in fact I place them in areas that typically need a little nutrients.
Agree. Legumes of any kind don't need all that fertilizer. In fact using it only produces big bushes with few to no beans as their nutrient needs and the way they use what is available are far different than tomatoes or peppers or most other garden vegetables.
There is a smidge of truth to the old adage that "beans will grow on concrete".
Dave
Gee, I wish I had this problem. So far with 4 different melon plants of the charantais type growing as a test, I have a single melon growing. And to add insult to injury, the vines are so tangled, I'm not even sure which one produced my lonely only melon!
Susan
If you're growing for competition, leave 1 melon on the vine.
How's your fertilizer situation? When the vines start to run it's time to fertilize with higher P and K values for flowering, fruiting, and roots. Too much N will give you lush foliage and little to no fruit.
I like to grow 2-3 melons per vine to maximize size. Pinch off all other female flowers.
If you want more melons, plant more seeds.
Is it bad to coil your vines? I have a first time garden that is very small 4' x 8' so I have been coiling the vines so they don't grow over the other plants. The only watermelon I have been able to keep growing (about 5" around) split out at the bottom? Oh, and how often do you fertilize? I would appreciate any suggestions! :)
Grow 1-2 watermelon per vine to maximize size. Do not pinch off the end of the vine. Instead, pinch off the female flowers. Pinching off the end of the vine limits leaf growth which the watermelon needs to develop fully.
Coiling is a bad idea. It makes the leaves too dense and disease will flourish. They need to breathe.
Planting in hills does two things: Helps warm the soil and provides good drainage.
Withholding water for the last couple weeks does intensify the watermelon flavor.
Well, yes, you'd want them out of your garden area just so that you don't get bitten by them (if they are the biting kind).
Even if they don't bite, for me, I don't like things (lots of things is even worse) crawling on my hands and arms when I'm doing yard work.
Since you mention specifically that they are different kinds of ants (with wings), then you'll need to check what kind of food they eat to get the proper bait or food to trick them and remove them. For example, something sweet or something else?
You can also keep that bed area constantly wet and see if they move on their own but then when they do move, you'll have to handle them at their next spot also.
Another discussion about this same question just a couple of threads down the page.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Ant discussions
Thanks for the answers. I do have enough space to try my "mutts" so I may do that, though after reading these answers I reordered some new Orangeglo seeds. One thing about trying my mutts....how awful would it be if I turned out to have some incredible new variety and would never be sure how to recreate it! I had a total of 6 varieties of watermelons all together so there is no telling which one may have pollinated the melon I got these seeds from!
I really do appreciate you all explaining the pollination/offspring thing even though it was probably a very elementary question to most of you. I must say I really enjoy growing several different species of watermelons and cantaloupes so I guess I'll just be buying new seeds each year! Thanks again.
Seeds do last more than one year. (if you had any left over) What I do is I just plant more seeds as the years go by and as germination rates go down.
Then again, in 1/2 acre, maybe you used all your seeds?
So here's a dumb question for you: are you selling watermelons?