23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Banana peppers start out yellow and turn red when ripe. Whatever you grew grew was not a banana type. The generic "Banana" is availalable as either a sweet or hot variety. There are several hybrid versions Sweet Spot, Banana Bounty, Pageant, Bananarama. Sounds like a seed source problem.
Bob,
Your empathy with living creatures is an admirable trait. What would you do with the live gopher though, if you caught it? Would you release it in a wild meadow somewhere?
I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the only practical way to deal with them is to catch them in lethal traps.
With lethal traps, there is no need to use bait. You just put the trap in one of their tunnels that is in active use, and they trip the trap.
I don't know what kind of trap you have, so I don't know how to advise you about it. Maybe you could post a picture.
--McKenzie
Unfortunately it isn't that simple. I'm only familiar with its use in hydroponics and detailed tables are available for it use in that situation - see the Hydroponics forum here if you want those. The amount used is done by weight, not volume, and it is measured in grams. (ie: 1 gram to 100 ml. of 40 C water) or if converted, approx. 0.03 oz. to 3.5 oz water at 104 degrees F.
Plus the mixture will be much weaker if used as a foliar spray or as a fungicide to avoid burning the plant leaves. And the solubility all depends on the temperature of the water you are using to dissolve it in - it is a very wide range of solubility.
You also have to factor in the effect it has on pH and when using soil rather than water your native soil pH has to be established first and then adjusted to compensate.
Then there is the issue of its use being banned in many states - especially if you live near a body of water of any kind - because of the run-off contamination. You don't give any location so I can't help with that aspect.
So all that said and acknowledging that there are much better giant vegetable fertilizers available (see the Giant Vegetables forum here) I'd recommend either finding one of the alternatives or at least posting this question on one of the many growing giant pumpkins forums out there in the hopes of finding someone who has actually used it for that purpose.
Contacting the maker of the particular brand for tips on dilution of their particular product would also be an excellent option assuming you'd need more details than just what is on the product label.
Hope this is of some help.
Dave
Here is what I have found, MonoPotassium Phosphate is the same ingredient used in some bloom and fruit fertilizers also known as MKP
MKP is a fully water-soluble mono-potassium phosphate fertilizer, a highly efficient source of phosphorus and potassium for plants. As a nitrogen-free fertilizer, MKP is the preferred source of phosphorus and potassium when nitrogen fertilization should be limited.
A common case is at early growing season, when phosphorus and potassium are needed at high rates for the establishment of root system.
Application of MKP at the productive stages of sugar-rich fruit crops helps to increase sugar content and to improve the quality of these.
MKP can be applied in combination with other fertilizers to meet crop nutritional needs throughout the growth cycle. Its high purity and water-solubility make MKP an ideal fertilizer for fertigation and for foliar application.
Additionally, MKP is suitable for preparation of fertilizer blends and production of liquid fertilizers.
When applied as foliar spray, MKP acts as a suppressor of powdery mildew.
Use approximately 1 (one) teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon of water for every 100 square feet of application area
For larger batches use 1 (one) pound of fertilizer per 100 gallons of water.
We have this product in bulk and repackage it into smaller sizes.
You can it it is available. It won't hurt anything as it will just lie there until the weather warms. But if your zone 7 is like mine we get periods of warmer weather off an on until spring and during those periods the compost can activate and have beneficial effects.
If you decide to lay on several inches now then plan to add more approx. 2 weeks prior to planting time.
Dave
You might want to read "The humanure handbook." It is not for everybody, but if you are interested in composting and are not put off by the basic idea of the book, then you might well enjoy it and learn something (even if you don't plan to add humanure to the compost pile). You can read it for free online (it is not piracy... it is published online by the author).
I also enjoyed reading "seed to seed." (Suzanne Ashworth)
--McKenzie
For anyone who liked "Gardening at the Dragon's Gate,"
"Plant Seed, Pull Weed" by Geri Larkin is also gardening and Zen. I liked them both okay -- but I prefer more story telling.
"We Took to the Woods" by Louise Rich Dickinson is a fun read.(a memoir from the 30's in backwoods Maine)
Going online book shopping right now :)
I prefer to use natural mulch that I can mix with the soil later. It serves three purposes of keeping down the weeds, keeping in the moisture, and improving the soil. Plastic only serves the first two purposes so you have to add compost later. I use two types of mulch on my veggies: 1) I lay out mowed grass clipping in the sun until they are dry and then place them around my plants; 2) I get free composted leaves from the Fairfax, VA county transfer center which I put around my plants. After the growing season I mix it into the soil. Around my fruit trees I use shredded limbs.
Charlie -- I would like to hear your success rates for germination. The same sites that discussed shade said that planting the seed directly into the garden helps it establish better than a transplant can because of that tap root.
Do you think your trees were established enough in the sunlight after just one year or did it take a few years.
This seems pretty straight forward to me.
She used soil designed for raised beds (which have the huge wicking power of the earth built in, so the soil tends to be designed to retain a lot of water) in containers, which need exceptionally well draining soil.
The soil probably held way too much moisture, and she had lots of root rot.
The definition of hybrid has nothing to do with manual selective intervention. It has to do with species crosses.
In what context? You might want to look up the definition of "hybrid".
And as farmerdill already covered, cucumbers do not cross with melons.anymore than an eagle will cross with a buzzard to make a bugle.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Cross pollination between vine crops
Joppa is way off. Maybe if we are talking about hybrid animals like mules and ligers then a hybrid is a cross of two species but not so with plants. Hybrids are a cross of two cultivars of the same species. Melons and cucs can't cross and melons and watermelons can't cross.
The type of cultivar you are growing, whether it is hybrid or open pollinated, is all about what happened last year, not what is happening this year (except for corn). Hybrid cultivars have two different cultivars as parents and OP cultivars have one cultivar as the parent. To keep an OP pure/uncrossed to save seed is another ball game and each crop is different. All OP cultivars can cross with others of the species - up to 1/2 mile for cucurbits or very little crossing chance with legumes. To save pure seed you have to read about each veggie you are trying to save and you may have to look at what your neighbors are growing for some distance. Remember hybrids are not sterile generally and so they will get their genetic material mixed in there too if precautions for cross pollination are not taken.
If OP cultivars could not cross, as the friend of the OP believes, we would have no new varieties! Letting or purposely causing two OP varieties to cross is how we get new tomatoes, peas, beans, melons etc!
The thing to remember with most companion planting do's and dont's is that very few, if any, have actually been scientifically tested. The evidence is purely anecdotal and is at worst based on old wives tales at best, peoples experience in their own garden. Not to say that people are wrong, or that they didn't experience what they did, but keep in mind that what works for them may not always work for you and vice versa.
That is not to say companion planting is all hogwash and should be tossed, I still follow it as a general guideline when planning my garden. What they used to tell me in the Army though was "a guideline is not a regulation" and so I look at it that way with my garden.
The only real problem I could foresee with planting beans cucumbers and tomatoes is that beans and cucumbers are viney climbers and may decide to use your tomato as a trellis and possibly choking it out. I have grown cucumbers and tomatoes together before and neither suffered any bad effects from it. The cukes did sort of start climbing on the tomatoes but not enough to really effect the tomato in any way. The only problem I have had with it is the tomato being so big I couldn't see all the cucumbers hiding in there!
I say, all things being equal, go ahead and try it. If it doesn't work then you have learned that, if it does, then you'll be glad you shucked Wikipedia's advice and tried something new.
"How do you feel about aubergines, marrows and courgettes?"
Native Australians are pretty cool.
I'm not a fan of bone guts.
They're cute little dogs.
It's out of stock currently, but you could try again next year: http://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-vegetable-seeds/a-ca/bean-heirloom-seeds/misc.-beans/crimson-flowered-fava-bean-seed.html. Or you could take a field trip to Canada: http://www.heritageharvestseed.com/beansbroad.html
Good luck!
-Anne