23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Impossible to advise you. You need a soil test to determine if you need to fertilize.
I have a soil test done annually, and get fertilizer recommendations. If my soil has adequate N-P-K when I plant, I am advised to not add (side dress) fertilizer during the summer, as watermelon does not need it. (Not a big user of N, and P & K will stay in place in your soil through the growing season.)
Spend the $15 for a soil test from your state Ag. college for a test and fertilizer recommendations and forget asking for opinions from people who have no idea where you even live.
I tell them what I am growing, and I am advised when and how much to fertilize onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, beans, peppers, muskmelons, asparagus, and not to fertilize lettuce, carrots, radishes, and watermelons beyond the beginning of season basic fertilizer added to the whole garden.
The cost of the test will save you money you will otherwise spend on unneeded fertilizer.
Yes you can double the dose to get the 10 10 10. If they look like they are growing well your ok. Mine are really starting to run, but I grow in containers and the fertilizer requiremants are different. Growing in the ground requires less fertilizer.
NEVER prune eggplant!
Zoysia, just ignore those websites that tell you to prune eggplant. It's a load of steaming manure. There is nothing to be confused about - take the advice of eggplant growers on this forum.
Every sucker or shoot you prune away is costing you eggplant fruit. Secondly, there is a perennial misconception about eggplants needing to ripen. Eggplants should never, ever be allowed to ripen. They are not tomatoes. Ripe eggplants are inedible.
Why are indeterminate tomatoes pruned? Well, because if you're an intensive grower with limited space, you'd stake them, train them vertically, and cram as many tomato plants as you can into that space. You're basically converting horizontal space to vertical space, with a significant drop in production per plant, but this is compensated for by increased production per square foot.
When space is not an issue, and fungal problems are minor, pruning is unnecessary at best and deterimental at worst. A healthy, bushy plant, whether that is a tomato, eggplant, or pepper, will yield you the most fruits.
Squash bug eggs!!! I just got done inspecting my butternut plants for them and found five clusters. Inspect all of your leaves and you are sure to find more. Like others said soak the plants and the adults will crawl up to dry out on the leaves. That is how I hunt them. lol.
Thanks digdirt, that sounds pretty reasonable. I'll cut off the water for a day or so and hope they scare over. One other thing I forgot to mention is that I gave them a little miracle grow yesterday. Do you think that may be related in some way? Would spraying the cracks with a little hydrogen peroxide be helpful?
Thanks digdirt, that sounds pretty reasonable. I'll cut off the water for a day or so and hope they scare over. One other thing I forgot to mention is that I gave them a little miracle grow yesterday. Do you think that may be related in some way? Would spraying the cracks with a little hydrogen peroxide be helpful?
Maybe it's yellow jackets or some other type of wasp taking care of them for you. On numerous occasions I've watched yellow jackets hunting, killing, and flying away with cabbage worms. I've also watched them doing the same thing with asparagus beetle larvae and also, unfortunately, with swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.
Rodney
Stress, probably inconsistent water. Watermelons, contrary to popular opinion, don't like an abundance of water. We have had a wet spring and summer this year and the poorest excuse for watermelons I have had in over 60 years. Not unhappy tho, Things that have been "iffy" for years are producing in abundance.
Thanks farmerdill! I've never had much luck growing watermelon, so I'm not terribly shocked at this occurrence! Just hadn't experienced this particular problem......... LOL!
I use drip fertigation & mulch well, but may have got things too wet........ I dunno.....
And yes, if your garden is producing anything in these turbulent weather times, one should be grateful.
Actually, we didn't use much fertilizer at all.. . but they probably got run off from the tomatoes (used Miracle Gro for Tomatoes, but not very often). Will the beans recover from it? Is there some kind of fertilizer that we can use to encourage bean production? Hubby wondered if, since the beans seem to be all growth and no bean, the plant will recover in time?
If organic use only is the goal then there are a number of ORMI approved fungicides available that would have been far more effective than some milk and water combination. As a fungicide its effect is minimal at best. Given the decline of the plants in the pics it may well be too late to save them now. Not that I would pull them but I'd sure start spraying the new growth with a real fungicide.
Dave
Looks like pepper maggot damage to me. Since the grub is inside the pepper, spraying seven isn't going to help. If you do a search over on the Hot Pepper forum, you might find out how to control it but I believe that covering the plants with floating row covers are the only effective way.
Oh, and the straw has nothing to do with this pest.
Rodney
This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Sat, Jul 20, 13 at 20:03
Agree. Pepper Maggots. See info sheet below.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Pepper Maggots
There were many threads about this in the past, some may be cached.
The take-away was: make sure you use a "late" variety or the tower-building is a waste of effort. You can easily search to find lists that will tell you if carolla is early, mid, or late.
Be advised that a 3x3 or 4x4 area will not produce much poundage even in a best-case scenario. Towers and bins do not defeat the laws of nature, no matter what one may read about it.
I wouldn't worry about the very lower leaves turning yellow. When you let the plant to grow on its own(no pruning , no trimming) eventually some leaves have to go. On top of that too much rain, I trim all such leaves, especially if the are less than 10" from the ground.
I think you are doing the right thing by NOT fertilizing. I would 've done the same. Let them start bearing some fruits then give them a light dose.
By the end of the season, my tomato plants have lost about the lower 18 inches of leaves. I am in such a different climate than you, I don't know how this translates, but, I will say if the plants are otherwise vigorous then losing some lower leaves is nothing to worry about and in fact, trying to stop it might be a losing battle.