23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
The F2 seeds will produce various crosses that you will have to select from, grow out those F3 seeds, select from them, grow those F4 seeds, select, etc.
It can take several generations to produce a stable cross. Many of those on the Hybridizing forum here are working on 7th and 8th generation of various types of crosses.
Dave
Len, thank you for posting your instant potato patch! Why do you use the dolomite and gypsum? Do potatoes need a lot of sun and water?
A couple times I have buried the old potatoes with the eyes growing out of them in the garden compost pile (just garden and yard debris, mostly browns) and they've grown and produced small potatoes, but I bet if I actually put some effort into I would get better potatoes.
we get volunteers from where we grew them because we miss some little ones, but also have had them appear from peelings.
dolomite not regularly used just here as it was X pine plantation so we get spots of high acid soil, so where we eat like 'tater's i do it to be sure they taste nicer.
no along with adding organic matter(heaps of mulch) gypsum breaks up the clay allows for better moisture absorbancy and holding, also releases entrapped nutrients.
we use heaps of gypsum and get great growth from all plants, picked 6 of those 'taters yesterday(to create planting spots for tomatoes and pumpkin(volunteers). got a bucket of spuds, around 4.5 kilo's, from about 1/2 what we bought, we bought 1 kilo seedies and planted in late feb' @ $2.50 AUD a kilo
the shop still has them so will buy more and chit them for next feb'.
we give them full sun through winter, and yes we maybe would get best of show if we had more water, they like water. but we are happy get more than enough for little input to share with our kids.
as these are new spuds we eat them unpeeled.
len
sounds like too much work ! i'll stick with planting organic potato pieces...no lack of sprouting there. thanks for all the info !
btw, i got 2 1/2# of red potatoes from 1 plant about 2 weeks ago. i have no idea what a good yield is...can anyone give me a range ?
To accelerate rooting in the spring in a cold house, I place the SPs (in their jars of water) on a large heat mat and drape a piece of row cover, folded multiple times, over the arrangement. I can usually keep it around 85 F underneath, which seems to be the optimum temp. for encouraging rooting and budding.
>If it were me, I'd try multiple methods to see what worked best.
That's a good idea :).
>To accelerate rooting in the spring in a cold house, I place the SPs (in their jars of water) on a large heat mat and drape a piece of row cover, folded multiple times, over the arrangement. I can usually keep it around 85 F underneath, which seems to be the optimum temp. for encouraging rooting and budding.
I did that, with no success. I didn't stick a thermometer under the fabric though -- I will try that this year. I had the tubers cut and laying on soil surface, and didn't want to bake them, but I will try in water this year.
They finally sprouted outdoors in mid-july, but have stayed the same size since then. The uncut ones on the kitchen counter are bigger!
>If everything fails, I'll send you slips in springtime.
Oh, my, thank you!
when the chipmunks came the voles and moles left ( or maybe it was the other way around). maybe the voles left because i was pouring my urine down their holes. after the chipmunks dined on my tomatoes i finally shot one and tossed pieces of it around the garden perimeter. didn't see any for the rest of the season. i'll have to research the plaster of paris bait. i'm not into causing pain, but a quick death will do.
so far this year, no chipmunk damage to tomatoes. but i think a few got a zuke....
A couple of years ago my SP leaves were vanishing too and I caught a groundhog in the act. After surrounding the SPs with wire fencing the GH still dug his way in and stayed as he also dug a burrow well hidden under the leaves. GHs are lazy and don't travel far for food so he just made himself at home. The only reason why I found him was that the leaves were continuing to disappear even though I had a secure perimeter so I got in there and hunted him down. He thought he was in GH heaven, I made sure that was his destination.
It smells like a cucumber, the inside LOOKS like a cucumber, heck, if I taste it...u get the point.
So I was a tad disappointed that it wasn't really anything more than a strange variety of cucumber that fell in the packet. I'll probably throw this one in a salad or something. Same day I sliced it, the guy who has "The Scientific Gardener" blog said this:
"Hi there Andrew,
Thank you so much for the question. Those are some pretty cool looking cucumbers you have there. Unfortunately they are not cucumber-melons. The leaves, flowers, and fruit are all very much Cucumis sativus (cucumbers) and not Cucumis melo (melons and melon-cucumbers). Many of the American cucumber varieties of the C. sativus are bred for distinct spines - which your picture so beautifully portrays. My experience with many seed companies is that often the pictures on the package don't exactly match what the fruit looks like. If your cucumber variety turns out to be good for you - I would definitely keep growing it. "
Woulda been cool to have a cucumber-melon, lol *shrugs*
I'm totally blessed to have fruit nonetheless! :)
KEFCO:
Yes. Totally safe and organic. Probably one of the safest. And will not harm any other beneficial insects. Insecticidal soap will do nothing for caterpillars. If you see larger ones, pick them off--- Bt isn't nearly as effective on "older" caterpillars.
Available at ANY garden center. Just ask for BT, caterpillar killer or thuricide.
Kevin
Pat, I don't grow corn here, you need big space, is too much work and the battle of the bugs. When in season the locally owned farms are a good place to get fresh corn.
My favorite beans are romano type and they do well in my garden. Like you said sweet potatoes are the easiest to grow here.
My garden last October.
Silvia
Your experience agrees with my supposition that maize in general and sweet corn in particular is poorly-adapted to the florida climate and soil. Sweet corn is most likely non-sustainable in that context, requiring irrigation, large inputs of off-site NPK and extreme measures for pest control.
More experimentation with likely maize cultivars might turn up one that could provide sustainable grain production for florida.
"Then there's the BOT fly!" MMQ ewww eww eww! My SIL got the BOT! In Belize!
She kept going to the Dr who thought she was crazy! Worms coming in and out of her scalp!Tried all sorts of self methods! There's a blog about it.....yuk yuk yuk!
When the aspy Dr finally saw the worm coming in and out of her scalp, he got all excited! LOL Finally got rid of it! YUK! Nancy
I have gotten less squeamish about bugs over the years. They are pretty interesting creatures really. I am vegetarian and if I were starving would probably rather eat bugs than mammals. They are supposedly quite rich in protein.
I didn't bother washing the mesclun mix from the garden (organic of course) this year. Just picked some leaves and threw them in the bowl. Figure if there is a little dirt or a bug in there, they are extra minerals and protein. :)
The best way, IMO, is to heal itself in the air.
I have a suggestion to protect them: wrap them loosely in nylon tulle. I dont think rats, squirrels will mess with that. They dont like to get tangled with the tulle and will go somewhere else.
We have had a strange summer in the D.C. Area too. Much of August has seemed more like autumn than summer. This could also be part of my smallish peppers this year too. My habaneros are doing well at setting fruit and it seems normal sized, but I am worried that the cool weather may cause them not to be very hot this year.
Just for discussion's sake, I am growing bells this year in pots (same variety) after growing them in the ground the previous two years. I have seen very little difference in size of the fruit, but the plants seem a bit smaller. We too have had a cooler than average summer, but temps have still been in the high eighties since mid June. I have two Big Bertha plants and have frozen two gallons of chopped peppers just from them. They are loading up for another picking later. (I let them all mature to red unless I just need to pick a green one here and there.)