24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

The picture is too blurry for me to name it a mole cricket with certainty though that is the first thing I thought of at first glance. It does appear to be an Orthoptera member.

Have you looked up images of mole crickets to see if there's a good match? Unless you can get a better picture, you are the only one who has seen this insect in person.

Mole crickets are very easily recognized and I've seen a million of them, but your image is simply too blurry, sorry.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

If someone already suggested mole cricket then the first thing I would do is look them up and compare my bug with all the pictures of them available. I'd pay special attention to the front legs and see if yours has the digging claws characteristic of mole crickets.

If not then I agree that the Orthopteras are the first thing I thought of but there are tons of things in that order and Google will pull up tons of info on them as well as photos. But again, if there is no plant damage then you don't need to worry about it..

If it doesn't have wings then it could easily still be in nymph stage.

Dave

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ltilton

calbayarea - those look great! That's how it should look.

So you keep them out/under light 24 hours?

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emorems0(PA - 6a)

ltilton... yeah, today is the first day we've been above freezing in a week (last week we had one 'Spring' day with the rest of the week still holding onto winter). This is not a typical Spring so far and even if it were, I am in the same zone (6a) as wayne and the Farmer's Almanac lists March 21-April 4 as the starting indoors date for lettuce in my area.

Thanks for the advice all, I think I'm going to do the container outside in full sun and then transplant them into their partly shaded bed at transplant time (and then if winter rears its ugly head yet again, it will be easier to move them to shelter).

Think I should plant my broccoli and cauliflower out with the lettuce? Or start them inside with my warm plants like I had planned? Seems like temp fluctuations have a lot to do with poor head formation in brassicas, maybe I don't want to leave that up to mother nature considering how fickle she's been this Spring?

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socks

Thank you, everyone. I have one pepper plant and so had to laugh at the pictures posted. I'll put a cage over it.

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Greg

Yes; when I switched to trellising my tomatoes I had a lot of cages that needed to go somewhere so I started caging my peppers and it works great.

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Ohiofem(6a Ohio)

Well, you could probably grow one broccoli plant successfully in a container that holds 5 gallons. (Nursery containers only hold .7 gallons for each gallon listed.) But, those Packman plants can get 2.5-3 feet wide, and they are top heavy. I imagine it might tip over if you put one in a 5-gallon paint bucket like they sell at the hardware store. I found a nice blog about growing broccoli in containers. This guy says he grew three in a 6.5 gallon container. Look at the pictures and note that the heads are smaller than mine. And the broccoli in the picture I posted was not fully grown yet. With container growing, the size of the pot makes a big difference in final yield

Here is a link that might be useful: Broccoli in a container

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zeuspaul(9b SoCal)

Last year I grew broccoli in 5, 15 and 25 gal nursery pots. The 15 and 25 had a variation of 511.

The broccoli in the five was very small, The 15 was ok. The broccoli in the 25 was huge.

I had three 25 containers of broccoli. One container had three plants. The other two had one each. From a distance you couldn't see a difference as the leaf mass was about the same with three plants vs one plant. The single plants produced slightly larger first heads. But the three slightly smaller first heads in the tripple container were overall more broccoli. Side shoot harvest was about the same.

The 5 was highly root bound...solid mass of roots throughout the container. I did not check the 15. The 25 was not rootbound.

The gallons in various size nursery pots is not consistant. The 15 gal black nursery pots I use hold about 12 gallons to the brim. The 25 gallon pots from the same manufacturer hold about 25 gallons.

Zeuspaul

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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Melon in container ? It could be challenging, I think.
Besides a good volume of soil, it has to be deep as well.
Then there is the question of vines. How do you manage it in a limited space ? Trellis, stake? cage?. UNLESS it is bush type.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

I guess I should specify that I am growing vertically in a limited space. So, I was planning to prune the laterals off of the cucumbers all the way up and then let laterals grow across and train it to go back down.

It is your choice of course but while I don't think it is dumb to ask and I don't know the source of the information you have been given, I should point out and most gardeners grow their cukes vertically on some sort of trellis - myself included - rather than just let them run across the ground and develop rot.

But pruning the lateral vines sure isn't a common practice. They are naturally great climbers if left alone. It would weaken the primary vines, encourage vine breakage, stresses the plant, eliminate much of the pollination required by eliminating so much of the productive bloom area, reduce photosynthesis for the plant's energy, and reduces production.

Good luck with all your efforts.

Dave

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Prachi(6b (NJ))

Thanks seysonn... good to know... I am so excited I may pat it lightly anyway (I really thought the plant was a goner). 2 fruits already how cool!

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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Yeah, 2 fruits already, prachi.
I sowed the seeds on 12/15/13, over 3 months ago. I fished the seeds from an store bought eggplant and wanted to see if they are viable. Luckily it is a dwarf plant.

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ltilton

I start brassicas inside with the plan of settng them out the first of April, then turning the space over to the warm-season crops.

In theory, I'd do the same with lettuce, but the results are not as good.

I've seen people with lettuce flourishing in indoor setups, but it's not as easy as brassicas, in my own experience.

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veggievicki(7b)

I never had success with lettuce and broccoli until I bought a light. I think a four foot one at lowe's is maybe ten bucks. It was worth it. And set it right over the seedlings. Having said that, I have gotten to where I don't find it that useful for lettuce, starting outside under plastic works pretty well. Broccoli is worthwhile for me because I have trouble with it getting too hot before I can get a decent crop. I start it right after Christmas so it's pretty good sized by the time it goes in the garden.

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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Most so called "cool crops" are tolerant of shade :
--ONIONS, CHIVES, LEEKS, PARSLEY, CILANTRO, CHARDS, LETTUCE ..., SAGE, OREGANO, TARRAGON

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HotHabaneroLady(7a Central MD)

I would add spinach, mint and mustard greens to the list of good shade crops, especially if you have hot summers. If you can have dappled sun, especially if it's only lightly dappled, then you might find more options would work well.

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ltilton

Nice map! I've bookmarked it.

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DragonFlyTx

Thanks! Very helpful. I booked marked it as well.

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Natures_Nature(5 OH)

Galinas,

You are in zone 10, i dont want to hear it! Haha! 15 f outside is our high on some days! Try -10 out!

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galinas(5B)

Hm) thank you for pointing me on the zone issue - I am actually in zone 5B)

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lucillle

Haask since you seem to be well read on the subject, what is your opinion about the allopathic qualities of other types of oak trees?

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haask

I live on an acre with about 25 red and white oak trees (and many other species). In my situation, I have very little choice as to where I place the garden. The closest point of the garden is around 20 feet south of the Red Oak. The Oak is so tall, that the garden is in full sun all day long.

My opinion on the Red Oak is that it is seems much less potent than a black walnut. The garden can be managed, by simply keeping the roots away from the vegetable plants.

That's basically my experience. I have no other experience with any other types of oaks. From my research, I'm not sure if I even remember any other oak being an issue.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Yes, I figured I was being generous with 2-3 feet spacing. Of course, that corresponds to a root ball diameter of 1-1.5 feet. I've heard that, at least grown from seed, tomatoes have a pretty stout tap-root, which is what I think I'm seeing in your picture.

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CaraRose

Seysonn, just curious, do you plant yours deeply? It looks like the original rootball on the bottom and the new roots that filled in from the stem after planting towards the top.

If that's the case, your photo is also a great example of why you should plant them deep to get all those roots. :)

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nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

NoNoNo! #1 gophers will chew right through CW if not squeeze through! #2Voles will just saunter through like it was a hallway to the vege palace! #3 They will rot out in a couple of years. Do you want to dig out ALL of that dirt just to do it all again?
Do it right the first time and use hardware (or gopher) cloth! It is worth the extra $! Our origional 4 beds have not failed in13 and 10 years. We had a shovel go through accidentally in one bed, but were able to dig down and repair the tear in the wire.
All those tiny rhodents can squeeze themselves down to about the size of a fat thumb.Sorry I was so adament! LOL I hate gophers! LOL Nancy

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nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

NoNoNo! #1 gophers will chew right through CW if not squeeze through! #2Voles will just saunter through like it was a hallway to the vege palace! #3 They will rot out in a couple of years. Do you want to dig out ALL of that dirt just to do it all again?
Do it right the first time and use hardware (or gopher) cloth! It is worth the extra $! Our origional 4 beds have not failed in13 and 10 years. We had a shovel go through accidentally in one bed, but were able to dig down and repair the tear in the wire.
All those tiny rhodents can squeeze themselves down to about the size of a fat thumb.Sorry I was so adament! LOL I hate gophers! LOL Nancy

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Natures_Nature(5 OH)

"they like stop developing, and sit there for 2-3 weeks with almost no visible development, some of them got a very small true leave, that doesn't grow. After that they start to get dry from the border of the leaves and finally just dry out."

I had an aphid infestation last year and it did just that. The sprouts with cotyledon leaves just sat there for weeks, kind of deformed looking, with very small leaves. I finally examined the little month old sprouts, they had dozens of small aphids tapping the stem for nutrients. If not, Perhaps damp off?

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galinas(5B)

Thank you both! I think the word "suffocated" will be exact word! I remembered what i did different last two years. I red in Vegetable garden guide online that cabbages like very firm soil. So I thought it is applicable to the seedlings as well. So I compacted the mix in the pot a little, before I planted the seeds. And I didn't do this first year, as I didn't know the fact the cabbage likes firm soil). So sometimes, no knowledge is better, when you follow the common sense. Fortunately, the spring is so slow this year, I can plant them again and will not be too late to plant them out when they ready.

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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

In a couple hours since I've posted, both of the smaller plants are back to normal. Like nothing happened.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Very interesting. This outright rules out any root problem. IMO any root problem is no/cannot be reversible.

Wilting like what I see in the picture, can be due to TWO things:

___ extreme thirst'
___ extreme heat/sun

In both above cases, plant will perk up after watering and after the source of heat/sun has gone.

You say you water them every other day. But is it possible that you forgot watering for much longer than that ? OR maybe it is not just enough.

It happens to me all the time. Just a week ago some of my tomato seedlings were wilting to the point of dying: THE CAUSE: thirst. After watering, they perked up but the lower leaves did not recover.

Sure, soil less medium is better but I have grown all kinds of things in pots filled with garden soil.
The problem with compaction and root bounding is that the pot cannot hold enough moisture for a long time (maybe not for one day), in the dog days of summer. Probably you have summer like weather in Florida right now ?

THE BOTTOM LINE SOLUTION (imo)
re pot them with soil less potting mix into a bigger pot.

Hope all this is worth couple of pennies. But I am not asking for anything. hehe

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pnbrown

No, they don't usually (right away) but it can happen. If some contaminated sand got mixed into the container mix, for example, or if the containers sit without any added fertility for a long while they will eventually invade.

Fertility and crop rotation is what stops predatory nematodes, and both of those are hard to maintain long-term in containers.

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