23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Lovers of tomatoes and especially peppers are bound to be disappointed in Traverse City, where temperatures rarely top 80F, and nights are cool. It is not an area for those crops. But all manners of greens and root crops (except sweet potatoes), beans, squash and zucchini will do well. Approach your new garden with an open mind. The sweetness of my carrots, cabbage or turnips, compared to what you can find in stores, is unbelievable, and I am a former cabbage and root crop hater. Plus, if you plant lettuce now, and turnip in midsummer, you will get two crops from that area. And if you plant cabbage you will get the most food per square foot. You can still have pole beans on a trellis in the North side of the bed to feed you through the summer.
He had his feelings hurt and he's mad at me :-( Sorry, but the breadcasting of sad 'ol husband's tales is a bit of a pet peeve for me.
Nita, a visit (or call) to your local extension office will help you find out how to take samples and get them sent to the state lab. Some state universities have had to severely cut back on their services but hopefully you can get some help. Lab tests can be just as important in eliminating possibilities as in clinical diagnosis.
The problem with something like this is that it could be a combination of things as has been suggested. You'd be fascinated by the interrelationships between nutrition, environment, pathogen, and other pests.
You've stated that this occurs every year. Have you observed problems with any other garden plants? Do you live in an area where nematodes are a known problem? In which state do you live?
I guess you can see that we all love a mystery!
I have searching for it however the sso called "okra leaf curl" is not the problem you are facing as this disease can be recognized by observing yellowing and curling leaves, can significantly decrease the volume of harvest-able okra.
The leaves are curling yet it doesn't look like its turning yellow.
I agree, just cut those suckers in half and you will get many potatoes. No need for roots to grow into the ground. Potatoes put out very few roots.....mostly potatoes. I've got a few 55 gal halfs lying around and I might do it also. I was saving them for my blueberry bushes, but they won't be needed for a year or two.
What about cutting them in half vertically (from top to bottom) instead of horizontally? I've tried the potato tower concept a couple times and found that most potatoes form in the first 6 inches above the seed potato. I concluded that wider is better than taller. You can actually fit more plants in the space with less crowding. More plants = more potatoes.
Yeah it is a point we often forget to mention - the big differences between the new T5s and the older type bulbs. Even T8s can be spaced a bit higher than T12s. And of course the number of bulbs in use can make a difference too.
Dave
In a recent discussion about the use of seaweed as a mulch or soil amendment, it was said that the amount of salt added to the soil is not harmful to plants and that is confirmed by my own experience. I don't know if this is comparable to salt water flooding but I tend to think the amount of salt you have by now would not be a serious problem, given that a certain amount can be tolerated.
Jim
Mostly sunlight. Even an experienced gardener can accidentally leave her broccoli starts on the deck in full sun too long, forget about them and scorch them. blush
For cold hardy veggies they are ok as infants in the cold but need to get used to sun and wind. For the warm weather veggies they need to get used to sun, wind and temp fluctuations. The hardest part is having them in such small pots/cells and getting them out in sun and wind and having them dry so quickly you can hardly go to work. I had someone buy tomato plants last year which were hardened off but then he left them out in intense sun/dry and they died due to lack of water since they were still in pots.
Thank you all for the great replies. I needed clarification because someone at work told me that they only needed sunlight hardening. So, rather than take advice from a non gardener, I decided to check with you all :) Thank you so much for sharing your information and experience.
I am at work with fingers crossed today. I planted (after proper hardening for nearly 2 weeks) leeks, lettuce and onions over the weekend. We had lovely weather both days, but today it is windier than it has been in several weeks and colder than I am comfortable with, with my babies out there in the cold damp ground.
Check for spider mites.. My plants last year had the same problem and I figured out the damn spiders string a web and pulls the leaf so it lookes "curled".. I just squished the tiny spiders and sprayed with water and it was fine.. Although my plants didn't have discolored leaves, it could be several problems..
Joe
Ahhh. I guess I'll just grow tomatoes this year then as they are already established and it is too late to dig them up and move them further apart. Perhaps I can find another spot in the yard to try cucumbers, minus trellis or remotely decent soil, and see what happens.
I do much more than a Soft blowing fan.. The winds outside could be brutal, you have to get your seedlings ready for that wind. As soon as my seedling sprout they get a fan on high, and bright fluorescent fixtures just touching them.. That combination, there is no way you are having leggy seedlings!
Yes trial and errors are the best teacher . There are other easy ways to learn but to me easy come easy forgotten. I must read 2000 books from first grade to high school to college to the master program beside I learned fast reading and I love reading books but if I say I remember every thing I read I be lying. BUT I remember vividly every thing I screwed up and was corrected even from my childhood. These knowledge acquired from trial and errors is stored in the brain and never leave. I rest my peace.
Abe
Let the garlic grow through it until a couple weeks before harvest then rake off. This is common practice. Garlic cannot handle weeds. Using straw in the garden is terrific! Still, that said, if you don't want to except for garlic (I am weeping about that) you could use it on garlic again if there is no disease present. Garlic has little pests. The upper Midwest had a severe garlic disease last year so it does get diseased!
And here I was thinking of taking it off so that sun would warm the ground, since I didn't even plant the garlic until February, and I figured it needed to get rolling in order to have a chance to produce a crop this year. Based on the input above, I'll just let it ride for now.
Thanks, everyone.
You have what is called damp-off a fungus disease that attacks seedlings when the soil is kept too wet and there isn't adequate air circulation. Note the dark pinched in stems near the soil line. Then they were further damaged by putting them outside.
Those that are not affected can be saved perhaps by reducing your watering and using a small fan near the seedlings to increase air circulation.
You'll find a FAQ about it over on the Growing from Seed forum here. You'll also find instructions there on how to properly harden off plants prior to putting them outside. These seedlings are in no way ready to go outside much less be left out for hours.
Suggest some Google (or here) research into "damp-off" and "how to harden off seedlings". There are many discussions here about both and if you learn first how to do it the right way then you save your seedlings and lots of wasted work..
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: FAQs - Growing from seed
Yes you can, as they also have the fine hairs on the stems which turn into roots, just like with tomatoes.
Do those fine hairs on all plants turn into roots? Or is it just tomatoes/tomatillos? For instance Squash or Cantaloupe I've seen both have similar hairs.