23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I was having this issue as well. It was like someone was take clippers and cutting off each leaf and also cutting the starter plant right at the middle of the stalk.
First i thought it was birds so I covered my plants with netting. Didn't work. Then I thought it was squirrels. So I covered it very good with a cage. Nothing was going to get in for sure. Still my plants were losing leaves over night. Right down to the stalk,
One night while enjoying a beer I decided to try the slug trap and walked over to my plants to catch the dark grub in the act. There he was chewing away at the stalk and sawing down my brand new jalapeño plant :( I was upset but happy I know knew who I had to target.
Although I want to go all natural. I feel I'm left with no choice but to use some type of pesticide. Any ideas? BTW THERE WERE SLUGS AND NIGHT CRAWLERS ON MY PLANTS TOO.
darryl:
Diatomaceous earth is all natural. And like others have mentioned, beer traps. I've also read that a ring of sand around the plants help. Some people will take a board and lay it in the garden -- in the morning, lift it up and dispose of them. Copper strips is another deterrent.
Kevin
While we are talking Physalis, I have two flats just begun, one P. pruinosa (Strawberry Groundcherry) and the other P. peruviana (Cape Gooseberry), neither of which I've grown before. Any thoughts on whether these will be perennials or annuals in So Cal before I stick them in a bed? How are they vs powdery mildew (the main reason I'm diversifying from tomatoes)? How much sun? Best way to prepare them, other than roasting for salsa (my main plan for them)?
Professional testing, available from your local county extension office for about the same price as a home test kit.
I prepared my pots some 8-10 weeks ago with a mixture of garden soil from HD, steer manure, some sand for porosity, compost, lil all purpose dr. Earth fertilizer
There is your problem. The Garden Soil says on the bag "Not for use in containers". Only soil-less potting mixes should be used in containers because soil mixes compact, suffocate roots and retard development, drain poorly leading to root rot.
You might be able to get away with using it IF you mixed at least equal parts of good compost in with it but even then you will have drainage problems. It simply stays too wet and that is what is causing your yellow roots
You can learn all about the various mixes available for use in containers over on the Container Gardening forum here.
Manure, while not recommended for container use can be used in small amounts but you will still have to feed the plants weekly as the nutrients wash out every time you water.
As young as your plants are I would dig them up, replace the mix and replant them.
Dave
I have a "strictly greenhouse tomatoe" that I keep in a 10" pot. I keep it bonsaied. And it does well and gave me several tomatoes this winter. I have a pepper plant as well. Still, they would much prefer to stretch out their legs. Beans I would think would do well, as will your lettuce, and probably basil. (Beans don't like fertilizer and tho their roots are very stringy in the ground, they don't have a huge overall root system.) The squash tho....hmmm....I don't know. Squashes like to grow shallow and wide. They like lots of fertilizer and water, and besides that their favorite pasttime is cell-division. They love to grow big! I'm curious if a squash would do well.
This year I will Bonsai some of my Tomatoes too! All of my Tomatoes (Cherry and Pear) are Volunteers every year. I must have well over 100 Volunteer Tomato plants this year.
I will start planting my Bean seeds, hopefully, within the next week or so, and continue planting several varieties of Bean seeds until the middle of June. That will give them a good four to five months of growing.
I experimented with planting Bean seeds too early this year, in February. Was still too cold at night. Now the nights are in the 50s-60s, and days are in the 90s.
Wolverine, why do you say this .... ?
"If you hold onto the bulbs you received they will be worthless by this fall. You are correct that they should have been planted last fall."
In what way would they become worthless; by sprouting too soon? (maybe answering my own question :)) but then why not just plant them if/when they do?
I always split my July harvest in two - half for the kitchen, half to plant in September, sometimes November, for next year's garlic. Obviously they stay usable for at least 3-4 months. And the garlic I have now is descended from cloves that were sown in early springtime for the first couple of years, before I learned better. They do absolutely grow bigger with fall planting but it's not essential.
I wonder, when would the nursery have harvested the bulbs sent to Treehugger, and how kept them viable till now? The more I think about this the more I think I don't know!
I find that chard gets very large and one in sq foot would be ample. On the other hand it cooks down a lot, like spinach, and I'd want at least 10 plants for 2 people. But I can harvest it pretty much all year round so maybe I need more to keep up the supply.
I hate tomatoes cages. I used them in the past they limit the tomatoes trees from spreading its branches and producing more tomatoes. Beside it is a pain the A getting to the plant for care like fighting insects, fungus or fruit rotting. I am back to the good old tomatoes sticks and I can control it in any manner.
Radishes are funny critters. They will germinate awesome, but how they grow is a coin flip. I was never able to grow decent radishes......too leggy. But the soil at my wife's home was perfect. She just throws seeds in the ground and gets perfect radishes. A friend of mine used to grow them big as beets.
Thanks all. The taller plants are to the north and west of the radishes. The strawberries are east and south; they are starting to sprawl but they are not over-shadowing the radishes. I have observed the bed at different hours of the day and see no real shade over their location.
May be the peat moss is it. The other bed where the radish did ok is just a mix of various materials. I think the bed contains bagged compost, bagged "garden soil", some wood ash from fireplace, potting soils from abandoned containers, and possible others.
I know the peppermint is going to be an issue, but so is my 7 year-old daughter when I take it out. I am going to make do until I get her a small bed put together for just her choices.
A couple of summers ago as I was poking among the heavily-straw-mulched potato bed looking to nick a few new taters, I discovered a nest of baby bunnies in the middle of the bed. (My beds are about 18" high, no obstacle to a rabbit!)
Hm. I pondered.
The result of my pondering was to lift the nest, babies & all, and relocate it to the edge of the cornfield (well, it was soybeans that year). So, I knew it was unlikely that mom bunny found her offspring; most likely a night-prowling critter did (we have raccoons, skunks, coyotes, possums, the occasional fox, etc.) but, hey -- "cycle of life" and all that.
Previous occupants here (we moved in 5 years ago) had a chocolate lab and a couple of cats. No problems the first few years in the garden; apparently it took the varmint population several years to react to the absence, but for the last couple of years now, they're baaaaack...
We do have a couple of hawks that visit periodically. I cheer them on. Neighbor behind us has a pond and I did not tell him when I saw one of the redtails fly off with a big ol' bullfrog dangling from his claws! I like the frogs, too, but hate the rodents more!
I have a real problem with pill bugs in my compost-rich garden boxes. They like freshly killed plants, so rather than eat a live plant little by little, they gather around the stem and eat right through until it's severed. Even with relatively large plants. I've seen them try it with full-grown squash plants, but they are unsuccessful at killing larger, sturdier plants. Then once the plant has fallen, the village comes to feast.
Sluggo Plus is an organic pellet that you scatter around susceptible plants, and it really does work. You have to keep at it, though, since water reduces its effectiveness over time.
Dennis, today was perfect for planting. I got out of bed at 7 am, planted for 3 hours (9 beds), and finished in my parka as rain started falling. This was mostly lettuce and collards, but also broccoli and komatsuna. It has now drizzled for 8 hours, with steady 50-55 temperatures, this is perfect planting weather, specially ahead of the coming mid-70 week.
I hate early Sunday rises as much as anyone, but I hate more fussing over transplants during and after planting. In the case of lettuce, I just scratched trenches, laid semi-bare root plants in, and covered with some of my (semi-dry) planting soil, knowing that rain would finish the job for me. I can not do as good a job as nature did for me, to ensure no shock to the plants.
I have very little in the ground. The weather gets lovely for a bit and then a couple of days later, BAM! a terrible freeze. Last Tuesday was forecasted to be a low of 30 and it got to 17 instead. Then, back up to nice again, high 30s. I have to say, I hate spring. These wide swings are not good for the plants and not good for me either!
I side dressed it last Tuesday with 1 cup in the middle of each row of Blood meal that was 12-0-0. Do you think that was enough or should I add some more?
1 cup blood meal should be ok depending on row lengths, one tablespoon per plant is about my average dosage. Some folks side dress twice, when plants near 6-10" high and again at tassel peek stage.