24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

From Cornell
- bacterial spot, tomatoes
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4) Spray plants with streptomycin before transplanting. After transplanting, apply a mixture of mancozeb plus copper before the occurrence of disease. Protection is most needed during early flowering and fruit setting periods.


Like Stu said - any length but 6-8" is average. More importantly - "not good" how? Bitter? That is a watering issue. Too little water or inconsistent soil moisture levels. Your watering regimen needs adjustment.
Also keep in mind that there are probably 50 different varieties of "burpless cukes" so the specific variety can make a difference - we need the variety name.
Dave


I suggest you do a search on this forum, e.g. type "watermelon ready to pick" in the search box....You'll find lots of great information.
But in short, the "generic" signs are:
1) a drab/dull skin appearance begins to show on the melon,
2) tendrils closest to the melon will be brown (...in my case for my AU Producer melons the tendrils should be dried up),
3) belly of the melon begins to yellow,
4) a hollow sound when thumped (this one is a bit tricky... a real hollow sound can indicate an overripe melon.
5) some say press on the nose end of the melon; it should give a little (but FWIW, I have not found this to be a reliable test)
6) when the curly stem (shown in your photo opposite the melon) turns brown,
7) perhaps there were other indicators (but I believe these were the main ones).
Not all melons have the same ripeness indicators... In my case for my AU Producer melon I go by 1 and 2, and 3, and 6, and sometimes 4...

I live near boston. I'm not an expert tomato grower and I don't have a quick fix, but I thought I'd write down my observations from this year for comparison.
This year I planted tomatoes in the ground and in 10 gal pots. I planted cherry and slicing tomatoes. Tomatoes were started indoors from commercial seed.
The pots were filled with high quality loose compost. I am guessing that because of loose soil and warmer soil than ground and more sheltered conditions from wind, the potted toms developed more quickly than tomato plants in the ground. Potted tomatoes are bigger.
This year I must have watered tomatoes in the ground only 4 times lightly in the long bouts between rain, and leaves did not yellow. I expect to water more often In july and august maybe. Nice sheets of tropical rain last night though.
I've watered the pots often as the soil would dry up quickly, even though I know the general warning of not watering too often. I also did get yellow leaves in potted plants. Thanks to a couple of posts here I looked more closely at the soil humidity. What I thought was a good watering was too fast and did not really drench soil well enough. I am now at the conclusion that I should water less often and more thoroughly... a slow long watering that would cover more soil area and would also as a result be less frequent. Or water from beneath. But I have not put this into a practice long enough to see the effects.
I noticed this year how much of a difference nutrients make. Though i added compost and fertilizer in the fall and spring, my grounded tomatoes were uniformly paler than potted toms in end of June. After adding a few inches of high quality compost, the grounded toms a week later looked considerably more healthy.
I hope this helps. Even though the experts here keep repeating themselves, it's good to experience their advice, to take notice and be proactive with tweaking growing conditions. I don't how bad your yellow leaves are but for me it doesn't seem to slow down the tomato plants too much to call it quits.

Transplanting of mature producing plants usually doesn't work. But what would you loose?) Only thing is, I wouldn't put them in the pots. I would use burlap, or even plastic sheet. Dig the plant out with as much soil as possible,place on the sheet and wrap. Then move and try planting without much disturbing root ball. No pot will hold roots grown in the bed.

You can tell male from female. Females will have a nice "round bump" right behind the flower in the shape of the future pumpkin, squash, watermelon etc. and the male will just have the stem. The plant will start with one or the other. Usually, male flowers but this year, my blue hubbard decided to put out females first. It happens. In case the bees aren't doing their job for some reason, you can hand pollinate. Here's a link on how to do it: http://green-change.com/2009/06/04/hand-pollinating-pumpkin-and-squash/. Also includes photos of male and female flowers. I do this with all the cucurbits I grow if I can tell the bees haven't been around. HTH


be careful of fertilizers...plants that use them would produce a lot of aromatic amino acids. This can attract insects. Moreover, using a fertilizer with high N content would result to lush vegetation and less fruiting.
Try changing your soil pH by putting baking soda solution. Say 1 tablespoon per liter. If it is a fungal infection, the solution can kill the fungus. On the other hand, for viral and bacterial matters, try using a copper based agri grade solution.

njitgrad, Sounds like something I should do, also considering adding some more raised beds. I do have some where I grow Cilantro, Arugula, herbs, lettuce, leeks. We raised our potato plants but only 6 or 8 plants came up. Even in raised areas, they rotted before they came up. I have many cabbage and broccoli starts but can't get them in the ground.
Two nights ago we had a stream running from our neighbor's property and pond thru our property and pond and continued down to the next property and pond. The engineers had fashioned the ponds to flow from one property to another so every Spring we have crawdads, etc. going from one area to another. The grass carp especially like these "little floods".

I ordered most of my vegetable seeds online last year from US-based Fedco Seeds company which now ships to Canada.
I'm quite happy with their selection. I sometimes buy seedlings from the local nurseries– specifically eggplants and sweet peppers, but I only buy the varieties I know .

I made a few pics today of "Masha" cucumber plant. As you see, every leaf node produces female flowers and each of them grows into a cucumber. Even in the nodes where I already picked a cucumber, a new female flower appears and a new cuc is growing:
the same plant - a bit lower part:


It may be wise for you to spend the time & effort to write down exactly when the sun reaches the soil directly in the area you intend to plant. Then write down the exact time the sun is no longer reaching this planting area.
This should give you an idea exactly how much direct sunlight is reaching the area you intend to staring working the soil in. IF you are not getting enuff "direct sunlight" you can direct your efforts to an area which does or abandon this garden idea all together.
I think this time is better spent BEFORE spending any time, effort, or money improving the soil. PLus it is always wise to start working the soil the year before planting.
Start with a professional complete soil test - not one of those home test kits.

Hi,
We did spend this weekend in preparing vegetable bed and putting in some seeds and plants. We planted cucumber seeds (eating variety and Asian cooking variety) and wide beans towards fence side. Also planed tomato and spinach seeds towards wall side.
We prepared vegetable bed without using any wooden boards. Removed all the grass, leveled the area, added top soil and miracle-grow. Hoping to grow cucumber and bean onto fence. Please let me know if there are any sun light reflectors which can be attached to wall to improve lighting situation.
I am also working on watering situation. We have a sprinklers towards wall which are part of one single zone. This zone also has few other sprinklers which needs to be switched to other zone. Then we can program this zone for watering frequently.
Is it going to work? I took this picture on 2:00 pm. By that time, light is already moved out from area around wall.



I notice you're not answering where you live, so I'm guessing you've figured out that you put them outside way too early. :) Generally, you don't want to put tomatoes outside until the LOWS are consistently above 50 degrees, and peppers until the LOWS are above 55. That's typically a good couple weeks after your last frost date, unless your long range forecast says differently. Baby those damaged plants as an experiment to see how they do, but don't count on them as your main crop; you may not get much from them even if they survive. Since you say you have others in pots that are still OK, put them outside when the daytime temps are in the 70's, but bring them all inside at night until the lows are above 50-55. Peppers like it warm, warm, warm, even warmer than tomatoes. Good luck!


<So without ever trying it are you saying my belief is rwong?>
As I said above I have always grown my pumpkins sprawled along the ground, supported by the ground, on hay or straw mulch. Even then I have had some broken stems just from a large pumpkin growing off-balance and rolling over. I have had birdhouse gourds break their stem when hanging from a trellis (an arched cattle panel), had honeydew's stems break before I can get a sling under them, Even the weight of a tomato on a branch can cause it to break.
So yeah, I wouldn't count on any vining plant to support the weight of its fruit in many situations.
dave

The mix for containers has to be very well draining. Potting soil might just be too water retentive. Check out the 511 mix in the Containers Forum. I'm not sure what the best time to plant in GA is, but imagine as early in the spring as possible. March sounds right.





