24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

Agree that pics of both the plant and leaves will help with the ID. I've got no idea what it is.

Rodney

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
glib(5.5)

mongrel tomato is my guess. The plant should prove such hypothesis 100%.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
toxcrusadr(Zone 6a - MO)

Sorry I didn't get back to the thread sooner. I'll take a couple photos and post them. I haven't checked under the leaves for critters, but other than that I haven't seen evidence when working around the plants. It has been a weird year weather wise and the bugs have been busy. We had a massive Japanese beetle infestation on one single tree (a linden) which has never happened before.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
LoneJack Zn 6a, KC

Tox

Please keep the Japanese Beetles on the east side of the state :). I guess it won't be long before I will be dealing with them.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
delbar75(7)

I planted a water melon plant by the name of yellow doll. The rest of my garden was destroyed by a falling tree. Any way, I got three melons that weighed about 10 pounds each. Will try to get some star brite seeds for next year.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Edward Thompson

Where can I get the best seed

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
emily52138(6b)

Laceyvail Yes it appears I have scurf. I didn't grow a lot of sweet potatoes and most off them will end up frozen and or given away to family and friends so I'm not worried about long term storage. Does scurf cause problems beyond cosmetic and storage problems?

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
emily52138(6b)
jnjfarm_gw, That's exactly what I'm planning to do next year with my peppers and eggplant. The sweet potatoes will get a nice 4'x8'x1' bed all too themselves.
    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Sugar production in plants is a direct conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide and water to sugar, by applied sunlight. That's photosynthesis. So I suspect you need carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. It happens in the foliage, and not in the fruit. I guess in general a plant with the healthiest and most aggressive foliage, with maximal sunlight, will produce the most sugar. As you say, nitrogen is essential for lush foliage, so you could say that nitrogen is essential for sugar production. Of course, you could overdose with nitrogen and just burn the plants ...

It's certainly true for melons that plants with fewer healthy leaves make less sweet fruit. Of course, the sugars that are photosynthesized by the plant get divided up in the plant, and concentrated in the fruits. So it stands to reason that a plant with more fruits is going to have fruits that are less sweet.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
ZachS. z5 Littleton, CO

Temperature is also partially responsible for upping the sweetness of fruits and veggies. Cooler temps increase the brix level because the plant starts to convert starch into sugar, which is why sweet corn picked in the early morning, after several hours of nighttime temps, will be sweeter than ears picked right before supper time, potatoes stored in the refrigerator become sweet, and also why some hardy greens are better picked after a frost (increasing the sugar level acts as an antifreeze to protect their cells from bursting).

So, for example your tomato, at least one of the myriad of factors could be micro climate. Perhaps plants in one part of the yard, say way out in the back 40, experience somewhat cooler temperatures than ones planted right up next to the house.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

OP seems a little coy about the product. Here it is Seed mat. Still no info as to how roots penetrate while weeds do not. Maybe it is simply that the mat excludes light?

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

I suspect that we're not going to get a lot of details about this stuff because they're probably proprietary, and what's going on here is really a marketing survey. This is an example of what I was skeptical about in the previous seed tape thread that I started. Everyone says it works, but I can't really understand why it should. All I get back is "take my/our word for it!"

As a design engineer at heart, I'd really like to understand how to optimize this concept which, as I said before, might be pretty advantageous for small seeds that you want to distribute uniformly, especially after presoaking.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Ohiofem(6a Ohio)

I really like Giant Marconis. The plants are small -- 2-3 feet -- but very prolific, and I start harvesting them in early July. I grow them in 10-gallon containers. I use them raw and grilled in place of bells. They have a lot more flavor. They are up to eight inches long and 2-3 inches wide.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Peter (6b SE NY)

My Ace are still aceing it up. There are 7 medium sized bells just on this one branch.

Biscayne also still producing exceptionally well.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
ZachS. z5 Littleton, CO

It is definitely a fungus, a mushroom. It is a bracket, or "shelf" fungus, but there's a brazillion kinds of those, so I don;t know which one.

In general, mushrooms are not dangerous to your garden, the "mushroom" or "fruit" that we see are actually only just the reproductive parts of the fungus, with the rest of the organism, the part that eats and digests and everything else is "below ground." The umbrella shaped ones in particular are actually the reproductive parts of the soil mycorrhizae, so having them around is a good sign (unless it's a symptom of overwatering, that's a bad sign lol).

That type of fungus is usually typical of wood, old tree stumps and trunks, piles of firewood, untreated lumber etc., though it looks attached to some concrete right there. I would safely say it poses no threat to your garden plants and if you want to keep it around, it looks kind of neat, but if not, just like you did, knock it off with the shovel.

2 Likes    Bookmark     Thanked by Mickaël Savafi
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Scott Williams 9B

I will also say I sprayed all the tomato plants with a hose to wash off as much salt as possible and then for about an hour today we got monsoon like rain. The tumbling toms from the picture look better now although I had to peel off some dead branches. Of course, this is the third time the plant has nearly died and even though I have gotten hundreds of flowers I have only gotten 1 tomato. It may be the heat since I am in central florida.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
A J(9A)

"Gardening is so frustrating in florida i swear."

No offense, but you sprayed salt on a plant without understanding what may occur. Take some responsibility for your actions/ignorance. A controlled release fertilizer with calcium + water is all you need to have success. If you don't want to worry at all, only plant the most disease/drought/etc tolerant varieties. I wish you luck next year.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Jillian Glew

Garden is about 20' x 20'. I'll have plenty of mulched leaves soon enough... What about all the straw? I went a little heavy with it. My thoughts was to just spread it around to prevent weeds, then pile leaves on top of that.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ

Straw is a good mulch, I use it a lot but I like to use the vacuum attachment on the leaf blower to shred them up first (running over with the lawn mower works too. Make sure to attach the bag to catch the pieces.) Straw is difficult to break down in the soil so I recommend you pull it back in spring, not turn it in. Keep reusing it until it begins to [finally] fall apart.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

You're welcome! Thanks to Jean for affirming the ID!

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Jean

They're natural residents around here. I find them every year at my place. But they're very tiny and sort of blend in with the mildew, so they're easy to miss.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
glib(5.5)

It depends on the zone, but Early Girl is great. The most productive tomatoes are not meaty, BTW.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Be sure to check out all the "variety recommendations" posts over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here.

Dave

Tomatoes forum

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
bkgshops

My mom plants peppermint plants & I'm getting ready to go put some peppermint oil soaked cotton balls now that the lil buggers found my garden & took over. Give it a try?!

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Marianne W (zone 10A)

Probably won't work. Get a trap and bait it with something durian or jackfruit flavored. You'll start having a lot less rats after a while.

friggin rats. Reminds me, I better start trapping again, my citrus will be ripe soon.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Glad to hear all the family is doing well Jay and now with all the kids back in school and after school activities kicking into high gear I'll bet, like me, you are missing all the garden assistants. I got spoiled having my right hand guys and gals helping gramps in the gardens this summer.

Thanks glib - good to know.

Dave

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)

Agreed, the watermelon ones are really good in the winter. I prefer to peal them. I also sold out last winter, so I bumped up my planting.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
wertach zone 7-B SC

Thanks to all!

Will Neem oil kill them? My local extension service (Clemson) recommends Neem and I have some.

As soon as I get some rain so that I can plow deeply I plan to turn it under and part of the yard so that I can smooth it out. That way I will hopefully get anything that may be in the ground nearby.

    Bookmark    
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Dust with diatomaceous earth. (No, don't just dump it on the ground.) My leaf-footed bugs were controlled that way. Not clear that will be of any value in the fall, but certainly in the spring. I agree about mobility. These bugs aren't just hibernating in your own soil, but everywhere around you.

    Bookmark