23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening



I use a large shears- looks like a scissors on streriods. They are available at Walmart and various garden centers. The shears gives more accuracy in making a cut among the long leaves. I've used a knife, a corn chopper, and even a machete. The shears are my weapon of choice for just about every crop I need to cut, from bunched herbs, lettuce, onion (tops & roots), flowers and all those Cole crops.

<light tan wart like things growing around the joints of leaves and stalks>
Could you post a pic please? The joints are normally tan and slightly swollen in appearance so it may be normal. "Exploding stems" is NOT normal but can't say what could be causing it without seeing them. Any sign of pests? Do these "warts" rub off?
Dave


I don't know how, but I stumbled onto this thread:
It claims that ants were coming in after the aphids that were infesting the roots of her pepper plants, and I believe it. It makes me wonder if I had the same issue. I did not see any aphids but I could have missed them. If what I read was true, then the ants not only protect the aphids but actively move them from one host plant to another, spreading the problem. On the plus side though, the ants would also be a visible signal to the problem.
Going forward, I will keep this on my radar. Now, where did I put that magnifying glass?

<It seems that ants have such a halo of innocence that scarcely anyone could believe that they could do any harm. >
I can understand your frustration and heaven knows they aren't saints. But they aren't the evil denizens that the many "help! ants are destroying my plants so how do I kill them?" posts we often get here.
And in this case it's just that the odds so heavily favor the far more common causes and that the ants are just a side-effect of one of those other causes.
Sure ants can get out of control in some situations and in those instances you have to intervene. You do what you have to do. But the majority of the time ants are beneficial to the garden in so many other ways that in general they should be tolerated, even accommodated, whenever it's possible.
Dave


You can put them down anytime, but if you're waiting for seedlings, keep the layer thin. You don't want those seedlings to pop up under inches of mulch. Yes, wetting the mulch lightly would indeed protect it from wind, if you have a lot of wind, though the flakes will settle down into a more or less resilient but soft mat.


that is arugula and that has already started to bolt in cold Michigan too. So yes, it is normal. The leaves of that plant are perfectly edible, however. Want arugula for a longer time? Seed it in late august and eat it in the Fall. I plant it now because it gives me 2-3 salads, and it will reseed during summer, saving me the job of reseeding it myself.


What do I recommend? Well as I said above, I use compost, manured compost tea, and fish emulsion supplements. I grow organically as much as possible.
I never recommend Miracle Grow fertilizers for many reasons but many folks use them - lots of discussions here about the pros and cons of various fertilizers - so the choice of fertilizer is always yours. What are you using to feed all the other vegetables? The same thing would probably work for rabe.
But "high" in nitrogen is seldom necessary. Any well balanced fertilizer works fine whether it is organic or synthetic as long at it is used properly.
Dave


Wait. Don't start with the kiling agents. If the aphids prefer the dandilion roots, DON'T pull the dandilions, and espcially don't try to treat them with some kind of toxic herbicide or aphid killer. If the aphids are on the roots of the dandilions, that does NOT mean they are on the roots of your other plants. It is possible that keeping the dandelions, the roots of which would be the aphids favorite food, is helping to keep the aphids from looking for plants that they don't like as much. If there are aphids on your other plants, the best thing you can do it let the dandelions thrive, so the aphids don't have to move to less-preferred food sources. Watch this video - and pay attention specifically right after 4:00 minutes - and keep watching. He will talk about DANDELIONS!! Listen to the experience. https://vimeo.com/98940910

I think it gets to the uppermost roots. I don't think it necessarily gets to the taproot. Weeds with taproots are what we're talking about here. By the time the uppermost roots are dead, there is no circulatory system that's going to get it to the taproot. In fact, weeds that aren't actively growing are pretty tolerant of glyphosate.

To answer the question of the OP, Roundup degrades naturally in soil on time scales of weeks to months. I don't think I'd want to put it on my soil two weeks before planting seeds as I'd guess that after that time, there would still be some left. No, I believe that's incorrect that it is gone in a "matter of a day". Ain't so. So whether you're worried about the health effects of it, or the effects on your plants, I don't think it would be smart to put it on your soil for vegetable gardening.

I would cut a rectangular section out of the fabric about an inch, inch and a half wide and as long as the row needs to be. I thought about doing this with carrots but decided not to (and I probably should have considering all the weeds I just pulled) since I like to use organic mulches.
Rodney





I'd definitely add more potting mix to them so that the plants at least have the full 5" of depth to work with. Most roots, even shallow rooted plant, need at least that much. I'm assuming these have the drain holes in the bottom? Some models do and some don't. If not you'll have to make them.
Dave
Oh, I thought you were going to use them for sprouting transplants, which would involve carrying them around. But if these are just to be used as planter pots for growing, I guess the rigidity is less of an issue because they can stay in one place. But they are kind of small. Not sure where you are, but thin black plastic in small pots can be asking for trouble in high sun and heat.