24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

What do you mean by garden box and what is the "dirt"? Is it a pot or a like a raised bed? Many people use a soil-less potting mix in pots. That or if it is raining like it has been in MD for the last week, all plants are waiting for the sun before they grow. Lastly, if the box is one of those 4' x 4' raised beds that are becoming popular spacing could be a problem as well.

With just that info the problem could be many things. All those crops in a "little garden box"? Size of this box please - H - W -D and does it have a bottom in it or is it sitting on dirt and how many of these plants are in it. Could you post some pictures?
The box is filled with the "same dirt used to start seeds"? Seed are normally started with a seed starting mix but that is never used for growing on plants. Specific name of what is hopefully a soil-less potting mix and NOT dirt please?
What nutrients have you provided for your plants? What and how often have you been watering? What color are the plants?
Dave

Where the OP is (Zone 6b, northeast PA) it is a sign the soil has warmed enuff for planting (50* F). Beans should have no trouble then.

I'm going to replant the beans and possibly cucumbers this weekend now that's it warmer. I dug up a few bean seeds lastnight as they were very brittle and fell apart in my hand into a few pieces. I dug up a cucumber seed and it was starting to sprout so I will wait a day or two for them and see if they appear.


If a plant is blooming to early, well it depends on the plant. And it is more about preventing that from happening than doing anything about it. If it is a squash/pumpkin/gourd blooming in a small pot to be transplanted (< 3"), then the plant likely is too far gone. You want to try to prevent that from happening by timing your transplanting. There are many various descriptions of when to do just that, however a good general rule for all plants is that if the plant slows or stops increasing in size it is time to transplant. As mentioned with those vining crops it is often best to direct seed, and you certainly don't want to transplant more than once. Now stuff like tomatoes are more forgiving. If you forget about them and they start flowing in a little pot, then you can just pinch of the flowers, stick them in the ground and they will likely recover just fine.


I am growing my tomatoes in containers because I do not have a garden I am growing them on my balcony. I am using wood as mulch but the plastic seems intriguing. what type of plastic you think is best? Can I use heavy duty garbage bags? Or is there a specific plastic?
Thanks!!

The thing on the main rib of the leaf looks like it might be scale. Scale will cause sticky residue and black sooty mold. Scale is much worse than aphids because the adult insect hides under a waxy covering that can't be penetrated by most insecticides. Don't over react though. On a small plant you can probably scrape them off with your fingernail or a Qtip soaked in rubbing alcohol. You just have to be diligent about getting them all. Here's some scale insects.


No definitely not IMHO... a huge mound of soil is not actually helpful, and if you are burying 12-18" of good healthy foliage above what you already hilled you are only going to be killing good foliage. I am fairly sure for Yukon Golds you just want to prevent greening, so if the original potato you planted is 8-12" underground I think you are good to go. You can add a little more, a few inches, for good measure.
But hilling potatoes is often debated and if anyone knows something about Yukon Golds that I don't feel free to chime in....

I agree with Peter -- sounds like you have enough soil covering the spuds. In my experience, YG's do not set particularly high, so one hilling followed by mulch works well.
Grass clippings are fine for mulch. So is hay or straw (though in my area, straw brings invasive weeds, while hay does not.. Hay just brings the weeds I already know and love.) So if you want to cover the hills some more, you can use a mulch cover. I normally wait until after a good rain to apply the mulch, since it will block some rain, but also hold moisture in.
Some people only use mulch, and no soil mounding. So with hilling once, not twice, you'll be using a combination of methods.
Sounds like you're off to a great start, with them so tall already!

It is interesting, and I applaud your diligence in tracking everything. I keep telling myself I should quantify instead of relying on my memory of lasts year's production....
I think it's somewhat limited in use due to the fact that the cultivars are not interchangeable, i.e. you can't substitute a Marconi for a jalepeno. Nor does it compare growth habit and plant size with fruit production. (For example, it would be useful to know that of two bell varieties that averaged about the same pounds of fruit per plant, one took up significantly more room than the other to do so.)
Do you have any favorites in regards to taste?

Wonder, Quadrato, Canary and Purple Beauty are all bell type peppers. The plants were all about the same size, and smaller than any of the other plants. They could in theory be planted more densely because of this, but in my test they are planted equidistant.
Marconi, as a sweet pepper, certainly isn't a substitute for jalapeno, but I do find it to be an excellent substitute for bell peppers, and this year have dropped several of my bells in favor of planting more Marconi.
I can't detect a difference in flavor of green peppers, so heat and texture are more important. Fully ripe is always more flavorful, but even then, the sweet peppers all taste about the same, independent of color. My tests were originally to discern what I thought was the best tasting pepper of various heat levels, but since the flavor is so similar between like types, it became more about texture and yield.
I don't have exact size measurements, but all bells in my experience have been about half the size of the larger plants (Marconi, Anaheim, Pablano). Pepperoncini and Jalapeno are in between the two.

Here is a photo of my tomato plant.

Here are the spotted leaves.

I bought this fungicide, says it helps with powdery mildew, spider mites, flies, etc... for fruits and veggies, flowers etc. Use once weekly or once biweekly directly on the leaves and "run-off" I really dont have run off.

This is the fertilizer I was using. For flowers and veggies/fruits.

This is the instructions on the back of the fertilizer. I used as directed. Says can be used every time water is needed or once every 14 days I think. Comes with a double sided spoon. 1/4 tsp for daily watering per gallon and a 1 tbs side for watering every 14 days in a gallon of water.

I really hope these photos help to determine what I am missing and what steps I need to take going forward.
Thanks!

Sorry that is some kind of special container tomato I really have no experience with this. I also do not know what your spots are but they do not look like fungal disease to me. Hopefully someone with this kind of experience can give you advice. Good luck!


In some locations, earwigs are serious garden and crop pests. We need to remember that. Click HERE for some good information.
mfran, you should set up a trap now. The arthropods that I mentioned earlier aren't exactly out in the open. For every one you happen to see, there may be hundreds that you don't. The traps are a good way to tell if these things exist in serious numbers....or not.
Of course, your spinach is perfectly safe to eat.

Chayote are perennial in climates where the ground does not freeze... I take it that you are in one of those areas? ;-) They get stronger each year for several years. I grew them when I lived in California (in both San Diego & San Jose), but never for more than 3 years, so I can't vouch for their performance long-term. In San Jose, I deposited a thick layer of leaves & grass clippings to keep the root zone moist, and to replenish nutrients... roots grew up into the decaying leaves. The established vines produced about 50-100 squash each.
In spite of the small flower size, I observed several different bees visiting the flowers... so I doubt that any special pollinators are necessary. Not sure why yours are not setting. Sometimes mine flowered for a short period without setting, the female flowers begin opening first, followed by the males. You have two plants, so you should get good pollination.

Just a suggestion... next year just plant seeds directly in your garden. Squash plants (zucchini is a kind of squash) generally germinate and start growing very quickly from seed. When you plant transplants, they will suffer a setback during the transplanting,and take a while to start growing quickly again.
I would bet if you do this experiment: plant a seed and a transplant (like ones found at home depot/lowes/walmart) at the same time, that the seeded one would pass up the transplant in a few weeks.

I plant squash 1 plant every 4'. I would thin them, but you don't have to. Six squash plants, if they grow and produce normally, will give you enough squash for very close to the rest of your life.
As for pollination, if you have squash bees (Peponapis & Xenoglossa spp.) pollination will never be an issue. Honey bees actually are very poor pollinators of squash plants because the pollen is generally too large, and flowers close to early, before the honey bees even wake up and get going for the day. Squash bees As the Pepo in Peponapis suggests) are designed specifically for the job at hand ;). In fact, sometimes I grow squash only to ensure that I maintain my healthy population of P. pruinosa bees.


I realize this is a very old thread but for any future readers the minimum approved ratio of vinegar to water is 1:1 or 50% vinegar and 50% water. The correct ingredients for the recipe mentioned above is 3 cups vinegar to 2 cups of water not the other way around as listed above.
Dave


I live in Oregon, and the plans were about 8 years old. I had two of them. There was a big bush growing close to them which provided a lot of shade; too much I thought, so we cut it down. After that, the plants were in full sun, and it got really hot last year. I was thinking maybe that could be it, but I'm not sure. I have gotten another plant, and planted it a little farther away where it will get some shade. So far, so good. But could I have shocked the plants by taking away their shade?


Look up mycelium on Google or in Wikipedia and you will see images similar to yours. Mycelium are the "roots" of fungi. Wood mulch is a good host for for fungi when it is wet and cool. Most of it is harmless and will go away in dryer and brighter conditions. Here is a photo of the mycelium of the common button mushroom.


Perhaps it could possibly just be drought stress and overfertilization? Some closeups would be helpful to see any fungal disease better.
I think ran short of water some time ago. I.E.: drought stress