official veggie gardener's thread

[spidey07]

Not spraying for worms on corn is fail. Use the tools at your disposal. Otherwise bugs will take theirs.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Are Fresno chilis supposed to be red or a yellowy green? I always thought they were red but the label shows them as a yellowy green. hmmm

Is it normal for tomatoes to get some yellowing/browning on the leaves closest to the ground? The rest of the plant looks extremely healthy and it's massive.

On a few tomato plants a lot of the leaves in the lower sections have gone brownish and have crusty black speckles on them. What is this?


My anaheim chili plant is doing awesome. Already harvested a few and roasted them. They taste next level delicious!

 

[spidey07]

Remove this lower leaves of tomato. Soil contact leads to fungus which is what you're seeing.

Do now. Do tomorrow. No soil contact. Blight.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Well my veggie garden consists of one Armenian cumber plant in a medium sized pot on my small patio. The weather is warming up and the patio gets sun all day long so I'm hoping to see some cucumbers soon.

 

[BoomerD]

Are Fresno chilis supposed to be red or a yellowy green? I always thought they were red but the label shows them as a yellowy green. hmmm

Is it normal for tomatoes to get some yellowing/browning on the leaves closest to the ground? The rest of the plant looks extremely healthy and it's massive.

On a few tomato plants a lot of the leaves in the lower sections have gone brownish and have crusty black speckles on them. What is this?


My anaheim chili plant is doing awesome. Already harvested a few and roasted them. They taste next level delicious!

Fresno chiles will be green until they mature...they they turn red. Mine look very much like pointy jalapenos.

It's not unusual for tomato plants to have a few yellow leaves at the bottom. Just make sure any tomatoes on those branches stay off the ground. For me, it's more slugs than fungus, but both are common problems from tomatoes sitting on the ground. Brown with black speckles sounds like fungus. Remove those asap.

 

[fatpat268]

Not spraying for worms on corn is fail. Use the tools at your disposal. Otherwise bugs will take theirs.

What do you mean by that? If there's a proven way to keep these bastards off without chemicals, I'll do that.

The thing is, I checked my crop nearly every day, and I never noticed a sign of infestation until I pulled a cob off.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

and sure enough, tomatoes everywhere!

temps came down starting friday and its been upper 70's low 80's since. ive got TONS of little green tomatoes on all my plants.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

tomatos and squash plants are starting to go nuts. may have first squash by the weekend.

 

[spidey07]

and sure enough, tomatoes everywhere!

temps came down starting friday and its been upper 70's low 80's since. ive got TONS of little green tomatoes on all my plants.

I was at Lowes and was really surprised at their heirloom tomato selection. Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, etc. All the best ones. I picked up some German Queen based on description alone, plus I like potato leaf maters. These fruits are supposed to be huge, 2 pound+.

 

[spidey07]

tomatos and squash plants are starting to go nuts. may have first squash by the weekend.

Once squash takes off, be ready. It's like they're in a race to see who can produce the most the fastest. You can almost watch the fruit grow.

 

[snoopdoug1]

Anyone know what spaghetti squash looks like? Is it simply a vine for hte plant with fruits that grow off the vine?

I've got a raised garden that is surrounded by cinder blocks. I was wondering if I could grow some spaghetti squash near the outside of the raised bed, and then guide the vines on the cinder blocks, having the squash themselves grow on top of the cinder blocks (to keep them off the ground). Would this work?

 

[BoomerD]

Anyone know what spaghetti squash looks like? Is it simply a vine for hte plant with fruits that grow off the vine?

I've got a raised garden that is surrounded by cinder blocks. I was wondering if I could grow some spaghetti squash near the outside of the raised bed, and then guide the vines on the cinder blocks, having the squash themselves grow on top of the cinder blocks (to keep them off the ground). Would this work?

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...DZiALgu-T-DA&ved=0CDgQ1QIoAA&biw=1249&bih=799

 

[HydroSqueegee]

wtf. blight already...

some starting on the lower leaves. gonna trim everything up.

 

[snoopdoug1]

wtf. blight already...

some starting on the lower leaves. gonna trim everything up.

what does "blight" look like? I'm afraid I might have some? Does it turn the leaves yellow?

Sorry for all my questions - this is my first year trying this

 

[snoopdoug1]

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...DZiALgu-T-DA&ved=0CDgQ1QIoAA&biw=1249&bih=799

I was afraid I might get that... I did google image search it, but it's hard to know how big/wide those leaves are. Would they grow on top of the cinder blocks?

I guess I can try it and just see what happens.

 

[spidey07]

what does "blight" look like? I'm afraid I might have some? Does it turn the leaves yellow?

Sorry for all my questions - this is my first year trying this

Normally, yes. Having leaves in contact with soil and not enough air moving through the plants (planted too close together) contribute. It's a fungus. High moisture also contributes. Not much you can do when you get it other than remove the leaves and try to prevent spread to other plants.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

dont forget the black spots

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Normally, yes. Having leaves in contact with soil and not enough air moving through the plants (planted too close together) contribute. It's a fungus. High moisture also contributes. Not much you can do when you get it other than remove the leaves and try to prevent spread to other plants.

So for future years would putting a fan on a timer to gently blow air past all my tomatoes for a bit at night help? All my plants are at least 75% blighted at this point, I don't think there's any saving them. Is there preventative maintenance that can be done before planting?

 

[spidey07]

Fungicides specifically targeted for that blight. If it's in your soil you'll need to rotate crops. If you always have a problem with it then rotatation is best, if you can't do that then just hit them up every week/two with fungicide from the get go.

I pulled half my maters (still seedlings basically) because I got early blight and didn't want it in the soil or spread.

Remember that famine in Ireland? That was blight.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Are there particular crops that are better to rotate than others? Or perhaps non food crops? I live in Vegas so my options are pretty limited. Even the winter can be difficult because nasty and unpredictable frost will do a lot of damage. I lost both of my citrus trees last year to an early frost while we were gone over Thanksgiving.

I think it's safe to say the soil is already contaminated. The tomatoes exhibited pretty much the same problem last year but at the time I thought it was just them dying off because I couldn't get their watering down appropriately with the amount of sunlight and heat they were getting.

How toxic are fungicides? I really don't need to use pesticides at all. I get some leaf damage from bugs but it always stays pretty minimal so I never spray anything. If I start using fungicides will I be able to stop after X number of seasons or are the spores in the ground and I'm forever stuck.

 

[spidey07]

You might want to google around then. I haven't had it so bad that it affects most/all plants which leads me to believe it's in the soil. You have to break the cycle somehow and that means planting stuff that isn't susceptible to that fungus - meaning ZERO nightshade plants. Funcides are fine as long as you read the labels and don't take any fruit for the specified time, that would be my recommendation if you're showing symptoms already in an effort to save the plants and have them produce well.

Or, best course of action, contact your local agriculture extension and do a soil test as well. They can give recommendations based on your area best. Or even go to your local GARDEN store and talk to them, notice emphasis on garden store, not home improvement store.

 

[SandEagle]

i'm a huge cilantro lover. i put it on everything. the ones from grocery stores dont compare to home grown cilantro. try it. very strong in scent and flavor

 

[spidey07]

i'm a huge cilantro lover. i put it on everything. the ones from grocery stores dont compare to home grown cilantro. try it. very strong in scent and flavor

Tastes like soap to me. I can't eat and spit out anything that has it. Shame because I have a really nice herb garden and the wife loves it.

 

[BoomerD]

I don't mind cilantro. It works well in Mexican food, but my wife is allergic to the stuff. We still grow a bit every year for use in Mexican recipes...she just takes a Benadryl to counteract the effects.

My blueberries are almost done for the year. By the time I get the last berries off, I'll have gotten a couple of quarts from my 4 small plants. Strawberries are doing well, but SOMETHING keeps eating them before I can get them. Not sure if it's ants, (garden is full of them) or slugs. I have non-toxic slug/snail bait...I just haven't put it down yet.

My Fresno chili is covered in peppers, some over 3 inches long...but still green. I ate one a week or so ago. Good flavor, no heat...yet.
My "Mammoth Jalapeno" has several peppers, a couple already turning black...but they're not as big as I had expected. Good flavor though, and decent heat.
My Serrano still only has one small pepper on it, but tons of blossoms, and my other jalapenos all have lots of blossoms, but no peppers.
My bell peppers are doing well. All have at least a couple of decent sized peppers, one pepper is over 4 inches long...on a plant that's barely 12 inches tall.
My Sunsugar cherry tomatoes have been producing ripe fruit for a few weeks. Delicious little orange balls of sugary sweet tomato flavored goodness.
My other tomato plants were planted MUCH later than the sunsugar cherries, and most only have blossoms...but one has a couple of small green tomatoes forming.

 

[TraumaRN]

Few updates on my garden...

My Titan sunflowers are just that...titanic. So far most are now a good 4 feet tall and showing no signs of stopping, the trunks are already as big around as the handles on my garden tools so I'm looking for these to easily be 10, maybe 12 feet tall within a month or so given their growth rate so far.

My celery is massive for celery at least and I should be able to start blanching them in a few weeks for harvest probably mid to late July.

Most of my corn is already knee high. Should be a good year. I took a big risk and planted early and so far it looks to be paying off.

I've suddenly got an influx of cucumber blossoms lots of them, shouldn't be long on that.

My purple beefsteak(Paul Robeson) and yellow with green stripes cherry tomatoes(Topaz) have tons of blossoms and even a couple tomatoes forming.

My San Marzano paste tomatoes aren't nearly as tall as my other tomatoes much much stockier but blooming nonetheless.

My sweet peppers and black Hungarian peppers all have blooms, my cuban seasoning peppers aren't blossoming but they are late season peppers anyways.

My cantaloupe is sending out running and looking to bloom soon.

My snap peas are just about done producing, my mustard greens are all gone(read: EATEN YUM!) My cabbage is heading, my collards and kale are getting big, my cauliflower is just about to head and my pole beans are climbing like crazy!

My lettuce is mostly gone, I sold a bunch of it to delighted co-workers and neighbors.

My watermelon is sending out runners and will probably start blooming in a week or two.

Onions and leeks all looking good as well.

And last but not least my summer patty pan squash is growing insanely quick and looks to bloom within the next couple days.

I love this time of year gardening wise!