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CancerCakes posted:Every year I tell my self I'm going to prune my tomatos proactively, and every year I think I can't take those leaves yet it's too early. I keep telling myself I'll top my tomato plants, but then it pops a few blossoms near the top and how could I possibly reduce my yield!? Those are tomatoes waiting to happen! And then they grow 3m tall, slouch over the balcony and shed those tomatoes all over the street underneath.
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Jun 27, 2020 01:10
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Jan posted:I keep telling myself I'll top my tomato plants, but then it pops a few blossoms near the top and how could I possibly reduce my yield!? Those are tomatoes waiting to happen!
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Jun 27, 2020 01:17
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Having never heard of topping plants before this thread, I did a pretty halfhearted version on my 10 peppers where I just snipped them in random places, and I can absolutely see the difference now - those places are way bushier. I'll be proactive about it next year.
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Jun 27, 2020 01:26
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CancerCakes posted:Every year I tell my self I'm going to prune my tomatos proactively, and every year I think I can't take those leaves yet it's too early. Pinch the suckers while you still can so you dont get tricked when flowers show up later
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Jun 27, 2020 02:25
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I top my peppers, but I still don't prune my maters. They do get pretty messy, but... it's fine.
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Jun 27, 2020 02:32
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My chilis will grow into a big, beautiful tree. loling at people with “winter” Platystemon fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Jun 27, 2020 |
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Jun 27, 2020 02:34
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Last year I moved the tomatoes to the walls of my fence in a U instead of rows or cages like I've always done, and it completely changed the game for me. I just had to pick off the from the walls of tomato plants I tied up so like even though it was a mess it a was a controlled mess. When I had rows there'd just be parts that were lost and unexplored jungle where tomatoes went to die and animals made homes.
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Jun 27, 2020 02:36
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goodness posted:What light did you end up getting. For the main area, this one by Tmlapy, since it has the LM301B LEDs that were recommended. There may be cheaper options through sites like AliBaba, but after having issues getting an order confirmed (supplier said it was COVID-19 related, understandably) I just said "gently caress it" and got this instead since it was in stock on Amazon. We're thrilled with the light, and our setup in general. The potatoes went nuts, as did the lettuce. Since this light doesn't cover the upper shelf, and the potatoes ended up kinda shading the lower side shelf (where the lettuce is in the pic I posted), we added some simple Cree 120W equivalent LEDs from Home Depot to supplement. We also got a basic LED shop light to hang over the kitchen serving counter, which has been sufficient for herbs and microgreens. Almost time to yank out all the potatoes and fill this thing with peppers, spacemaster cucumbers, and tomatoes 
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Jun 27, 2020 04:39
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Any ideas what is up with these cucumber leaves?
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Jun 27, 2020 20:17
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I don't know if you're trying to stay organic or what, but that's likely something to spray BT on. Check the bottom of the leaves to see what's eating them.
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Jun 27, 2020 23:00
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Is it too late in the season to split a rhubarb plant? I'm heading to my mom's place tomorrow and she has two very large plants, and I'd like to split one it both so I can start growing my own, and it's my understanding splitting can be good for the 'mother' plant as well, give it some space or something.
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Jun 28, 2020 02:06
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For anyone keeping track of the saga of the mixed Asian greens from Kitazawa, the Chinese bok choy has finally nearly all bolted--I think there's one or two left that haven't, but most of them have. This is after several weeks of 90+ weather. I'll definitely be planting these guys again. I like the flavour of the Shanghai green bok choy better (using it mostly in soups) but the Chinese cultivar has been more productive and had a substantially longer growing season. All the other brassicas have also bolted, most long since, with the exception of the Komatsuna. That poo poo is showing no particular signs of slowing down, and it's producing huge fuckin' leaves. It also seems to be at least somewhat pest resistant, as it was growing adjacent to a bunch of mustard greens. The mustards got a bad case of whitefly right as they were bolting, but none of the Komatsuna seems to have been affected. I've been using it mostly in soups like the bok choy, and while I doubt many people would be doing cartwheels over the flavour, it's got a nice flavour somewhere between spinach and a mustard green, and it holds up fairly well to being blanched and then served in hot soup.
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Jun 28, 2020 02:55
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We really liked the Komatauna last year. I planted it again in August for a fall crop and it did okay then too, but not as well as in spring. I’m surprised it took that long above 90 for it to bolt too. It didn’t take that long for me last year. I think it was the first day above 85 and it bolted, but it was also very wet, so I don’t know how much those two things were related.
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Jun 28, 2020 03:55
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Motronic posted:I don't know if you're trying to stay organic or what, but that's likely something to spray BT on. Thanks, I'll check them out the bottoms. I was only really checking the leaves.
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Jun 28, 2020 14:42
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This is the first year I grew bok choy and even though it wasnt that warm it felt like it bolted immediatly
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Jun 28, 2020 15:55
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One of my tomato plants has this dense, bunched up mass of bullshit at the top and doesn't seem to be putting on any more height. It's maybe 18" tall right now. My picture sucks, but it almost looks like a massively fasciated blossom. Any clue what would cause this? It's my only Cherokee purple plant, so I'd like to see it pull through and do well, but at this point it looks like I'm gonna get a massive 4 pound supertomato and the nothing else, at least from the main stem. Luckily I've been lazy about pruning, so there are a couple decent suckers I can probably leave alone and let one of them become my new main stem  .
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Jun 28, 2020 16:54
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It's fasciation. Apparently common in cherokee purple? My purple calabash is doing it too. Not sure what the full implications are. http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=46936 https://laidbackgardener.blog/tag/fasciated-tomato/
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Jun 28, 2020 17:15
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I didn't know it could happen to the whole stem like that, but I'm kind of looking forward to seeing whatever frankentomato ends up developing  . I'll let a couple suckers grow and be less ruthless with pruning that one so I'll hopefully still get a decent yield.
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Jun 28, 2020 17:24
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Anybody have any experience with Aerogardens, or any of the knockoffs? From looking at them, it looks like the biggest con is that replacement pods are expensive, are they reusable at all? I'm feeling like having a year round herb and/or greens garden would be nice, I know there are DIY alternatives, but at this point in my life, time is more valuable than money.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:07
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First I had birds digging up my corn seedlings Then came the ongoing saga of aphids loving wrecking my broccoli and radishes Now we've entered phase three, where I guess a deer rolled through and chewed off the tops of all my pea plants Having a good year.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:09
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Im getting my first indeterminate tomato grow set up going and checking out fertilizers I have from previous growops, are either of these going to be beneficial for tomatoes? Ive got a gallon of hi-brix molasses and 5 gals of botanicare pure blend pro 3-2-4? It seems like I can use a really watered down version of the latter for my starts every evening watering? Edit: I guess these have a shelf life and a hole in the lid and left outside behind a shed for years probably doesnt fall within that Also whats this about epsom salt? Harry Potter on Ice fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Jun 28, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2020 18:14
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bengy81 posted:Anybody have any experience with Aerogardens, or any of the knockoffs? From looking at them, it looks like the biggest con is that replacement pods are expensive, are they reusable at all? Yes, the pod things are reusable (even if they don't tell you that). You can put whatever kind of seed in there you want. I've even seen "tomatoes" grown in one. We've had one for years and only ever used the pods that came with it.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:35
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bengy81 posted:Anybody have any experience with Aerogardens, or any of the knockoffs? From looking at them, it looks like the biggest con is that replacement pods are expensive, are they reusable at all? You can find knockoff replacements for pretty cheap. 50 for $15 or around there. They won’t be reusable, but the plastic cup part is. You just need to wash it after cutting out all the leaves and it’ll be fine to reuse. The insert is mostly coir which is fine for what you need there. Otherwise, they’re supposed to work really well. Just know that it’s easy for plants to crowd each other if you’re not paying attention. And the roots will eventually tangle together when they get big.
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Jun 28, 2020 19:28
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Can anyone suggest resources for year-long garden planning? This year (my first year) I just started all my seeds at the same time in February, which worked out OK since I only had peppers and herbs, but I probably should have actually started most of the herbs later - by the time they could be put outside, a lot of them were already too leggy. Next year I'd like to have more variety and I don't know where to start with plotting it all out. I'm not concerned about garden layout since I'm using pots and have more space than I can reasonably use - it's more about coordinating all the timings and having harvestable food for as long a period as possible. I'm in zone 7b if that matters.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:25
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showbiz_liz posted:Can anyone suggest resources for year-long garden planning? This year (my first year) I just started all my seeds at the same time in February, which worked out OK since I only had peppers and herbs, but I probably should have actually started most of the herbs later - by the time they could be put outside, a lot of them were already too leggy. Mother Earth News has a garden planner, as in when to start and plant your plants, and they send you emails based on your zone. That's what I use. Edit: Never mind, this is the last year for it.
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Jun 28, 2020 21:13
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If you're in the US you can check with your local extension office. They usually have guides on their website.
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Jun 28, 2020 21:30
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Jhet posted:I’m surprised it took that long above 90 for it to bolt too. It didn’t take that long for me last year. I think it was the first day above 85 and it bolted, but it was also very wet, so I don’t know how much those two things were related. Harry Potter on Ice posted:This is the first year I grew bok choy and even though it wasnt that warm it felt like it bolted immediatly
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Jun 28, 2020 21:37
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bengy81 posted:Anybody have any experience with Aerogardens, or any of the knockoffs? From looking at them, it looks like the biggest con is that replacement pods are expensive, are they reusable at all? I have one, the biggest downside is that you can really can't use all of the slots because of spacing issues. Lettuces, choys, sorrel and basil have done great so far, I don’t think I could fit more than one or maybe two tomato or pepper plants in my six slot version. Get the nutrients and replacement coir puff things off of amazon and put your own seeds in.
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Jun 29, 2020 21:09
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Platystemon posted:My chilis will grow into a big, beautiful tree. I did get three years of chillis out of one plant, overwintering in a Scottish bay window. That room, when not used, would be cool (chilly pun avoided), but would only fall to 14C or so.
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Jun 30, 2020 15:01
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Call for a DIY IK https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3930843
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Jun 30, 2020 15:53
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Back from vacation, I don't think my neighbors ever watered. Oh well. The squash paused, only one tiny guy died off. Tons of flowers, I have high hopes for June. The sweet peppers are very depressing looking, but might bounce back. The hot pepper thrived under neglect, looks best out of the whole garden. Bush peas are fuvked, gonna rip them out and replace, maybe with a mini eggplant start if I can get one. Vine sweet peas are amazing, a bit crispy but the few peas that are on are delicious. The Bitter Gourd is predictably taking over, but it and the vine peas are playing nice on the big trellis. The indeterminate tomatoes are also a bit crispy, but starti ng to set flowers. The bush tomato looks depressing, but it should come back. I pruned anything dead and pinched off suckers. Also have some sunflowers growing up, they're all looking strong. The herbs in my railing trough died, I'll just replace with starts. Pitty, the marigolds were looking nice. The companion marigolds in the Bitter Gourd and hot pepper bags are budding and flowering, yaaaay! There's four days of light rain in the forecast, that should get everything taking off again. Edit: Yaaaaaay! Bees are using my bee house! Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Jun 30, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2020 17:11
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Sockser posted:First I had birds digging up my corn seedlings Phase 4: Cucumber beetles and some sort of black fungus on my tomatoes Sprayed two gallons of neem oil yesterday Starting to feel pretty defeated
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Jun 30, 2020 17:35
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Sockser posted:Phase 4: I've been trying for three years to get sunflowers to work here, and something just ate all the unopened flowers off of them. I think it was a raccoon. And then one of my favorite pitcher plants started rotting out of nowhere.. At least with each setback I feel like I learn something that I can do differently next year. I have so much more respect for agriculture and those old gardeners who know all the tricks.
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Jun 30, 2020 18:07
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BaseballPCHiker posted:So trying square foot gardening this year in a raised bed and so far so good. We cant hardly keep up with all of the romaine and butter lettuce the garden has been producing. And we've started to harvest some chives as well. Sorry to dig this up from a few pages ago, but I went all the way on square foot gardening with tomatoes last year. I shoved 12 indeterminate plants into a 3x4 section of a 4x4 raised planter. It... worked pretty well, actually? I was hyper-aggressive with pruning and kept everything down to a single stem. I defoliated the entire bottom 18" or so once the plants were established. Didn't leave anything down there except the bare main stem. I supported the plants with weaved twine between T-posts rather than cages, since cages couldn't physically fit in the planters with that spacing. We had really, really good production, but you definitely couldn't tell one plant from another by even halfway through the season. The density of foliage also made it a little bit hard to harvest, especially with the poor plant stuck in the middle. I didn't have any big issues with diseases or pests, and the plants all kept producing until a few weeks after our first light frost. That said, you still need to make sure you have good airflow. I stopped worrying about airflow between plants (because it was impossible) and just focused on making sure the "rows" had enough space between them to breathe. Didn't go quite as crazy this year. I've got 9 tomato plants each in two 4x4 planters, which is only a little tighter than traditional dense tomato spacing. They're all growing really well so far and they're less of a jungle than the mega tight planters that I did last year, but I'm doing all the same stuff when it comes to aggressive pruning and supporting with a weave rather than cages. Aside from just murdering any and all suckers that you see, I think the most important thing you can do is defoliate the lower portion of the stem. Keeping dirt off of the leaves will reduce the likelihood that your plants pick up diseases in the first place, and that means you don't have to worry quite as much about your tight planters becoming plague dens. Start with the lower branches as soon as you've got healthy upper foliage and keep working up until you're sure that absolutely nothing can touch the ground.
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Jun 30, 2020 22:12
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Sounds cool. Would enjoy seeing a picture or two
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Jun 30, 2020 22:45
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ColdPie posted:Sounds cool. Would enjoy seeing a picture or two Everything is a bit of a mess since we just had three days of random, severe storms and torrential rain, but I ran out to snap a few pictures of one of the planters. Sorry for the poo poo quality, need to get around to replacing the camera lens glass on my phone so I'm stuck taking pictures with my iPad. I was also in the process of remulching the aisles when the weather went nuts, so there's drenched cardboard everywhere. Anyway, this is 9 tomatoes in a 4x4 planter. I think the closest three in this picture are beefsteaks and maybe a Jubilee at the end? One "row" is caged since I let them go a little too long and they were too unruly to weave without pruning more than I was willing to do at the time. This density is like the absolute most where I could fit cages into the planter. Those are 7' T-Posts holding everything up.  This is looking down one of the rows with some random basil in there. This got a little bit out of control with all the rain so it'll need more trimming.  This is the lower stem on one of the plants. Now that it's taller, I'll cut that leaf branch in the upper right and that plant in the middle needs its lower branches cut, too. I missed a sucker and this rear end in a top hat got crazy, so I just let it grow. Farther up I'm weaving around both stems separately to keep them kind of neat. The random leaves everywhere are hail damage, sadly.  Things seem to be growing pretty nicely right now and these plants all have decent fruit set, but I think I'm going to reduce my density again a bit next year. I'll probably still stick to roughly the same spacing, but I might just do 6 tomatoes per 4x4 and put something else in the remaining space.
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Jun 30, 2020 23:34
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We cant be stopped.. more.. moree 
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Jul 1, 2020 02:56
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We've had like 250-300mm of rain in the last 5 days. Our average for May-September is 300m. My loving plants are loving it though.
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Jul 1, 2020 05:05
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How do tomato transplants do in pouring rain a day after planting, asking for a friend  (my tomats are my only friends). At least they were a lot bigger than the ones pictured previously
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Jul 1, 2020 15:54
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:How do tomato transplants do in pouring rain a day after planting, asking for a friend That should be quite nice for them if they were already properly hardened off.
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Jul 1, 2020 16:13
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