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Eeyo posted:Could just be radish that bolted ("bolting" just meaning putting out flower stalks). If they got significant heat then it's not impossible they just bolted early. Maybe if they weren't bred carefully you could have got some weird radishes too. I just looked at the order listing and it does list them as autumn seeds. Ooops. Live and learn. Our season has been really weird. When I planted them in early February, we had a mix of 30-75 degree days and it seems like our rainy season is about a month later than usual.
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May 27, 2020 17:14
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Finally finished my wicking planter. We're hitting winter here so it's not getting a ton of sun at the moment, going to put a bunch of lettuces, radishes, and Asian greens in and see if anything takes. In summer is when it should be really useful, will get a few hours of morning sun in summer, then be shaded by the house in the afternoon.
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May 28, 2020 04:05
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Sockser posted:Yesterday afternoon, I was down to 5 corn seedlings The bastards got my last corn seedling today And pulled out a radish seedling, only to find there was no kernel underneath So I'm back to thinking it's grackles Going to go buy an owl statue tomorrow
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May 28, 2020 05:27
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Jhet posted:So remember a while ago when I said that patience is the hardest thing to learn in gardening? I did this the first year I started tomatoes too. And then a little bit again the second year. Buy, you were spot on. I don't think any of them have done anything in a week, but at least only 1 of them died. What gets me, though, is the rest of them that were still in the starter seedling trays have been outside this whole time and have still done nothing. I knew they'd stall for a bit when hardening, but I started that days before I did the transplants, yet still nothing. Maybe they got a little taller/leggier, but that's it. I did move a couple into larger containers to see if that helps, but, like before, almost NO root systems. Just basically one long root that goes into the bottom tray where I bottom-water, very few "side" roots so it takes almost none of the potting soil with it when I take it out. None of the ones I moved into larger containers have died, though it's only been a few days. Considering we've had over 90 degree heat the past couple days, that's impressive they're still alive. But is there something I should be doing to encourage a little more lateral root growth? Maybe stop bottom watering and water from thew top? But for some insurance, I did buy 5 starter from a local plant buy/swap group on FB that are MUCH further along than mine. One of which is even the same variety as one of the ones I am trying to grow, the other 4 are sort of random ones, but I tried to get a mix of cherry/grape, medium sized for maybe canning, and thern a big fat one for slices on sandwiches and such. DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 14:15 on May 28, 2020 |
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May 28, 2020 14:13
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DrBouvenstein posted:Buy, you were spot on. I don't think any of them have done anything in a week, but at least only 1 of them died. Are you fertilizing at all? Something like half strength liquid MiracleGro is good for seedlings, and if they have a few real leaves you can probably push them a little with full strength.
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May 28, 2020 14:22
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Are you fertilizing at all? Something like half strength liquid MiracleGro is good for seedlings, and if they have a few real leaves you can probably push them a little with full strength. I'm not, I'll look into it though, thanks. My container potatoes, on the other hand, are gangbusters: May 15:  Yesterday:  I have a few other containers with potatoes, but these are the best, but they're all doing well. I know I won't get a ton of potatoes, but this was more of an experiment to see if it worked, they were just store bought taters that were growing eyes. Sort of doing the Ruth Stout method, adapted for a container. Planted them in a few inches of soil, and as the plant grows, covering it up with leaf mulch. I also started some green onions from kitchen scraps...they've kind of been stalled at this point for like a week:  Probably too crowded in that small pot? Can I transplant them? Also wondering if it's ok to chop off some of the greens to use as green onions?
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May 28, 2020 15:21
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DrBouvenstein posted:I did move a couple into larger containers to see if that helps, but, like before, almost NO root systems. Just basically one long root that goes into the bottom tray where I bottom-water, very few "side" roots so it takes almost none of the potting soil with it when I take it out. None of the ones I moved into larger containers have died, though it's only been a few days. Considering we've had over 90 degree heat the past couple days, that's impressive they're still alive. I’m only right because I’ve made a bunch of mistakes trying to do it myself. The best thing to do is plan to start the seeds a month earlier next year in better conditions. Bottom watering is good and they’ll send down that tap root before filling out the rest of the soil. It just takes time at about 70 degrees with enough light (I set for 16h) for it to do it efficiently. Adding some watered down fertilizer is a good thing to promote better growth too. Starting mixes don’t normally have any nutrients, unless they’ve started adding it. I have fertilizer that I use for hydroponics normally that has a good balance I like, so I’ll use that in my watering on an infrequent basis. And I won’t lie, I’ve definitely bought backups before. It’s a great solution. Greatest trick out there.
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May 28, 2020 15:47
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DrBouvenstein posted:
Getting ready to flower? I don't think those are crowded at all. I generally use my kitchen scrap alliums as green onions. I'm letting this batch all go to seed cuz I'm curious as to what I'll get.
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May 28, 2020 15:52
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Hi gardening thread! I bought/planted some plants from a local nursery It was 80 the last couple of days but it looks like we're going to hit a couple of days with lows in the mid-40s early next week. Do I need to be concerned? I have kale, cauliflower, tomatoes, zucchini and sweet peppers, fwiw. The plants I started from seeds a few weeks ago were doing great in my laundry/furnace room were doing great the first week, then just stalled out, and then when I began putting them outside for a little bit each day to try to harden them off they all started dying and it looks like the last few that I had alive, that I planted on Tuesday, are all going that way too. About all I have left are some tomato seedlings that are looking iffy. 
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May 28, 2020 16:24
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Man, my sweet peppers are doing badly. There's one healthy one out of the five, the rest are pale and getting eaten by bugs. I pinched off the damaged leaves, there's buds on the main stem so hopefully they take off. I think I didn't do enough to harden them off. Friggin plants. \/\/ Saaaammme, except mine were even more bleached out. I think it was that span of cold nights we had that did mine in. I'm only just south of you in central Jersey. We're due a few more cold nights next week too, according to the weather man. I'm babying my one hot pepper and only putting that out full time in June. \/\/ Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 28, 2020 |
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May 28, 2020 16:42
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Something is wrong with my pepper plants. I have 10 peppers and this discoloration/shriveling is very noticeable on 3 of them - two habaneros and one "orange sun" bell pepper. I've only noticed it since they've moved outside to the roof. They were grown from seed inside from mid-February to about two-three weeks ago, then I hardened them off for like 5 days (probably too rapid?) before moving them to the roof as seen in the photos. I'm in Brooklyn, so zone 7b. Nighttime temps have mostly been above 60 since they moved out, except one night when it was in the low 50s. They get full sun from approx. 8am to 3pm. Also worth noting: they are right next to a vent fan for a restaurant, which is pretty loud. I put them there because it's the sunniest bit of the roof and also slightly sheltered from wind compared to the rest of the roof, but maybe the sound/vibration is bad for them? (I'm sure there are plenty of other explanations but it seemed worth mentioning.)   
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May 28, 2020 16:57
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I think I'm just going to have to give up on tomatoes at this house. The only sunny spot suitable for a vegetable garden is right by the back fence and the people behind me have a bunch of native sunflowers on that fence line. The sunflowers act as fantastic breeding habitats for the spider mites and a small breeze brings them right over into my garden just completely wrecking the tomatoes. Three years ago I lived a few streets over and this was the sort of harvest I was getting off of three plants (one black cherry, two black Krim):  We couldn't eat them fast enough! This year I have 11 plants (three black krim, six San Marzano, and two black cherry) and I've gotten two cherry tomatoes and a small black krim. Spraying them off daily is only delaying the decline and anyway the plants don't like being that wet all the time. The San Marzano have a good bit of green fruit on them but they aren't ripening quickly and we're entering the heat of summer where even stuff on healthy plants is going to have a very hard time ripening. Maybe I should just go all in on flowers. I have several front beds that need attention. Or cucumbers and peppers, those always did well until the heat set in. Beans got absolutely worked over by the mites.
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May 28, 2020 18:05
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DrBouvenstein posted:I'm not, I'll look into it though, thanks. How long did it take your potatoes to produce leaves? I'm doing almost exactly the same thing but I'm sitting here getting... loving nothing out of them.
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May 28, 2020 18:37
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Quiet Feet posted:Hi gardening thread! I bought/planted some plants from a local nursery It was 80 the last couple of days but it looks like we're going to hit a couple of days with lows in the mid-40s early next week. Do I need to be concerned? I have kale, cauliflower, tomatoes, zucchini and sweet peppers, fwiw. The kale and cauliflower will be fine, most brassicas are pretty cold tolerant (something like kale can withstand frosts at the end of the year, but will eventually get killed with sustained sub-freezing temps). The others prefer warmer weather. A frost would for sure kill them, but I'd guess that they could survive a cold night or two if they're hardened off and are fully integrated into their spot.
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May 28, 2020 18:58
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showbiz_liz posted:Something is wrong with my pepper plants. I have 10 peppers and this discoloration/shriveling is very noticeable on 3 of them - two habaneros and one "orange sun" bell pepper. I wouldn’t worry too much until the sun starts heating up the roof too much and you end up boiling the soil. Maybe see if you can raise them off the roof a couple inches for air flow underneath. The new leaves all look healthy, and that looks like sunburn or freezing on the leaves where it’s dying back. They look like big healthy plants, but I’d be careful they’re getting enough water. I don’t think the vibrations will be an issue until the fruit it ripe and you’ll probably drop a few from it if you don’t pick them soon enough. I’d worry if the new growth is also getting burnt like that, only because that roof is designed to reflect sun back up and it might be getting the bottom of the leaves, but it probably won’t be a problem until July/August I’d guess. Jhet fucked around with this message at 19:04 on May 28, 2020 |
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May 28, 2020 18:59
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CommonShore posted:How long did it take your potatoes to produce leaves? I'm doing almost exactly the same thing but I'm sitting here getting... loving nothing out of them. Going back through my photos, it looks like I planted some potatoes with a few inch long eyes/roots growing out of them (don't know the technical term?) on Apr 25. I don't have a pic of when I first say leaves, but the ones in the May 15th photo aren't hat big, so I would guess somewhere between May 5 and the 10th is when the leaves first sprouted up in that bin. I have another smaller container with a potato that took much longer, I didn't notice leaves until later, (planted at the same time), though it's shot right up since then: 
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May 28, 2020 19:01
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DrBouvenstein posted:Going back through my photos, it looks like I planted some potatoes with a few inch long eyes/roots growing out of them (don't know the technical term?) on Apr 25. thanks. I'm presently being... patient... but I might end up replanting soon if I don't get something 
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May 28, 2020 19:04
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Jhet posted:I wouldn’t worry too much until the sun starts heating up the roof too much and you end up boiling the soil. Maybe see if you can raise them off the roof a couple inches for air flow underneath. The new leaves all look healthy, and that looks like sunburn or freezing on the leaves where it’s dying back. They look like big healthy plants, but I’d be careful they’re getting enough water. I don’t think the vibrations will be an issue until the fruit it ripe and you’ll probably drop a few from it if you don’t pick them soon enough. Thanks! drat, I hadn't even considered the heat reflection thing. I will think about how to raise them off the surface, and maybe get something black to put underneath them so the heat doesn't reflect up.
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May 28, 2020 19:08
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Are the big fat brown caterpillars I find wrapped around the stem or eating the top of my tomato fruits hornworms or fruitworms? They seem to only be on my pink brandywine and I’ve already lost my 2 biggest fruit to them  I guess more regular Bt is the answer?
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May 28, 2020 19:20
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showbiz_liz posted:Thanks! drat, I hadn't even considered the heat reflection thing. I will think about how to raise them off the surface, and maybe get something black to put underneath them so the heat doesn't reflect up. I grow a lot of potted things on my stone patio, and the heat island factor is very real, especially if you get temps over 100 like we do. You might want to look into options for shading them during the midday heat. I still haven't figured out a great solution.
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May 28, 2020 19:44
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Rapid potato growth continues to be loving cool. 5/2:  5/6:  5/22 (from all 3 seed potatoes):  5/28  : It's so nice to have flowers in the tent. Also, bumping this in hopes that somebody has thoughts: Shine posted:We'd like to try the compost thing, as we toss a lot of trash/scraps/cardboard shipping boxes that seem like they'd be good compost fodder.
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May 28, 2020 22:57
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Shine posted:Also, bumping this in hopes that somebody has thoughts: I have no comparable experience but I've had great experience asking about local growing conditions of my neighbors, see if anyone near you looks like they're hiding a compost bin anywhere?
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May 28, 2020 23:10
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I literally just bought a $5 30 gallon plastic container from Lowes, drilled a bunch of holes half way up, threw down some dirt and leaves, and then started tossing all my kitchen scraps, coffee grinds, charcoal ash, whatever in there. Flip it around every once and awhile, don't let it get dry, and poof, I had compost. No problems at all until it froze in the winter.
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May 28, 2020 23:13
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The tomato-picking song has been playing in my head the last 20 minutes because, well, homegrown tomatoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogRIHuKuK3I 
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May 29, 2020 01:31
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Do any of those asian greens tolerate long, hot, humid, gulf coast summers? Much as I love all the summer vegetables, I miss greens during the summer. Something dug up my first planting of asparagus beans, so I may try some of those varieties you mentioned. We're talked about various greens from seeds from Kitazawa, and I have a bunch currently in my garden. For whatever it's worth, I've got patches of two kinds of their bok choy going: Shanghai and what they call Chinese Pak Choi. All of the Shanghai plants have bolted and none of the Chinese Pak Choi plants have. I've been cooking with both of them and like them both fine--the Shanghai stuff has a stronger bok choy flavour and the Chinese Pak Choi is sweeter and..juicier? In any case I like both of them flavourwise, just throwing out an update about the bolting situation.
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May 29, 2020 02:43
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Are the big fat brown caterpillars I find wrapped around the stem or eating the top of my tomato fruits hornworms or fruitworms? They seem to only be on my pink brandywine and I’ve already lost my 2 biggest fruit to them Exterminatus. Your choice of method. Easy enough just to pinch them in half. BT won't fix a current problem but it can slow them down in the future.
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May 29, 2020 02:53
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I’m looking into getting some drip line, pressure regulator, and a timer to better irrigate the garden this year (Hardiness zone 6a for reference). Can anyone recommend any particular systems, or all they all pretty similarly good/bad?
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May 29, 2020 04:46
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SubG posted:Just re-replying to a post from awhile back with an update. This tracks with my experience with those varieties. The Chinese Pak Choi will bolt when it gets a little hotter from my experience, but it won't do anything once it gets summer hot. I was able to get a second planting done in the fall, but the plants were smaller and didn't do as well. The Shanghai did really well in my hydroponics though.
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May 29, 2020 04:49
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Jhet posted:This tracks with my experience with those varieties. The Chinese Pak Choi will bolt when it gets a little hotter from my experience, but it won't do anything once it gets summer hot. I was able to get a second planting done in the fall, but the plants were smaller and didn't do as well. The Shanghai did really well in my hydroponics though. Oh, man. This is great to know. The Pak Choi I had in my hydro system bolted because it was in a hot garage. I'll have to dig further into that when I'm ready to do my next seed order.
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May 29, 2020 06:57
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poeticoddity posted:Oh, man. This is great to know. The Pak Choi I had in my hydro system bolted because it was in a hot garage. I'll have to dig further into that when I'm ready to do my next seed order. To be fair, my hydroponics were in a cooler basement in the winter where the average temp was about 64F and I didn't heat the reservoir. So it did really well (until I was overwhelmed by aphids whenI went away for 2 days). Other seeds that did pretty well from Kitazawa in the net cups were the Japanese Chard Umaina. I also did a bunch of microgreens (we liked the radish Triton Purple Stem microgreens the best, but the Upland Cress did really well too). The Chinese Pak Choi did fine in the hydro, and if you're going to have hotter ambient, it's probably the way to go too. It spread out more than the Shanghai which had a really tight leaf pattern.
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May 29, 2020 07:16
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Anybody have tricks for acidifying potting mix? Mrs. Chiller came back from a provisioning run with a couple blueberry plants and regular potting mix. I've attempted to cobble together something to keep them alive. We used some old bricks from a poorly constructed bed we tore off the front of the house, and a couple old tires to make kind of large pots/ beds. I heard evergreen needles will eventually help acidify, and we have a few massive Douglas firs, so I mixed a bunch of needles in with the potting mix, and whatever I could scroung up of old soil from out front, to fill out the beds. I've given a light dusting of sulfur, and dug it in around the plants, and put a thick layer of fir needles down as mulch. Fingers crossed they live. Everything I've read says don't fertilize for the first year, just let it grow roots and get established, so I've held off on adding anything else. If I'm worried, could I add a bit of vinegar to the watering can? Please share your general blueberry tips.
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May 29, 2020 07:37
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Pine needles don’t work. In the short term, you can use vinegar or citric acid. Elemental sulphur, sulphuric acid, or ferrous sulphate will provide lasting acidity. Platystemon posted:So, you want acid in your soil.
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May 29, 2020 07:42
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Hey great! Thanks for the info. I've got a bunch of vinegar, and have already added some garden sulfur for long term. Once it's time to feed, I've got ammonium sulphate, and some miracle gro for evergreens and acid loving plants.
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May 29, 2020 08:01
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B33rChiller posted:Please share your general blueberry tips. It’s Fir sawdust and bark that is used for growing blueberries. The needles won’t do much of anything except act as mulch. I’m not sure they’ll even give the structure to the soil that you want either. But as long as it’s fairly light soil and drains well and stays wet enough too, it’ll be happy. Blueberries are so particular and lazy about rooting. It’s also important to break up the root ball well so it must grow out too. Adding the sulphur should be enough, I sometimes add coffee grounds, but it was more for me than anything else. They just go into the compost anyway. Use a lot of pine bark mulch. Like way more than you think you need. Then in a few years buy some netting. If you don’t, you won’t get any berries.
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May 29, 2020 08:13
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The ammonium sulphate reminds me. The whole soil pH issue can be worked around with specialty fertilisers. The primary reason plants demand particular soil acidity is that the nutrients have different mobility at different pH.  Iron is notably immobile in neutral or alkaline soil. Most plants excrete chemicals from their roots to help move iron. Blueberries cannot. They are specialised for acidic soil. Other plants would have the same issue with other nutrients in acidic soil. Now, chelated nutrients, those are already wrapped up in an organic molecule and mobile in a wide range of pH. If you feed the blueberry bush a fertiliser labelled “for acid‐loving plants”, with chelated nutrients, it will be growing in normally inhospitable soil, but it will do fine because all the essential nutrients have been specially prepared for it. When it stops getting a regular supply of such fertiliser, its health will decline, unless, by that point, the soil has been acidified.
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May 29, 2020 08:26
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OSU_Matthew posted:I’m looking into getting some drip line, pressure regulator, and a timer to better irrigate the garden this year (Hardiness zone 6a for reference). Can anyone recommend any particular systems, or all they all pretty similarly good/bad? Also curious about this, although i only have 3 6'x4' raised beds. I'm thinking about doing lines of soaker hoses attached to pvc distribution lines.
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May 29, 2020 12:47
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Jhet posted:I’m only right because I’ve made a bunch of mistakes trying to do it myself. The best thing to do is plan to start the seeds a month earlier next year in better conditions. Thanks, I think I'm going to get some fertilizer today. Not only have none of the transplanted ones done much of anything, it looks like my beans and peas, that initially shot right up, have stalled for almost a week (to be fair, the past few days have been very unseasonably hot, but I tried to make up for it with good morning and evening waterings.) I'm am very unhappy with the garden blend soil I got. I think it's too much top soil, not even organic matter/compost. When I water, it makes the muddiest mud that ever mudded, and then dries into something that would petrify a dinosaur. Very hard and dry on top, with those large cracks you see in like salt flats (not that dramatic, but you get the gist.) I at least mixed in some peat moss to most of it, but should have mixed in more or gotten some additional compost. Hopefully, by the end of fall, I'll at least have a bit of my own compost I can till into it to get it better prepared for next year. More questions time. Here I have the biggest of the starters I bought as "backup":  It's a Super Sweet 100, which is one of the ones I am also trying to grow from seed. I think it's indeterminate(?), so as far as pruning, I should get rid of these suckers, right? I'm not 100% up to snuff on a "sucker" vs an actual branch/vine that the tomato needs to, you know..make tomatoes, but I think they're generally the ones that try to grow in those little nooks? And should I also prune those two bottom branches? They are slightly yellow, though likely transplant shock, but I also heard it's good to not have leaves too close to the ground to help prevent disease and pests.
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May 29, 2020 16:59
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Went out and bought owl decoys yesterday, then replanted my corn At least four seeds dug up by morning Guess I’m just waiting for amazon to ship me some bird netting, then, and then replant my corn for the fourth time
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May 29, 2020 17:03
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Motronic posted:
I've been delaying starting in order to get the 'perfect' setup but that will never happen. So, how big of a pile are we talking about to make it an easy thing.
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May 29, 2020 17:21
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goodness posted:I've been delaying starting in order to get the 'perfect' setup but that will never happen. So, how big of a pile are we talking about to make it an easy thing. I don't know just how small you can go, but I can tell you that a 10 foot wide pile of shredded leaves that ends up being about 4 or 5 feet tall after they get "rained down" will happily cook all winter long in the northeast and end up with some really nice compost by the next spring. I do turn it every few months when I remember to - that definitely helps it go faster. But on that scale when I say "turning it" I'm talking about this: 
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May 29, 2020 17:48
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