What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

Thanks, Moonie! I just checked again and with all the bright sunlight we've had this morning, all the pepper plants have straightened up and most of the leaf-droop is gone.

As for mold and fungus, my first line of defense is dusting the plants with powdered sulfur. Mold can be residing on the stems and/or under the leaves and not be too detectable, so I try to dust as thoroughly as possible. Another possibility is that bugs laid eggs in the blossoms, and as the tomato develops, the larvae emerges leaving a hole in the skin, from which juices can seep, attracting the opportunistic bugs. To rule this out, I would try to inspect the bottoms of seemingly-good tomatoes to see if there are tiny holes there. The holes could be really small - for instance fruit flies are no bigger than black flies when fully grown. Good luck with this one. I'd really be upset if I started losing tomatoes.

 

[turbo]

On a less personal note, there was a long article starting on the front page of today's paper recounting the very wet weather we have been having and the lack of good "drying days", resulting in molds, fungal infections, etc decimating the state's commercial berry and green bean crops. Tending these crops or picking when the plants are damp facilitates the spread of infection, worsening the damage. I haven't picked green beans for a couple of days because the plants have been wet, and I know that some of the beans will be overly large, but that's the way it goes.

 

[Evo]

Glad to hear it's healing!

Any suggestions for something good to treat some sort of mold/fungus attacking tomatoes? I've lost quite a few tomatoes this week that seem to have developed a fungus/mold/rot on the bottoms of them (the fruits themselves), and then the bugs invade. I don't know what's safe to apply at this stage with fruits and flowers on the vines. I've been picking off every infected tomato and already pruned the yellow leaves (not sure if it was related or not at this point) to try to keep it from spreading, but since they're not in any cluster, I don't think that'll be sufficient. I'm suspecting mold or fungus just because of the timing of it starting up right after the plants were lying over on the ground and with all the heavy rain that they aren't getting a chance to dry between "watering."

Are you talking about blossom end rot, or something different?

Anyway, I used Ortho Garden Disease Control and it stopped the mold immediately. It's for fruits and vegetables, and for tomatoes it says use until zero days before harvest, so it's safe to use on them now. I just bought one of those large quart bottle sprayers with measurments on it (got this one at Home Depot) mixed a quart of it in the bottle and sprayed it on.

Are these just the tomatoes that hit the ground? They might be bruised also.

 

[Evo]

Glad to hear the peppers are recovering turbo! On that tomato branch that's bent over, try stuffing something to make a little pillow under where it's bent over the wire edge so that as it gets heavier it won't cut in two.

We've been under severe thunderstorm warnings off and on for two days. Sun is out right now but severe storms are supposed to hit this aftrenoon, tonight, tomorrrow... i keep dragging plants in and out and back and forth.

 

[turbo]

Be really careful with that Ortho Garden Disease Control, Evo. The warnings say that if you apply the stuff to any unlisted edible annuals, the plants must be destroyed and if you apply it to unlisted edible perennials, you must not eat any of the fruits for a year. I would stick with powdered sulfur.

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp;jsessionid=C6E999C966970144C8659ABA4389F946?bodyCssClass=scotts+blade+product+detailusage+en&tabs=usage&navAction=push&bodyId=product_detail_usage&proId=prod70450&title=p_product_general_usage_title&itemId=cat50092&id=cat50080

More thunderstorms in the forecast for today, possibly severe. I can't bring my garden inside.

 

[Evo]

Be really careful with that Ortho Garden Disease Control, Evo. The warnings say that if you apply the stuff to any unlisted edible annuals, the plants must be destroyed and if you apply it to unlisted edible perennials, you must not eat any of the fruits for a year. I would stick with powdered sulfur.

I only used it on cucumbers, but it's safe for tomatoes also.

More thunderstorms in the forecast for today, possibly severe. I can't bring my garden inside.

I can't move my grape tomato, so if we get hurricane force winds and hail, I'm throwing my body over it to shield it.

 

[turbo]

I only used it on cucumbers, but it's safe for tomatoes also.

I can't move my grape tomato, so if we get hurricane force winds and hail, I'm throwing my body over it to shield it.

Please don't throw your body on anything. The maintenance guys will find your body impaled on the trellis.

 

[Evo]

Please don't throw your body on anything. The maintenance guys will find your body impaled on the trellis.

 

[rewebster]

"The invasion of the fruit flies"

for what little I've picked so far (maybe about 10 tomatoes and 20 green peppers), the fruit flies are in full force in my kitchen already. pesky little things--

I have a way to get rid of some of them--get a container, like a fruit jar, pour/drop in a little sugar sweetened tea and a couple pieces of tomato and be careful to not touch the outside of the jar with this stuff and try to drop it directly on the bottom. They'll go into the jar--when there are some in there, cover in quickly and then uncover it outside. It may take a couple times, or days, but you can get most that way.

I was awake some late nights, like at 3 or 4 AM in California when visiting Newport Beach and in the La Puente/Whittier area in the seventies and helicopters used to spray Malathion almost over the whole two county area if they found 8 or 10 fruit flies anywhere even in a small area or one orchard. Some TV person or city employee was shown drinking the Malathion spray to show how safe it was as some people were alarmed--you could tell when they did it from the light haze on the cars the next day. I imagine they still (have to) do it out there.


The powdered/dust Sevin seems to have helped or maybe even stopped those mites. The soapy spray didn't work.

 

[turbo]

The tomato plants survived that last violent storm pretty well. Had a few slightly damaged branches and one that was badly folded, but the crop looks good. Damaged branch propped to basket with a white ash stick is in the foreground. Looking pretty healthy.

Training the squash to a fence is helping to keep vines, blossoms, etc off the constantly-wet ground. The squash is jealous of all the light that the garlic gets, though.

 

[turbo]

"The invasion of the fruit flies"

for what little I've picked so far (maybe about 10 tomatoes and 20 green peppers), the fruit flies are in full force in my kitchen already. pesky little things--

Here is a way to get rid of them - put some cider vinegar in the bottom of a drinking glass, make a cone with an open tip out of paper, invert that cone into the glass and seal off the edges with scotch tape. The fruit flies will enter the cone to get the vinegar and won't find their way back out. You can dress up the bait with a piece of over-ripe fruit and perhaps a little sugar, but cider vinegar works all by itself.

 

[Moonbear]

Grr...just when I thought my plants were straightened out, I just came back from a day out, and went to go water them only to discover most are toppled again! I'm starting to suspect there's another culprit at work here, perhaps the obnoxious neighbor who never keeps their dog on a leash? Of course I discover this AFTER running around errands all day, and since they were staying up I thought I didn't need to include a trip to the hardware store.

Maybe the hardware store is still open. I hope so, I don't want to let this keep going.

 

[Evo]

Grr...just when I thought my plants were straightened out, I just came back from a day out, and went to go water them only to discover most are toppled again! I'm starting to suspect there's another culprit at work here, perhaps the obnoxious neighbor who never keeps their dog on a leash? Of course I discover this AFTER running around errands all day, and since they were staying up I thought I didn't need to include a trip to the hardware store.

Maybe the hardware store is still open. I hope so, I don't want to let this keep going.

Sounds like a loose dog to me.

 

[rewebster]

sounds Like a Loose Dog to Me.

I Didn't Do It!

 

[turbo]

Who let the rew's out?!

 

[rewebster]

rrrrrrrr----ruff




<looks up with innocent puppy dog eyes>




hey, MB, can you tie the stakes to that fence?

 

[Moonbear]

The hardware store was open, so I got some more sturdy stakes and twine, drove the stakes into the ground and then wove a safety net all around my plants. I'm really annoyed now, because more branches are broken and my poor tomatoes are looking awful. It has to be a loose dog or something like that. I know it was wind the first time since I saw it happen, but no explanation for it this time. They were all standing up this morning when I left, and we've had a lovely, calm day...not too hot, no rain, no wind, nothing that should have knocked those plants back over. There's one person living behind me who seems to think their dogs are exempt from leash laws. Every other dog owner around here keeps their dogs on leashes (and I know several have complained about them too...their dogs don't listen to anyone and will run barking after other people's dogs, and they never seem quite friendly when doing it). It's just a matter of time before someone gets bitten by one of those dogs; they're not behaved enough to be off-leash (otherwise I probably would have never paid much attention to it if they were just playing fetch and not bothering anyone).

 

[Evo]

Is there any way you can call animal control on them?

After having to pay fines to bail their pets out of doggie jail, they might figure out that they should keep them tied up.

 

[NeoDevin]

I would recommend a bullwhip! Seriously, crack it at them a few times, they probably won't come back.

 

[Evo]

Lat night I checked the weather channel online forecast since they had been predicting severe thunderstorms for last night and today. I was amazed that they now said no rain last night or today. So, I left my plants out.

A pretty bad storm must have hit during the night. Both of my tomatillos had been knocked down, I lost two beautiful bell peppers (perfect 4 lobers) a jalapeno, and one new eggplant. Now the forecast calls for storms all day.

How could they make such a mistake in such a short range forecast? I mean they didn't even predict rain, their little forecast showed mostly clear skies. If I can't trust them to predict a few hours in advance, I don't know what I'll do.

Also, they had a heat advisory posted for today, said it would be 94F, todays high was 69F.

 

[Moonbear]

Is there any way you can call animal control on them?

After having to pay fines to bail their pets out of doggie jail, they might figure out that they should keep them tied up.

They're never out long enough for that to be feasible. I should perhaps clarify. The dogs aren't running loose all the time; most of the time they're indoors. But, when the owners have them out for walks/exercise, they leave them off-leash and seem to have no control over them. One of the former neighbors (moved out last year) would leave her dog off-leash sometimes to play fetch, but it was never an issue, because the dog always came right back to her and if she called, the dog listened and she'd put her back on-leash if it looked like a potential distraction was coming along. By the time animal control could get out here, the dogs would be back indoors, so not worth bothering them. The HOA here has rules against pets off-leash too, so they're more likely to get in trouble with the HOA first, especially if the other dog owners who they're chasing after complain. I don't really have a say with the HOA though, since I rent.

 

[Evo]

Are these people outside when the dogs are loose? If not, the dogs might accidently get into your car and you'd have no choice but to drive these strays directly to the nearest dog pound to get them out safely.

 

[rewebster]

Here is a way to get rid of them - put some cider vinegar in the bottom of a drinking glass, make a cone with an open tip out of paper, invert that cone into the glass and seal off the edges with scotch tape. The fruit flies will enter the cone to get the vinegar and won't find their way back out. You can dress up the bait with a piece of over-ripe fruit and perhaps a little sugar, but cider vinegar works all by itself.

I put that funnel on the top--works great!

I don't know why I didn't think that --I've seen old 'fly catcher' glass bottles made in a similar way, and all those fish traps too--thanks for the suggestion, turbo

 

[turbo]

I put that funnel on the top--works great!

I don't know why I didn't think that --I've seen old 'fly catcher' glass bottles made in a similar way, and all those fish traps too--thanks for the suggestion, turbo

No problem! Lots of pesky problems have simple solutions once you look close at the capabilities of the pests. I'm glad you like it. When I'm making salsas and/or canning/freezing tomatoes, we have fruit flies in the house, but the low-cost cider vinegar trap knocks 'em down pretty quick.

 

[rewebster]

it seems that that motion sensor that you have in your garden would have discouraged that groundhog--is he under the sensor's field of sight? or is it not feeding in the garden?

 

[turbo]

The motion sensors are probably not sensitive enough to detect the 'hog. I'm hoping that when I caught him on my front deck and charged him off with some waving and hollering, that he will not come back. I don't want to harm him, but food is pretty valuable, and he can damage a lot more than he can eat.

 

[rewebster]

The motion sensors are probably not sensitive enough to detect the 'hog. I'm hoping that when I caught him on my front deck and charged him off with some waving and hollering, that he will not come back. I don't want to harm him, but food is pretty valuable, and he can damage a lot more than he can eat.

have you got some bottle rockets?

 

[turbo]

have you got some bottle rockets?

Bottle rockets are illegal here, as are firecrackers. I have a Glock M20 in 10mm auto that is REALLY loud (think .45 ACP on steroids!) and that would scare him off, but for how long? I picked green beans today, and some of them have been gnawed on - I wouldn't mind critters eating one or two and moving on, but when I have to throw away a dozen or two, it ticks me off. The magnitude of the problem is not great yet - I still got 2 gallon freezer-bags full from that one basket of beans, but if they start nibbling on my winter squash (buttercup squash keeps in our cold cellar well into February) I'm going to get mad.

 

[baywax]

Bottle rockets are illegal here, as are firecrackers. I have a Glock M20 in 10mm auto that is REALLY loud (think .45 ACP on steroids!) and that would scare him off, but for how long? I picked green beans today, and some of them have been gnawed on - I wouldn't mind critters eating one or two and moving on, but when I have to throw away a dozen or two, it ticks me off. The magnitude of the problem is not great yet - I still got 2 gallon freezer-bags full from that one basket of beans, but if they start nibbling on my winter squash (buttercup squash keeps in our cold cellar well into February) I'm going to get mad.

Heck Turbo, up here we use RPGs just to keep the moose flies at bay. But they've (we've) banned certain fireworks in urban areas. You can still hear the deer cannons in the orchards mind you.

 

[turbo]

Very nice. Our tomatoes are just starting to ripen, but we have lots of mature bell peppers, and we'll have a few gallons of them to chop and freeze this weekend. It's probably time to process a bunch of the Hungarian wax peppers, too. They are getting big, and they are tasty - little hotter than jalapenos. We had a stir-fry last night made with some summer squash, onions, mushrooms, Bell pepper, a Hungarian wax pepper, a couple of small jalapenos (the peppers were culls from recent storm damage) and some slices of locally-made spicy garlic sausage. Served over Basmati rice... Mmmm! Summer is great!

 

[Evo]

Very nice rew! I need to pick tomatoes, I have a dozen regular tomatoes and 4 plum tomatoes ready to be picked. The Evo Child can't wait to sink her teeth into the tomatoes.

My gypsy peppers are setting fruit. I'm interested to find out if they live up to all of the hype about them.

 

[Borek]

For some reason I feel hungry now

 

[rewebster]

Very nice rew! I need to pick tomatoes, I have a dozen regular tomatoes and 4 plum tomatoes ready to be picked. The Evo Child can't wait to sink her teeth into the tomatoes.

My gypsy peppers are setting fruit. I'm interested to find out if they live up to all of the hype about them.

thanks--

put up a photo before/after you pick 'em------ahhhh, the delights of 'home grown' and someone to 'celebrate' it with


hey, turbo, I bought a big jar of FreeStone Hot Dill Pickles (since I don't grow pickles) and they're not too bad---I'm going to have quite a few green peppers too in a short while---have you ever made 'hot pickled green bell peppers' ? I thought about using the liquid off of the hot pickles.

 

[turbo]

For some reason I feel hungry now

OK, but not too much hot stuff just before bedtime. (mother hen!)

I should talk...one of my favorite midnight snacks is a pan-fried Applegate Farms all-natural ballpark frank with a buttered, fried roll, dressed with my home-made habanero relish and Farmer's Beer Mustard (horseradish is the #2 ingredient on the label). Darn! I just ate supper, and I'm getting peckish as the Brits would say.

 

[brewnog]

I've had about 1kg of tomatoes so far; tiny little crimson ones (smaller than cherry tomatoes) which are incredibly sweet. I made some tomato and plum chutney with them this evening. The peas are all ready now too, and I've got apples well on their way. Yay!

 

[turbo]

thanks--

put up a photo before/after you pick 'em------ahhhh, the delights of 'home grown' and someone to 'celebrate' it withhey, turbo, I bought a big jar of FreeStone Hot Dill Pickles (since I don't grow pickles) and they're not too bad---I'm going to have quite a few green peppers too in a short while---have you ever made 'hot pickled green bell peppers' ? I thought about using the liquid off of the hot pickles.

I suggest that you not use second-hand juices to make pickles. I use a traditional dill pickle recipe, and pickle jalapenos and garlic cloves instead of cucumbers. My wife and I love them on sandwiches, in salads, etc. If you want to try making small batches of pickles (and will process them properly so you don't die of Listeria or other ailments) get a traditional dill-pickle recipe off the Internet, and follow it slavishly, except you should put several very hot chilies in each jar before processing, along with extra cloves of garlic. I made these on a whim last summer, and though I usually prefer bread-and-butter pickles (and always make a couple of cases of those) the hot dill pickles disappeared really quick. I have one jar of those left that I'm saving for when my niece and her husband come over for a cook-out. The dill-pickled jalapeno rings are also something I must make lots more of this season. (wife's insistence on that one)

Edit: How easily the gardening thread turns into the food thread...

 

[Evo]

I've had about 1kg of tomatoes so far; tiny little crimson ones (smaller than cherry tomatoes) which are incredibly sweet. I made some tomato and plum chutney with them this evening. The peas are all ready now too, and I've got apples well on their way. Yay!

I didn't know you gardened Brewnog. Post pictures!

 

[rewebster]

turbo: not dill pickles-----hot pickled bell peppers

 

[turbo]

turbo: not dill pickles-----hot pickled bell peppers

You can simply substitute the bell peppers for pickles, use a traditional dill pickle recipe, and include hot peppers and garlic to taste. I choose not to pickle bell peppers, because we use so many of them in stir-fries and sauces. Instead I make dill-pickled jalapeno peppers. You might want to try making that with some store-bought chili peppers. You would probably like that.

 

[brewnog]

I didn't know you gardened Brewnog. Post pictures!

Ok! These are called "Supersweet 100". They're 2-3cm across, and are very sweet. I've just got them in growbags on the patio.

 

[turbo]

Yay! Assassins are back! This one is not at big and menacing looking as last year's model, but that's probably a good thing because he'll probably leave the bumblebees alone.

 

[Moonbear]

Is that what those bugs are? I had one like that out on the tomatoes the other day. I couldn't figure out what it was...it sort of looked like a mutant wasp. Since it didn't look like a tomato-eating worm/fly, I left it alone. Glad I did now if they eat the tomato-eating bugs!

Brewnog, those tomatoes look wonderful! I like how they hang all on a vine so neat and orderly and British-like.

 

[baywax]

Ok! These are called "Supersweet 100". They're 2-3cm across, and are very sweet. I've just got them in growbags on the patio.

Those are great! Cherry tomatos are so good. If you get some sun they warm up and taste outrageous!

Turbo... does that thing actually help out in the garden!?

 

[turbo]

Turbo... does that thing actually help out in the garden!?

Oh, yeah! I'd like to find a place where I could order a couple of dozen, like you can order mantises. I'll have to look around to see if someone sells them. Last year, I had at least one assassin big enough to tackle bumblebees. Pretty impressive critter.

 

[turbo]

BTW, assassin bugs have pretty painful bites. Their venom is strong and assists in liquefying the innards of its prey. So don't go handling your garden buddies.

 

[Evo]

Ok! These are called "Supersweet 100". They're 2-3cm across, and are very sweet. I've just got them in growbags on the patio.

Very nice Brewnog!

turbo and MB, there's nothing nicer than seeing one of those assassins with it's fangs in a tomato horn worm.

 

[baywax]

BTW, assassin bugs have pretty painful bites. Their venom is strong and assists in liquefying the innards of its prey. So don't go handling your garden buddies.

I had no idea man!

It is a whole other way to protect your garden. I was surprised to find that the Okanagan has a natural population of Praying Mantises. They are very cool bugs.

Some farmers in India use ants to wipe out the larvae and adult pests. They spray their fields with Pepsi or the equivalent and the ants come for dinner and dessert. I think we've covered this already.

 

[Evo]

After several weeks of no caterpillars on my tomatoes, they returned with a vengeance. I have picked off almost a dozen today and I'm sure there are more. The suckers are really hard to find.

 

[turbo]

After several weeks of no caterpillars on my tomatoes, they returned with a vengeance. I have picked off almost a dozen today and I'm sure there are more. The suckers are really hard to find.

Some caterpillars/moths can go through several generations per season. Even the bigger ones like horn-tails and cutworms can plague you at least twice a season. I want MORE assassins!

 

[turbo]

Another likely garden-pal! I saw this tiny wasp today eating from a goldenrod. If you have goldenrods where you live and you look at the size of the florets, you know this wasp is minuscule. But look at the length of that ovipositor! I hope this nice lady plants her babies in herbivorous caterpillars, cutworms, grubs, etc.