Food 2021 Garden Thrad

We'll see. Id love to get those short stubby tomatoes that are already flowered in the pots like the stores have where the stem is the size of your pinky already. Mine have always been healthy looking, but thinner stemmed
I sometimes do short tomatoes, generally paste - I found a vining paste type, which will hopefully be cool. The super short tomatoes are cute - I did a short pepper so I'll hopefully take a few in come fall.
Cucumber beetles - you'll laugh, but I am going full tilt on traps for those pricks(saw this online). Yellow plastic easter egg half, drill hole in middle, run thin piece of wire(twist tie?) through hole, wrap the inside end around a cotton ball. Few drops of clove oil on cotton ball, smear inside with a little "Tanglefoot" bug goo, hang low on trellis to catch them as they move upward in life but put some in the upper canopy where they do the nasty. I'll try a few different attractants, basically they are supposed to be attracted to eugenols in a few different plants. They are bastards! Add: just dawned on me - hang some traps where I USED to grow my cucs. ALlegedly that's where they wintered.
 
I sometimes do short tomatoes, generally paste - I found a vining paste type, which will hopefully be cool. The super short tomatoes are cute - I did a short pepper so I'll hopefully take a few in come fall.
Cucumber beetles - you'll laugh, but I am going full tilt on traps for those pricks(saw this online). Yellow plastic easter egg half, drill hole in middle, run thin piece of wire(twist tie?) through hole, wrap the inside end around a cotton ball. Few drops of clove oil on cotton ball, smear inside with a little "Tanglefoot" bug goo, hang low on trellis to catch them as they move upward in life but put some in the upper canopy where they do the nasty. I'll try a few different attractants, basically they are supposed to be attracted to eugenols in a few different plants. They are bastards! Add: just dawned on me - hang some traps where I USED to grow my cucs. ALlegedly that's where they wintered.
by vining you mean indeterminate?

Ive had cuke beetles a few times, but never something one spray of Spinosad wont take care of.
 
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by vining you mean indeterminate?

Ive had cuke beetles a few times, but never something one spray of Spinosad wont take care of.
Yes on the tomatoes(didn't want to confuse the casuals) ;)

Spinosad isn't the worst thing, I've used it in extreme cases. I'm just trying to catch the pricks before they get to spreading the wilt. I'm going to try amputating if I see wilt - supposedly you can stop it if caught early and you cut way back.
 
Yes on the tomatoes(didn't want to confuse the casuals) ;)

Spinosad isn't the worst thing, I've used it in extreme cases. I'm just trying to catch the pricks before they get to spreading the wilt. I'm going to try amputating if I see wilt - supposedly you can stop it if caught early and you cut way back.
i generally dont mind it, its just a chemical byproduct of Chrysanthemum's if i remember right. Although it is easy to fall into the "its ok because its natural" hole. Scorpion venom is natural too, but im not gonna go spraying that on my plants
 
i generally dont mind it, its just a chemical byproduct of Chrysanthemum's if i remember right. Although it is easy to fall into the "its ok because its natural" hole. Scorpion venom is natural too, but im not gonna go spraying that on my plants
IIRC, they actually found it in an old rum distillery. Maybe that's an old wives tale. I could have looked it up before posting this, but what fun would that be.
 
ive got hit with wilt a few times, but its not what kills my cukes first. Still havent completely figured that one out.

I might do a test plant this year with the nasty shit sprayed on it (daconil) and see if it lives. If it does, then i just have a superfungus of some sort that copper/teatree/etc wont kill. If i dont, then i have something else bacterial or viral and ive been treating the wrong thing
 
im also gonna consistently drip irrigate my tomatoes this year. Ive had some problems with splitting in late august because they do well in the heat from ground moisture, but then we get rains mid-fruiting just before harvest and the fruits develop cracks because they grow too fast.
 
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IIRC, they actually found it in an old rum distillery. Maybe that's an old wives tale. I could have looked it up before posting this, but what fun would that be.
I think it's true, I believe it was a unique nematode(micro soil worm). nope, I had it wrong: Spinosad was first isolated from soil bacteria at those places as you said. See, who needs Google :) :iono: Rum drinkers, beware.:eek:
 
Got home this weekend and found out that the shit-bag squirrels got into my Poblanos. Little assholes didn't realize they were hot. Serves them right

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Maybe the latest ive iver been :( Itll be ok, long season, but still, feels bad man

Finally started 40 tomatoes, 30 peppers, 20 eggplants.


New setup is a win. Tomato germination in 2 days, eggplants in 4, peppers in 5.

That's the fastest I've ever germinated eggplants by like 2 weeks

 
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I got two Roma tomato vines, a chimayo chile, and a pueblo chile plant in the raised bed.

I also planted the "heart" wildflower things that the vet sent us after Chewie passed, replaced the drip soaker hoses up front, and overseeded my poor front lawn, which took a beating when I replaced the ash tree last fall (a load of seed, and 16 cf of compost). The Maple up there seems to have come back well though.
 
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New setup is a win. Tomato germination in 2 days, eggplants in 4, peppers in 5.

That's the fastest I've ever germinated eggplants by like 2 weeks


Looks good. Do you use the heat mat as is or are you using a thermostat to control it? I've used the el cheapo but effective HydroFarm and InkBird controllers. The Inkbird is vastly superior imo and can control 2 devices for heating and cooling control - but the controls are a bit inscrutable.<$30
 
Cucumber,squash and melon pests - trying something new. Seems a modern, organic practice is to mix some super-fine kaolin clay(Surround is top brand) with water, spray on cucs, melons, pumpkins, squash. Helps if you can get the underside of the leaves, which will be no problem because I've gone 100% trellis and climbing for those. I'd seen fields of pumpkins around here and thought they had blight - nope, sprayed with "Surround". The fine clay layer is a major turn-off for squash borer beetles and cucumber beetles. It also cools the leaves, which on hot day are often shutting down and not synthesizing very well. SUpposedly the cooling factor alone can increase crops 10-30%. $40/5lbs., should last me a few years if it works.
 
Looks good. Do you use the heat mat as is or are you using a thermostat to control it? I've used the el cheapo but effective HydroFarm and InkBird controllers. The Inkbird is vastly superior imo and can control 2 devices for heating and cooling control - but the controls are a bit inscrutable.<$30
Thermostat with a soil temp probe. I researched a bunch and ended up with a reptile tank controller for reliability. All the plant ones seemed to have varying reliability or accuracy problems
 
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Loving this greenhouse. Best $165 I've spent this year. Even if it only lasts a year it's pushed my stuff forward sooooo much. I'm currently just knocking off all pepper flowers so they branch more but still finding a few peppers, occasionally a 3" long one. o_O
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