my maters started out slow, but now they're going strong

5/21/2009 7:29:34 PM

so my japanese maple still only has 3 leaves...they've all turned reddish like the outside leaves that get sun on a big tree...do they normally grow this slow?

5/24/2009 12:51:28 PM

^^ mine too. I had to stake them up today, they were beginning to fall over.

5/24/2009 8:19:38 PM

^^ Yes, they take forever to grow

5/24/2009 9:40:08 PM

Being in a milk carton instead, it'll probably be slower that usual, too.

5/25/2009 1:14:10 PM

you should have seen it when i got it...had one leaf and didnt look too healthy

5/25/2009 1:17:42 PM

Quote :

" cucumbers can be hand pollinated pretty easily. a single vine produces both male only flowers and female only flowers. the male flowers are typically near the end of the runners while the female flowers are closer to the stem. the male flowers open before the females so if you have few plants it might be challenging to have male and female open at the same time. i recommend saving some pollen by collecting some of the anthers in a bag after they start producing pollen. you can collect them pretty easily with tweezers."

i've got a bajillion blossoms now, but they are all located near the stem, i assume this means they are males? should i pick them and wait for the females? what are antlers?

5/25/2009 3:58:11 PM

My basil loves all the rain lately (they're in pots, but they're outside still). I think I'm going to have to go ahead and dry some this weekend. How have you guys dried yours? I've read some different methods, but would prefer to hear a tried recommendation.

5/26/2009 12:46:15 PM

my peppers are turning yellow - one was yellow before the rain, and now they all are. Help!

5/26/2009 1:15:42 PM

pics?

5/26/2009 1:16:44 PM

where can i get some small tomato cages close to campus?

like the one on the far right in this pic:



[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 4:33 PM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 4:33:18 PM

I've had mixed luck with Lowes and HD on them. I know when I was in there a couple weeks ago they had both large and small cages. But last year when I looked for them they didn't have em.

I've simply got mine staked this year but I wish I would have staked and caged em.

5/26/2009 5:37:08 PM

Quote :

"i've got a bajillion blossoms now, but they are all located near the stem, i assume this means they are males? should i pick them and wait for the females? what are antlers?"

Antlers are these:



Anthers are these:

5/26/2009 7:08:21 PM

hahaha i'm such an idiot. i don't remember seeing any anthers on these blossoms, but i'll look closer.

5/26/2009 7:53:06 PM

Is this mold?

I have a big pot with 3 Roma tomato plants in it, and I noticed tonight that it has seemingly developed some mold on the top layer of potting soil. Suggestions on what to do? Could the ridiculous amounts of rain over the past few days have contributed to this?

5/26/2009 8:00:08 PM

Oh god, I had some of that stuff in one of my pots. I didn't realize what it was until the soil started to REEK and it killed my plants. I ended up just throwing away the soil and starting from scratch it smelled so bad

5/26/2009 8:42:00 PM

What can we do to salvage the plants? We realized that the bottom was trapping water, so we've removed it, and are allowing it to drain over night. Any plant experts out there, is this a lost cause or fixable?

5/26/2009 9:13:30 PM

If the soil dries out you might be fine. Move them out into the bright sun and see what happens. Can also try spraying with neem oil.

5/26/2009 9:51:35 PM

How long should it take peppers to get established in pots? Moved 8 peppers from the little tiny black tray planters to 5.5 quart pots early last week, and while the 3 jalapenos and 2 poblanos seem to be doing fine, my 3 yellow bells (the ones I was most hopeful would do well) seem to be kind of stagnating. They're not dying, but they don't seem to be doing a whole heck of a lot of growing either. There are new leaves at the top of the plant but they're being really slow about opening/getting bigger and I haven't seen any flower buds like I see on the others. One of them in particular has a faint yellow tinge to it, but I don't think it should be a drainage issue (bottom of pots are lined with rock chips which claimed "excellent drainage"). Ideas? I'm hesitant to fertilize them because I used the potting soil with slow-release miracle gro in it and I don't want to overfertilze and burn them.

5/26/2009 10:10:18 PM

I've always had a helluva time getting Bonnie Green Bells to grow, but it's always been in mostly clay soil. I set 2 of them out this year along with 2 banana peppers. The bananas haven't grown so much, but they have always looked healthy and they recently started to set fruit it looks like. Meanwhile, the Bonnies start to look lame the moment the soil gets the least bit dry. I water them and they come back well within half a day. I planted them in the ground but I filled the hole they went in with mostly potting soil. After about a month, they still hadn't grown too much (though more than the bananas) and I fertilized everything I have with a liquid miracle grow sprayer. And holy shit. I've never seen any bells I've planted respond like they did. Both of them went from about 10" tall to about 20" tall in about a weeks time. The top of the plant has quite a few leaves on it, and they are starting to set fruit.

I dunno if this helps you or not.

5/26/2009 10:19:27 PM

Figured I'd put some photos out...

We've had our container garden for about 6 weeks now -- started in mid-April. I've been taking photos since the beginning every few days to document the growth. Here are some of the latest...

Our garden now consists of:
(3) Roma tomatoes
(4) Beefsteak tomatoes
(4) Red Currant ('cherry' size) tomatoes
Several Beefsteak and Red Currant tomatoes to give away
Basil
Chives
Parsley
Beans (several bush varieties)
Giant Sunflowers
Catnip
Daylily
Cornflowers
Cucumbers
Carrots
Lettuce
Rosemary



Railing shot -- you can also see the new home with new cages for the Roma tomatoes




Beans




Flowers on the beans




Carrots




These chives need a haircut!




Several of the cornflowers are actually growing above the rest




Perhaps the flower part of the cornflowers will show up soon?




Cucumbers




Sunflowers (before staking, these are ~2ft tall for size reference)




Roma tomatoes that my fiancee gets credit for finding




Tomato pot 1




Tomato pot 2




Tomatoes in smaller tin pots -- growing nicely for the small containers they are in!




Rosemary




Catnip


[Edited on May 30, 2009 at 12:49 AM. Reason : ]

5/30/2009 12:48:21 AM

Still having a hell of a time with the bell peppers. One of them looks pretty solid, but the second just looks kinda weak, and the third seems to be getting brown spots on the leaves and at the edges and looking kind of sad. It's definitely staying moist from all the rain, so I wonder if it has some kind of disease/issue? I tried to get a picture to post but my phone is misbehaving and won't send pictures right now (my cameras are unavailable). I'll try to post up a pic tomorrow and see if anyone can identify what's going on.

5/30/2009 1:45:55 AM

My cucumber has flowers The squash have also started blooming. EXCITED!

5/30/2009 4:01:38 AM

^
When I start getting squash blossoms turning into baby squashes, it's hard to resist picking a bunch to eat....

5/30/2009 4:12:53 AM

How do you prepare squash blossoms? I've never eaten them before.

5/30/2009 4:20:28 AM

I steam them, but you could also bake or perhaps even saute them.
Or if you wanna go fancy, you can stuff the blossoms with various fillings...

You're only cooking briefly, until the baby squashes are tender...

5/30/2009 4:29:42 AM

everything is still going strong! the cucumbers are close to 3' tall now and starting to grow fruit, the peppers are starting to put out, lavender, chamomile, and mint are going crazy. i'll put up some pictures later.

unfortunately my pineapple sage became a breeding ground for spiders and aphids,so i sprayed it down with some solution i got from the garden store, but its not very happy. i should have just left the bugs on it. hopefully i can save it. if it craps out i not sure what i'll replant. i have some radishes that need to be moved to a bigger pot, maybe i'll just do that.

5/30/2009 11:19:31 AM

I picked 2 Jalapenos the other day! they weren't spicy at all though ... hmmmm

My tomatoes are moving right along, and I have flowers on the eggplant!!

5/31/2009 6:55:54 PM

my morning glories are starting to vine...cant wait to have flower lattice

5/31/2009 7:02:49 PM

The flowers on my habanero plant keep falling off. I've even started pollinating them myself but they're still dropping. Any clue what's up?

5/31/2009 7:56:24 PM

We've had two tomatoes come out now all nice, green, and plump but within days they turn black....what's the deal??

5/31/2009 8:30:06 PM

Quote :

"The flowers on my habanero plant keep falling off. I've even started pollinating them myself but they're still dropping. Any clue what's up?"

Have you had a fair amount of temps below 60 or above 90?

5/31/2009 9:38:57 PM

^^sounds like blight

5/31/2009 9:56:02 PM

^^ Naw, it's been pretty consistently in the 70s and 80s since it started flowering.

6/1/2009 12:17:49 AM

Could be moisture stress. Usually it's when nighttime temps get down too far. It should bloom right back, though. It's just gotten into June now so I think it'll probably stop as the summer gets going.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 10:05 AM. Reason : []

6/1/2009 10:04:33 AM

My plants are doing good... a little too good. My pumpkin plants are taking over my whole garden, and they don't seem to want to grow up sticks. Any way to make them grow up instead of out?

6/1/2009 12:16:11 PM

I've got three pumpkin plants doing them same thing. They won't vine their way up a trellis on their own, but you can tie them up to get them vertical, supposedly. You'll have to make a little hammock for the pumpkins when they start growing.

I'm personally just fishing the other plants out from under the pumpkin leaves so they keep getting sunlight. The pumpkin plants have worked out to be a pretty good defense against the deer, so far.

6/1/2009 12:48:06 PM

halp

backstory: so i have two tomato plants. both had tiny tomatoes on them (one tomato on each) when i got them, but one broke off on the way here. so the one w/o the fruit grew a lot faster and is over a foot tall. it's started blossoming here in the past few days. the other is very small, but the tomato is getting big. they're on my porch and don't get as much sun as they probably need, but it's the best i can do given the position of my apartment. i water them every evening w/ a little miracle grow in the water.

problem: the larger plant has a lot of leaves w/ brown around the edges. it happened pretty much overnight. some of the green leaves look a little wilty. since i was home this weekend, i watered them twice a day saturday and sunday, but not more than i thought was necessary (didn't let the soil get soaking wet and it's the miracle grow moisture control, so it drains pretty good if you fuck up). smaller plant is doing fine.

question: is this due to not enough water (because this plant is larger and requires more), too much water, or too much miracle grow?

6/1/2009 5:06:26 PM

when the leaves wilt and youve been watering, it means the roots are having problems.


too much watering and maybe too much miracle grow. fertilize weekly and weakly- I.E. no more than 1/4 the strength it says for monthly watering.


let your plant dry out for a few days. it might have been a good idea to pick the early tomato off the other one, try to keep it from setting fruit again until it gets to a bigger size.

6/2/2009 1:48:21 AM

I'm going on vacation for 5 days and I'm worried about my plants drying out. Is there anyway to ghettorig some sort of self-watering system or should I just water them like crazy the morning before I leave and hope they don't die?

6/2/2009 8:00:30 AM

The obvious solution would be to ask your neighbor to water them for a couple days. Maybe you can get a soaker hose if you have a spigot nearby and just turn the water on really low so it's constantly dripping a small amount. Or maybe you could like fill a milk jug up with water and put a small hole in it and set it on top of the dirt if there is enough room in the container so it's constantly dripping out for a couple days. I don't really know if either of these will work, just making them up off the top of my head.

6/2/2009 8:55:52 AM

My neighbors are crazy whores who I would rather die than allow in my apartment

Milk jug might work. Unfortunately I have no spigot on my balcony so I have to water everything with a watering can.

6/2/2009 9:02:52 AM

Water them really good, and do what you can to reduce evaporation. Move them to a cool, dark spot where the wind won't blow on them.

6/2/2009 9:26:07 AM

yeah, google said too much miracle grow.

i'm too impatient to wait on my maters.

[Edited on June 2, 2009 at 9:48 AM. Reason : thanks green jay]

6/2/2009 9:47:08 AM

sorry about your crazy neighbors wolfpackgrrr. is your apartment air conditioned? what i do when i go away is fill the sink with several inches of water and stick the delicate plants in the sink, water like normal, and then let them soak for a few hours until the soil is really water logged. then set them somewhere in your apartment that is really cool and doesn't get too much sun, but it still needs a small amount. In front of a window with the blinds clamped 3/4 shut is a good spot, as long as it isnt too warm, and preferrably is humid. got a bathroom with a window? close the door and mist some water in there or leave a inch in the sink to improve relative humidity. you should also make sure each plant has a saucer with half a inch or so of water in it, but you don't want to drown the roots so don't leave the plant in several inches of water.

the plant is going to evapotranspire no matter what as long as the humidity in the air is less than that in the soil, it's just physics. however, if you stop photosynthesis, you stop the need for water for the most part, respiration doesn't require very much.

your plants are going to be a little weak and tired when you get back, but water them, place them in partial sun for a day or two til they get their strength back and then you can move them back to their regular spots.


the milkjug idea sounds interesting, but you'd need to test that out before you leave. obviously there is danger from having the soil constantly wet. my method soaks the plant initially to make sure theres enough water to carry them through, but they`ll be pretty dry by the time you get home, but probably not wilted unless your apartment is abnormally warm.

6/2/2009 1:36:53 PM

Unfortunately between the cats and the tatami I think I'm asking for a disaster putting the plants inside

Maybe what I'll do is give them a nice soak when I get home today and again in the morning and then move the ones I can move to the shadier side of the balcony. Can't move the vine plants though since they're growing up a trellis I made out of the balcony itself lol. Do you think if I heavily mulch the plants that will help?

6/2/2009 8:58:59 PM

My container followed by a question for the pros (Green Jay?)




So I see my plants doing this every day. They look droopy and by the afternoon they look full and strong again. I speculate that early in the day they have pulled in a lot of moisture into the ground causing the leaves to be full and heavy. Then by the end of the day that moisture has worked off or been put to work, does that make sense?:



[Edited on June 3, 2009 at 1:45 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2009 1:45:09 PM

They're wilting because it's been 8012 degrees and breezy and dry lately.

6/3/2009 5:13:35 PM

So why do they pop back looking like normal plants without me actually watering them?

6/3/2009 5:14:23 PM

They just look hot and thirsty to me Do you find that the time they start perking up is also the time of day it starts cooling off?

6/3/2009 6:06:28 PM