What Are Your Garden Tricks?

Check out my tomatoes. Anybody ever see this? i dont know whats wrong?

Looks like 'blossom end rot' to me. I've supplied a link that will better explain the situation. I've also found that using high nitrogen commercial fertilizers can cause this.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/discussions/2766766/what-is-blossom-end-rot-how-can-i-prevent-it

I always use the "up -down-all around" system to understand the uses of the chemicals in fertilizer. "Up" makes for pretty green plants, but not much fruit production. "Down" feeds the roots, which is good for garden plants. "All around" is good for just that.

28-4-2 is good for the lawn.

10-20-10 is good for the garden.

4-4-4 is usually a 'natural' type of fertilizer.

Good luck in sorting out the issue!

xseler said:

Looks like 'blossom end rot' to me. I've supplied a link that will better explain the situation. I've also found that using high nitrogen commercial fertilizers can cause this.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/discussions/2766766/what-is-blossom-end-rot-how-can-i-prevent-it

I always use the "up -down-all around" system to understand the uses of the chemicals in fertilizer. "Up" makes for pretty green plants, but not much fruit production. "Down" feeds the roots, which is good for garden plants. "All around" is good for just that.

28-4-2 is good for the lawn.

10-20-10 is good for the garden.

4-4-4 is usually a 'natural' type of fertilizer.

Good luck in sorting out the issue!

Click to expand...

Thanks xseler!

That looks like exactly what I am dealing with. I have three plants and only one of them is doing it. Two are in the front yard and one in the back yard. The one in the back is the one giving me trouble.

Thanks for the article I hope I can fix the problem.

yep that's what it looks like to me.

never had much luck with Tomatoes - but had the better luck with Mortgage Lifters over others - very heat tolerant which is what you and I need living where we do.

I direct sow seeds in late March myself (due to insane flooding - I had to wait 2 full months this year ;-(........


do you direct sow seeds? or start indoors first? or buy plants?

curious.

I have my orange tree in the half wine barrel planter now needing to transplant or as I did I cut off 1/3 the outer edge of the roots that extended all the way to the inner walls of the barrel everywhere.

The leaves were turning yellow and falling off. I replaced with soil where I cut out the roots but, the existing still 2/3 inner root ball is almost without any soil. It looks like roots displaced/converted all to roots.

I am seeing how long it will take for the roots to grow into the new soil and hopefully be just normal density of root to soil ratio. Then I suppose yellowing of leaves will stop and leaf loss stop.

It is not from too much watering as I had watered less and then the leaves droop. I started to water again 1 time a week and back to normal, no droop. Water restrictions are in place in my city now anyway.

I'll see if I can get a picture of the root ball trimmed. It may kill the tree, but I hope not.

Birds are now eating the blueberries and that is another issue. I guess this current species of birds like it more than others I in the past had seen test eating a few berries. I think if there is other food they like better in abundance then they do not bother much. Today I ate my lunch on guard so to speak.

I'll be checking NPK and PH with a test kit I have to see about fertilizer and soil amendments. I hear if PH is not acidic enough for citrus then iron cannot be absorbed enough.

If there is time to fix the issues with the tomatoes and you get it right, please let us know!

I'm rooting fig trees, we sold my old home place ten years ago and I got a cutting from my moms fig tree but it didn't live. Fast forward to mid April, I happened by there and the house is abandoned and the yard is all grown up, the fig tree is so large that limbs are growing out over the fence. So I cut off a couple of limbs and started the rooting process. I got rooting hormone from home depot, I did five six inch pieces and put them in potting soil in flower pots. Four out of the five are rooting and sprouting, I cut the bottom out of two liter soda bottles to make a mini greenhouse, this also keeps the tree from drying out.

gaffo said:

yep that's what it looks like to me.

never had much luck with Tomatoes - but had the better luck with Mortgage Lifters over others - very heat tolerant which is what you and I need living where we do.

I direct sow seeds in late March myself (due to insane flooding - I had to wait 2 full months this year ;-(........


do you direct sow seeds? or start indoors first? or buy plants?

curious.

Click to expand...

Two of my tomato plants I started indoors. The one with the blossom rot is a store bought plant. It is a Indeterminate Bonnie Original

nice! I hope you like grapes. lol. who needs grass when you can have grapes for a lawn?
My neighbor has a whole fence with STERIL grapes growing on it. not a single grape in the 12 yrs I've lived in my house. But I know what grape leaves look like, so there must be such a thing as grapless grape vines - why anyone would plant then is beyond me.

My favorite crop to grow is definately Watermelons (the miniature ones (Israeli Malali, Suger babys, Mickeyless, and a fourth one a small yellow variety - have the seeds - forgot the name of though - so no idea what they are - lol). Muskmellons are a close second favorite (Hales' Best usually).

Least fave - would be Strawberries (from seeds!! - lol - total PIA - but if you wait/work on them for 6 months you will get 20-percent viable plants for the seeds -----to have them then burn up in the Oklahoma Summer within 3-4 weeks!!!) - and lausy tomatos - which I didn't even bother with this year.

oh ya Snow Peas are great to grow - if you start then in Jan - so they can grow and you can harvest by late May -because anytime after the plants die from the Oklahoma June heat - with or without peas on them.

---and Go Vertical!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for all things! -----------got a Blackberry bush like you grape one - nuclear blast prove and very deadly to handle (thorns all over the plac on that thing).

yes I grow my Watermelons/Muskmelons vertically (using Trellises) - works great - use "tiebags" every couple of vertical feet to fix the vines to the metal trellis bars.

I think next year's project will be digging out a 4 x 8 ft square from my frontyard - next to my melons - for a Water Garden with ameircan lotus plants (saw such a size water garden with them last month - blew my mind - very "perdy" it was - had BIG gold fish in it too. It will be a learning experience for sure - being a total aquatic ignoramous.

http://www.tricker.com/Category/hardy-plant-lotus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_lutea

I got rid of leaf rollers on my orange tree leaves this summer by using vegtable oil and a very little amount of dish washing liquid. This stuff mixed up and put in sprayer that mixes with the hose water and sprays did work well. Three sprays about 3 weeks apart and now I suspect I need not do any more. I also found out that celery root that you buy at the market is not really the same as the root of the common celery plant. It however is a similar type of celery plant that has only 4 inch tops and the root can be soft ball to coconut size root ball. It is Celeriac. It is also called turnip rooted celery.

Pictures of garden.

Orange tree holding up with a guy lines as North winds howl in NorCal.

Parsley and Celery seedlings from saved seed from plants that went to seed. Free seeds!

Chives I had gone dormant, but are again happening.

Blueberry flower are out, later the leaves for this variety to make a come back.

Worms just don't care if there are rotting leaves, but I have to get rid of the stinking stuff. I threw a few of the worms into the planters to aerate the soil.

I can say that removing at least a third of the orange tree's root ball about 4 months ago, when it got root bound in the half wine barrel, was not a mistake. It did do well after a while. I did not kill it by doing so or even have to plant it in the ground. A larger barrel or planter I don't know if I could find one. It does OK kept in a half wine barrel which is restricted some. This is a dwarf Valencia Orange so it is like 10 to 15 feet. I trim it occasionally in the cooler seasons.

MT

Greg58 said:

I'm rooting fig trees, we sold my old home place ten years ago and I got a cutting from my moms fig tree but it didn't live. Fast forward to mid April, I happened by there and the house is abandoned and the yard is all grown up, the fig tree is so large that limbs are growing out over the fence. So I cut off a couple of limbs and started the rooting process. I got rooting hormone from home depot, I did five six inch pieces and put them in potting soil in flower pots. Four out of the five are rooting and sprouting, I cut the bottom out of two liter soda bottles to make a mini greenhouse, this also keeps the tree from drying out.

Click to expand...

There is this one in the yard.. at least 30 years old. Huge tree and brings lots of tasty figs every summer. So much shade in the summer as well. Like a little man-cave where I have spent many days, chillin', drinkin', and kissing some girls too.

Fig trees will bring all the neighborhood animals to you. When the figs come you have to pick them fast, because the birds will eat half of a fig, the bees will poke holes and ruin them causing fig juice to ooze out of them.. and then there are the raccoons, who will eat whole figs up high where you can't reach, but won't attack the low hanging fruit as they won't venture out on skinny branches. My workshop is right next to the tree.. and many times last summer I would walk out to see a raccoon or three staring me down while eating figs.. about 6ft away from me. Those raccoons came out in broad daylight for those figs sometimes too.. That's how valuable those fig trees are..

Somehow due to all the time I spent outdoors, the raccoons became very friendly. Even had one get as close as about 1.5ft to me in October, and several drink water from a small fountain as close as 6ft. No other wild animals will get that close!

I bought from Walmart online to pickup with free shipping to store, Bird Netting 28ft by 14ft for under 20 dollars to keep finches from messing with the blueberries. I made a structure from some wood trellises I had from prior uses and the two of those I put at ends of a row of planters. They were just stuck into 6 cinder blocks at both ends to raise the height of the trellises. I also added some split foam (kind used to prevent water pipes from freezing) over the top of the trellises so the netting being set in place could glide over the top with just a little bit of friction and not get caught. Now I can lift any side up and tie it in place and harvest, easy to close net structure again and keep buggers out. I plan to add some bright colored ribbons or something to prevent something from not seeing the netting as it is black and very thin plastic. Yet it has not ripped yet, and I really had it catching on stuff, even itself and it is still good. The 3/4 inch square opening in the net are small enough bees probably can get inside as although blueberries are all formed and ripening, blackberries have flower still forming from buds.

One orange from the tree felt ripe, not hard as a rock, but skin color never got full orange cover. Early this one was ready just as the last two warm Winters we have been having. Lot of flavor an juice from the Valencia Dwarf orange tree in this one just picked.

I'm trying my entire (reduced) garden in 5gal Homer Buckets. The tomatoes and peppers seem happy so far!

I'll find out also how a Coleman round type cooler that has a spigot removed for drainage works as a planter. I put a tomato plant I picked up at the OSH, they pay the sales tax day for the 99 cent seedling and its first started to flower today. Has anyone used bird netting and found that bees will navigate through the 3/4 inch openings in the netting? I'm somewhat concerned and if I'm watching the garden for a while I think I would maybe open a side of the netting to make it easier for the pollinators.

Very helpful thread. Wife and I have started our first veggie garden this year. Potatoes carrots onions tomatoes radishes. Oh and cucumbers. Been reading and talking to the wise ones, hoping for the best. Small starter about 12x16. Non GMO seeds already started. Got my cow poop from the dairy farm up the road for free. Nice fella at Smith farms just up the road loaded a bucket full in my truck. Made the boys spread it for me. HaHa. They did an excellent job spreading. My tractor mounted tiller friend will be here Monday to turn it all under. Wish me luck!