OT -- Any gardeners out there?

Chubbs

tarheelmatt said:

Firemanyz said:

@tarheelmatt for my tomato and cucumbers I use cages made out of concrete wire. They are very strong and hold up for a long time. I use 4.5 feet of wire for each one. After the rain today or tomorrow I will go take some pictures of them to show you. 

I already iluse a cage and t post, but I still have to tie some. Also, my tomatoes grow higher than my t posts and cages. 

Once my tomatoes get as tall as I want them I cut the tops off. This just puts the energy into producing fruit more so than growing new leaves. You can also do this at the end of the season. If you have a lot of fruit on cut the tops off the plants and it will speed up the ripening of the fruit

tarheelmatt

Chubbs said:

tarheelmatt said:

@Chubbs what do you use to tie up your plants?  

Which plants? I make trellis out metal conduit and make my own trellis netting. I will send you a link if interested. For my melons I will make an A frame out of metal fence paneling. Plants beans under so the melons shade them and then slide bamboo into the squares in the paneling to make a "cot" for the melons to sit on. For tomatoes I train them up a string and use tomato clips

For your tomatoes. 

Chubbs

@tarheelmatt for my tomatoes I have strips of wood in grids on my raised beds. I also have metal conduit frames around the bed. I tie twine from the wood up to the metal frame which is about 12 feet tall. Then I single stem my tomatoes and grow them up the string. You have to kind of weave it around the string and then clip it to the string. Works great and if prune the tomatoes properly keeps the beds nice and neat with plenty of airflow. I also prune the lower limbs of the tomatoes up until the first blooms to promote airflow. 

Legume

Chubbs said:

Legume said:

has anyone used compost tea to treat/prevent pest and non-pest issues w/vegetables?  our local organic nursery recommends this and even sells it, but I have no experience with it.  we had lots of issues last year, used lots of sulfur dust and other chemical solutions that were just so-so

Compost tea is great fertilizer and will green everything up. You can use natural products to get rid of bugs. The baking soda spray will treat fungus and dish soap and antiseptic will treat bugs. Think about dish soap drying your hands. If you mix 1 TBS of dish soap into a gallon of water in a pump up sprayer the dish soap will dry out the bugs (all soft bodied insects)

Thanks Chubbs, I'll try this.  We typically see some sort of bug and/or fungal issues develop on our tomatoes and squashes as it heats up, I'd like to avoid this year as much as possible.

Any advice on getting rid of fireants that have taken up residence in one of my raised planters?  I don't really want to use the same stuff I use on the lawn around vegetables.

RedRamona

This is my 13th year gardening here (northeast Georgia, USA).  No pesticides or inorganic fertilizers in at least 23 years on this property.  I can't wait to make smoked tomato-tomatillo sauce on the egg, as well as get down on some grilled salads and sides.  This year returning guests are rosemary, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, kale, hops, and perennial sage.  Planted anew:  Brussels sprouts, 8 varieties of tomatoes, peppers, peas, green beans, edamame, soup beans, arugula and romaine, pickling and slicing cukes, multiple varieties of basil, parsley, and thyme, and a smile on my face.

Chubbs

Legume said:

Chubbs said:

Legume said:

has anyone used compost tea to treat/prevent pest and non-pest issues w/vegetables?  our local organic nursery recommends this and even sells it, but I have no experience with it.  we had lots of issues last year, used lots of sulfur dust and other chemical solutions that were just so-so

Compost tea is great fertilizer and will green everything up. You can use natural products to get rid of bugs. The baking soda spray will treat fungus and dish soap and antiseptic will treat bugs. Think about dish soap drying your hands. If you mix 1 TBS of dish soap into a gallon of water in a pump up sprayer the dish soap will dry out the bugs (all soft bodied insects)

Thanks Chubbs, I'll try this.  We typically see some sort of bug and/or fungal issues develop on our tomatoes and squashes as it heats up, I'd like to avoid this year as much as possible.

Any advice on getting rid of fireants that have taken up residence in one of my raised planters?  I don't really want to use the same stuff I use on the lawn around vegetables.

If you get a small portion of worm castings, knock off the top of the ant hill and put the castings on top. It will get rid of them.

Legume

Will try - thanks @Chubbs!

Chubbs

Legume said:

Will try - thanks @Chubbs!

My pleasure. Good luck

fishlessman

does the baking soda work on white powdery mildew, cukes squash, and zukes were ruined for me last year, never got it under control

Chubbs

fishlessman said:

does the baking soda work on white powdery mildew, cukes squash, and zukes were ruined for me last year, never got it under control

Yes. The key is to use is in more of a preventative fashion but it helps when you see it too. It is a natural fungicide. I sprayed my veggies with it yesterday and have no yellowing or anything yet. I usually do it in early AM. Good luck

tarheelmatt

Chubbs said:

tarheelmatt said:

Firemanyz said:

@tarheelmatt for my tomato and cucumbers I use cages made out of concrete wire. They are very strong and hold up for a long time. I use 4.5 feet of wire for each one. After the rain today or tomorrow I will go take some pictures of them to show you. 

I already iluse a cage and t post, but I still have to tie some. Also, my tomatoes grow higher than my t posts and cages. 

Once my tomatoes get as tall as I want them I cut the tops off. This just puts the energy into producing fruit more so than growing new leaves. You can also do this at the end of the season. If you have a lot of fruit on cut the tops off the plants and it will speed up the ripening of the fruit

I may do that this year then.  Essentially, it is like topping, but with tomatoes then, right?  Wish I had a picture of it, but the plants tower over me, and I am 6'2".  

Thanks for all your help man.  I feel this year maybe my most productive so far, thanks to you.  

Legume

from our local organic nursery:

Baking Soda Fungicide

Use for Black Spot or White Powdery Mildew

Ingredients:

• 4 Level teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoons of Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon of Mild Soap (Dawn, Ivory, should be biodegradable with no phosphates)
• 1 gallon of Water

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and keep agitated. Then spray plants.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Great thread.

itsmce

I'm anxious to try the baking soda fungicide on my peas this year.  When I mix up a batch I'll probably hit my peach trees with it too.

northGAcock

Chubs....I see you are from Columbia like myself. I grow some fresh herbs (the legal kind) and enjoy some home gardening. Would love to catch up with you some time and smoke something. Live in the Northeast side of town myself…..and Go Gamecocks!

Chubbs

Legume said:

from our local organic nursery:

Baking Soda Fungicide

Use for Black Spot or White Powdery Mildew

Ingredients:

• 4 Level teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoons of Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon of Mild Soap (Dawn, Ivory, should be biodegradable with no phosphates)
• 1 gallon of Water

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and keep agitated. Then spray plants.

There you go. Close to my suggestion. Haha. 

JohnnyTarheel

Ok the garden has been planted for 2 weeks and going well. Big Boys and Romas, squash, cucumbers, chives, cilantro,  yellow and green bell peppers,  lettuce,  and basil.

@tarheelmatt - I am using the cement wire for my tomatoes. Very sturdy..

Chubbs

Well now you had to go and post a show stopper huh? Damn man. Nice setup

Chubbs

Solution for watermelon. A frame out of cattle panel. Will plant more lettuce or beans I the shade underneath. Will use the slats in the panel to slide bamboo poles as a "cot" for the melons. 

JohnnyTarheel

@Chubbs thanks man...   I love your setup... Top notch.

Is the wire for the cucumbers? I need to do something for mine to run up

Chubbs

JohnnyTarheel said:

@Chubbs thanks man...   I love your setup... Top notch.

Is the wire for the cucumbers? I need to do something for mine to run up

The wire is for watermelon. If you look in top left of that pic you can see another trellis. That is for cucumbers. It is metal conduit with homemade trellis netting. Works great 

Chubbs

Doing a little experiment. I have either some fungus or bug damage to my tomatoes. See pic. It started brown now the spots are tan. Either than or something to do with the amount of rain. Regardless I am treated half of them with baking soda and dish soap spray and the other half with worm castings. Worm castings apparently help with fungus and bugs. We will see. I will post results in a week or so. 

fishlessman

something i learned last year about tomato hornworms, see one like this, its covered with wasp larva, they hatch and kill more tomato bugs, leave it on the plant

JohnnyTarheel

@Chubbs    Thanks..  I do see the netting.  I will try something similar for the cukes... I have some jute string to create the netting

Chubbs

For those who were asking about removing suckers from indeterminate tomatoes, here is a good pic. Remove the suckers and the energy goes into producing fruit instead of more foliage. The suckers grow into separate tomatoes. You can remove them and plant them in soil and get a bumper crop of tomatoes. 

MaskedMarvel

Didn't know you could plant the suckers...

theres a nice potting bench on sale cheap at tools.woot.com if anyone is interested

Chubbs

MaskedMarvel said:

Didn't know you could plant the suckers...

theres a nice potting bench on sale cheap at tools.woot.com if anyone is interested

Yeah you can for sure. I have planted them in a 5 gallon bucket before and gotten a few tomatoes at the end of season. Thanks for posting pitting bench. I am designing a large flagstone patio -- could put a potting bench in corner. 

DoubleEgger

I really appreciate the gardening tips @chubbs. I haven't done anything with a garden as an adult so I'm basically starting over. Can you recommend some reading/educational material on organic raised bed gardening? 

tz666

@Chubbs so do you weave the melon vine into that and let it grow up to keep it off the ground? I have tried melons before and my melons always rot on the bottom. I have 3 plants now planted

tarheelmatt

Thanks @Chubbs !  I was still a little confused as to what to pinch off exactly.  I am pretty confident now what to pinch off.  

My plants are still young and I haven't examined closely yet, but I wonder when suckers start and when do you start pinching them (I assume early and when you see them).