It's always something

[littlekrb]

The drought/heat here in Missouri is killing me! I have been fighting it off for a couple months now but here lately there's been some funky business going down.

1) all my tomatoes are cracking. It happens, I know, but they were so much prettier before! I am ashamed to share cracked ugly tomatoes with my friends.

2) my green beans have stopped producing. This is my first year growing these. Had what seemed like two spurts of lots of beans. Then nothing. Went from picking a dozen a day to maybe one or two. And they are curling now. Like the letter C.

3) I lost a couple peppers to what I think was sun scald and then one to what looked like blossom end rot. A couple of my newest jet stars had blossom end rot too but I sprayed the plants. Seems to have fixed that issue on subsequent fruits.

4) discovered today that I have aphids on one of my cucumber plants. I noticed and uptick in ants the last couple days and sure enough... I didn't mess with spraying the leaves. I just cut off any leafs with those eggs on the bottom. My plants are so huge I hardly made a dent in the foliage even though I cut at least a dozen leaves. I don't think there were any bugs yet though. How will I know if I got rid of them all? Btw, also have been getting a couple cukes here and there that are growing light colored with dark green freckles/strips. Others are the usual deep green. I can't find any pictures online that match it or explain it. Thoughts?

I'm hoping some of this has to do with constant 100 degree days and no rain in months (3/8 of an inch in the last 60 days) and not me just being a terrible gardener. I have a raised bed, I fertilize with organic fertilizer monthly, and I water pretty consistently.

[luvthesnapper]

Every tomato so far has had something wrong with it in my garden, and BER is once again running rampant like it was a couple years ago, so I know what you're saying. It makes you sometimes think, "screw it, I'll buy my produce from the guys on the side of the road". I never give up though, for some odd reason.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, that's how gardening is, always something. This hasn't been my best year. Let's see:

Lost most of my squash plants to squash bugs. Some of my tomato plants aren't producing due to too much shade or too much sun and heat (different ones). The tomatoes I am getting are mostly cracked on top. I don't know if it is a varietal thing, or just the result of watering and drought alternating. One of my containers of potatoes didn't drain well enough and everything rotted out (the other one did fine though). My bean plants currently are riddled with holes. Haven't inspected enough to find the culprit, maybe bean beetles?

None the less, every day we are eating tomatoes, peppers, celery, garlic, chard, and a bunch of herbs from the garden. So it's as usual, win some, lose some.... Soon it will be time to start planting again for fall!

[applestar]

Littlekrb, if your green beans are bush type, they may be done and it would be better to sow a new batch. I think it helps to soak the beans for a few hours before sowing. As for aphids, for the most part, you don't need to get rid of them ALL. Removing majorly infested leaves like gou did helps. If the plants are healthy they can sometimes resist them. However, the coloring issue is worrisome. If the plant is somehow diseased or already infested, the weakened/stressed condition makes them more appetizing to pest bugs.

Inspect thoroughly in early morning -- as soon as it's light enough if possible -- turning over leaves as well as peering up from crouched position. Personally, I would spray with preventive milk solution just to exclude any fungal disease as suspect.

Rainbow, my bush beans are starting to get holes in the leaves too. I suspect either slugs or skippers. Have YOU been seeing skipper butterflies flying around your bean patch? I have. In addition to the regular orangish little ones that have been flitting around the beans, I saw a Silver Spotted Skipper today. They ALWAYS get into my edamame/soybeans.

[gixxerific]

Mo gardener here. I know what you are going through and it is ugly. You just have to deal with it unfortunately. You can do your best but without extreme special care things will go down.

You just have to cope. I as well as you am hoping for a break but August is around the corner and good luck for that.

Just keep watering heavy but not too heavy. Yeah what does that mean I'm still trying to figure out too.

Never fear it will all come back, I am changing up my schedule to fit this weather. Fall crops will be planted later banking on a warm fall. They just won't make it now, it was 103 today. But on the way down to mid 90's after today. So there is hope on the horizon.

And NO IT IS NOT JUST YOU. Farmers are losing fields left and right, you may have heard the Govt declared Mo a disaster area because of the drought. I know enough about gardening to be dangerous but not everything. I am having a bad year, everyone I know is having a bad year. It is just way too hot.

But set that aside and learn from this setback and be ready next time.


Good luck.

It's getting about time to start some fall stuff like the beans you and I and thousands of farmers are having problems with.

[littlekrb]

My beans are bush variety. Should I go ahead and pull them up? I planted a new row last week. If they aren't going to produce anymore I could really use the space for fall planting.

[barrelslime]

My beans are bush variety. Should I go ahead and pull them up? I planted a new row last week. If they aren't going to produce anymore I could really use the space for fall planting.

I pulled mine up 3 weeks ago. id say they are done

[Avonnow]

I feel your pain, I just posted some other questions on other parts of the forum, my beans which are usually the easiest to grow - look horrible, the bugs worse then ever as we had no winter in FL. The heat is killing me, the plants look so bad by 1:00 that I really feel like it is their last day. I did get sun scald on my peppers as well, I am try now to shield the fruits with shade cloth, because I hate to pick them when green and small. I do like some in red and yellow and alittle bigger. The only thing that looks good is the crowder pears, but the aphids are literally driving me insane, and not for a lack of trying to keep them off, I can only spray neem, soap or blast them with water so many times and then that takes a toll on the flowers and the plants. I do not expect many peas, but they were also a cover crop for my area designated for tomatoes next spring, so I am trying to look at the bright side. We have had rain, but FL's problem is we get like 10 inches in a day with tropical storm winds literally and then none for weeks. BRIGHT SIDE: I can grow hot peppers, I have more hot peppers then I will use in a life time. I need to make a business out of that, because that may be the only way I can pay for good fresh veggies for my table.

[gardenvt]

The drought has hit nearly every where - even here in Vermont. Just as they are about to claim serious drought, we get a ferocious rainfall and fall into a "mild" drought category. Then, nothing for weeks. The ground here is dust and cracked.

Our garden consists of raised beds and containers which I water early every morning and occassionally have to water some plants again in the evening.

We lost 4 of 10 tomatoes and there is still one that is iffy. I don't expect much out of it unless we have a warm fall like last year. The only tomatoes we have had are cherry tomatoes. and even those plants haven't grown as tall as usual. It is just so hot.

The eggplants are loving the heat though even they have gotten a bit wilty on a few 95-97 degree days. The basil also seems to like this heat - made a third harvest yesterday and could have cut them shorter - next week I'll make more pesto for the freezer.

Ailsa Craig and Red Zeppelin onions developed skins and started crashing 6-8 weeks early and at a small size. I pulled them and we are eating them now. The cippollinis came in at the usual time and those will store fine.

Peppers plants are dropping some of the baby peppers due to the heat I suspect. They still have a lot of peppers and we have enjoyed some ripe red ones already. This after the wind storm that stripped the leaves off many of them when we first planted them out.

Last year, our small farmers got hit with rain and flooding in both the spring and last August by Irene. Irene wiped out so many crops and this year the heat is affecting them all over again. Corn is small and just doesn't have the same taste as usual.

Yes, it is always something. Powdery mildew, heat, drought, too much rain, no bees, too many bad bugs. I like jal's approach and sense of gratitude because we almost always get something out of our home gardens.

[GardenRN]

Not sure where I stand on the global worming issue, and I DON"T want to make this a launching point for a political debate. However, on the gardening side of it, has anyone thought that, considering how warm winter was, and how hot the last few summers have been, that possibly you should be trying to select for the more heat tolerant plants? I have been doing this with my lettuce for a few years now, but it looks like a lot of crops could use it.

Just a thought for those of us that save our own seeds.

[GardenRN]

Also....I agree. Cracked tomatoes are a shame. IDK about everyone else's, but when mine crack they get riddled with ants and bees burrowing into them. If I don't catch a cracked tomato within a day of it happening forget it. It's a loss and either goes to the chickens or the compost pile.

[Avonnow]

I know I did, living in Florida we have longer hotter summers then most, we truly do not have a fall. Our winter is Fall. I know stop complaining, but the summers are awfule on everything. I investigated some tomatoes that the University of Florida had "created" to put up with the Florida abuse. They actually did quite well in the spring, I now have some planted for fall. They germinated super quick - lets see how they do in August and Sept (the dreaded hot month / Hurricane month) They are supposed to set even if temps reach above 90 degrees.

Flora Dade, Floradel, Tropic , Heatwave
and Solar Set

[img]https://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc119/Avonnow/IMG_0355.jpg[/img] TROPIC

[img]https://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc119/Avonnow/IMG_0359.jpg[/img] HEATWAVE

[img]https://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc119/Avonnow/IMG_0391.jpg[/img]
FLORA DADE



The Solar Set made the nicest tomatoes to me, and of course do I have a photo of them - NO! What is wrong with me. I also plant Rattlesnake beans which do well in heat (if you have no bugs) but they are not stringless and I am getting tired of the strings So I will try it with other veggies as well. I am all ears if anyone has any they have tried that are heat tolerant.