imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Re: Imafan's 2021 Garden

I spoke to soon. It suddenly got dark and the rain is pouring again. Only liquid sunshine out there now!

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applestar
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Rain rain go away
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| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄| ̄ ̄ | / °
|  // (∵)。| /°//
| //  /_|\   | /。/
|。 ∧,,∧   // | /°/
|∩´・_・`∩ ° / | 。/ /
 ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Yesterday I made up a fruit fly bait solution. I sort of combined recipes so I will find out how it works out later. I have to ferment it for 5 days and remember to burp the bottle daily.

Call it my mad scientist experiment
Fruit fly bait
1 tsp torula yeast
1 tsp vegemite (yeast extract. It is like poi, definitely an acquired taste, but it is accessible)
2 scoops hydrolized protein
50 ml ammonia ( it has a pH of 11 and it should help the yeast last longer)
30 ml molasses (sugar for the yeast)
1 tsp boric acid
1 liter of rain water ( it took me all of two minutes to collect it from my rain gutter). I heated it in the microwave then cooled it so it would not kill the yeast.
1 cup of chopped zucchini, the fruit flies favorite target.

I mixed it up yesterday and it should be ready to deploy by Friday. I have to remember to add the dish soap to each bottle when I fill them. The dish soap will help to drown the flies by breaking the surface tension of the water. I have to prepare the bottles before then. Today, I got the McPhail traps in the mail and I will set those out as well with the standard bait (torula yeast + boric acid) it requires 2 days to cure. The McPhail trap is yellow on the bottom and the color is supposed to be attractive to the fruit flies. I will also deploy the cue lure. I already have the methyl eugenol lure out for a couple of weeks already.

I am bagging fruit and I have to go out and check every day. I missed a few zucchini that were like 2 inches long and they were already stung so I removed them and put them down the garbage disposal. The bagged zucchini and cucumber still look intact.

If I can find more bottles I can try some of the other recipes I found.

I have hibiscus, ti, and panax that are known hosts. I usually cut the ti down that is closest to the zucchini. The zucchini is a magnet for the fruit flies. I usually don't even bother to bag the cucumbers, but the cucumbers will be attacked more with the zucchini around. I made sure I separated the zucchini from the cucumber so they aren't next to each other this time. I don't have any wild bitter melon fruiting now (although, I do see some vines have come up with the rain).

I have to try making my own bait because my GF120 is too old. It costs about $250 from the ag supplier and I would have to get a gallon. I could not even finish my quart of GF 120. Lures are available but they only capture males and the methyl eugenol lure is more effective than the cue lure. The cue lure is for melon flies and the methyl eugenol for oriental and Mediterranean fruit flies. The zucchini, cucumber, and bitter melon are being stung by the melon fly. The protein bait in GF 120 kills both males and females on their roosting sites, and this bait recipe is to try to capture more of the females. I mostly have oriental and melon flies. Baiting for males has to be year round. Stung fruit has to be sealed in a bag, boiled, fed to animals, or go down the disposal. It cannot be simply trashed, or composted because the larvae will still emerge.

I just saw something from a post earlier. I do grow some hibiscus from seed. The hibiscus acetocella and hibiscus sabdariffa. They are annuals. I have started other hibiscus from seed, but my bad, they died of neglect.

It is easier for me to start hibiscus from cuttings. I need to go pick up the cutting someone made for me of an edible green hibiscus. I only have three hibiscus in the yard. One is a legacy plant that is about 10 years old. I really would not buy a hibiscus like that for myself but I only kept it because of the person who gave it to me. The other is confederate rose. I have a double flowered one and it thrives on neglect. The third is a hibiscus called Princess Michiko and I do have that one in a pot. It would be happier in the ground. Hibiscus is not really happy where I live because it is too wet. They are happier in a drier location. The modern hibiscus are attacked by erineum hibiscus mites. They actually have already started to appear on my neighbor's hibiscus. I have already treated my hibiscus to protect them.

The confederate rose (hibiscus mutabilis) is a palmate malvaceae and the erineum mites don't bother it. The flowers start out white in the morning and gradually become pinker until they are a cerise pink at the end of the day. Hibiscus flowers bloom for a day, but produce many blooms in succession.

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/sou ... iscus.html
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/ip-7.pdf

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

The sun is out again and it is 71 degrees. It may still rain again in afternoon because of convection heating and drift. Winds are 12 mph so the moisture around us may drift over to where I am.

The cucumber is almost to the limit of the net bag so I will have to pick it soon. I haven't lost any more zucchini so I guess the bags are cinched up tight enough now. I probably have to secure the neck of the bags on the squash with twist ties.

Tigress zucchini does have some powdery mildew on the lower leaves so I sprayed again with sulfur and I'll remove the lower leaves today. I have some white flies on a few of the citrus trees, but I don't see them on the hibiscus, but I will jet them with water just in case. I caught two snails this morning. One on the green onions on the bench and the other inside one of the citrus pots. I did put out some bait earlier around the eggplant, cucumber and tomatoes and the lettuce in those pots are o.k. I have to get more slug bait and bait to bait again.

I have harvested the Kuroda carrots a couple of times to thin them out. There are a few bigger ones but most are baby carrots. Now that it is cooler more consistently the carrots are sweet and less bitter.

I want to plant the garden but the soil is so wet, I can't really work it. I don't know when the rain will let up. I had planned on tilling this time, but I may just scratch the surface and top dress the nitrogen in later. I don't need to add much of anything else.

I am still planting mostly cabbages. It is not ideal, but I can't find another family to get along with the cabbages in the small space. I could plant more chard since the old ones do have to come out and just shift them over a few feet.

The lettuce are sharing space with the tomatoes and cucumbers in the pots because they don't like being around the cabbages. I have two kale plants, one lacinato and one curly vates on opposite sides of the garden bed and that is causing some problems with finding good companions for them.

The beans don't like onions, so I may have to move the onions into pots. I want to plant the nematode resistant beans in the spot where I had the marigolds planted. The only other thing I could put there would be nematode resistant tomatoes, asparagus, or nematode resistant peppers.

I don't like to keep long term or large crops taking up space in the main garden (unless it is corn), and I don't want to plant too much of any one family too long or the pests will come.

Elsewhere in the yard, the turf needs weed whacking again and the weeds are in the flower beds. A lot of the plants are growing and putting out new leaves, so I have a lot of trimming to do. I have a couple of phalaenopsis that came into bloom and my Laturia orchid is 70% bloomed out. The popcorn orchids are continuing to slowly bloom and the honohono orchids are dropping their leaves. Princess Mikasa and another vanda have aslo bloomed. I almost missed Princess Mikasa buried by the bougainvillea, and calamondin. Besides calamondin, I have a few lemons and super chili. The seascape strawberry is sending out runners. The strawberry runners have already reached the ground and are traveling under the bench.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

O.k. It is Friday, the sun is out (at least for now). I got to stroll in the sun and look at the garden for the first time in days without getting rained on.
My fruit fly bait is fermented and ready to go. I put holes in the bottles near the top to let the fruit flies in and let the lures scent out. I also spray painted the top part of the bottle, well mostly the top part of the bottle as the flies are attracted to yellow. It doesn't smell that bad. All the ammonia smell is gone, but there is a nice ferment foam in the bottle so the yeast has been active. I made 5 bottles but I only deployed 4 bottles with this bait. I will put cue lure in the fifth bottle. I don't have that many places where I can hang the traps. One is in the side yard on the ti and the others are around the back yard where most of the fruits and vegetables are. I still have to put the cue lure in and figure out where to put that one.
Attachments
Den. Roy Tokunaga
Den. Roy Tokunaga
Tigress zucchini.
Tigress zucchini.
Too many days of rain. Mildew on lower leaves of Tigress
Too many days of rain. Mildew on lower leaves of Tigress
bagged Tigress zucchini
bagged Tigress zucchini
surprise find. Yellow  7 pot hot pepper planted in September has fruited. Seeds from 2018
surprise find. Yellow 7 pot hot pepper planted in September has fruited. Seeds from 2018
holes in fruit fly trap and painted yellow to attract flies
holes in fruit fly trap and painted yellow to attract flies
home made fruit fly traps
home made fruit fly traps
Fruit fly bait fermented for 5 days
Fruit fly bait fermented for 5 days

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Yesterday the sun came out for a little while so I planted tangerine gem marigolds, contender bush beans (buff valentine) which are nematode resistant, semposai, bok choy, kai choy, and Soarer cucumber. I'll see what comes up later. I had to treat a few more pots for soil mealy bugs. Heating hot water for small batches is tedious and I have to come up with a better solution. The lavender, mint, and stone pine at least survived the treatment. I will have to check the pots in a few days to see if any of the mealybugs survived. I submerged the plants for over an hour. The only plants I had to water were the succulents and orchids that are under cover.

I did get to pick more snow peas and I cooked that up with some bacon and garlic. I lost another zucchini, but I am not sure if it was lost to missed pollination or fruit flies. Only male flowers are appearing now.

I potted up a few other plants. I potted up koba green onions, and a couple of lavender from 4 inch to 1 gallon pots. The strawberry runners are running on top and under the bench , so I gathered them up and planted them in a 14 inch bowl. I used up all the potting soil I had mixed. I have to mix up another batch. I did manage to fill one green can at least 3/4 full.

Last night it rained again and took half a day to dry out.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I have another pineapple blooming. I was not expecting it at this time of the year. This time I did remember to fertilize it.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

The sky is dark and gloomy, but it has only sprinkled briefly in the last two day so I actually had to water some of the plants in the smaller pots today. Half the strawberries I planted were all brown. I guess I waited too long for them.

The orchids are blooming. More of the popcorn oncidium are blooming. Princess Mikasa's blooms are half open. I went to the Farmer's market today and bought another Colmanara "Wildcat". At least I know I don't have that one. One of the honohono orchids has budded up, but still has not opened.

I picked up a plate lunch of Mildly spicy Thai shrimp and salad. I also got some eggplant (Why, I will be swimming in them in a couple of weeks. I just don't have any ready now.) I got a bell pepper, choi sum, one red onion, a small bag of grape tomatoes, 2 zucchini (my plant is done). The orchid cost $16 in bud. I bought the veggies from two different vendors for a total of $13, and the plate lunch cost $10. I still had to get a cucumber from Safeway @$2.99 lb. The ones at the farmers market had a lot of scarring and they were soft so they were not fresh. ( I guess I am spoiled, by my home grown cukes). The ones at Safeway weren't that pretty either, it had some yellow and scars but I did not want three of them. I still need to get some avocados.

Can't wait until my tomatoes and cukes come back in the garden. I actually do have some small bell peppers in the yard.

Two out of three of the Soarer cucumbers have sprouted. The third was dried up. The contender beans and the semposai and pak choi look like they are sprouting as well. At this point they look alike.

The Camaro tomato is a foot tall and already has one flower. So far, it has handled the rain well. It and the romaine lettuce are sharing a pot and they are both growing well. The peppers I transplanted all survived and so have the cilantro I put in 6 inch pots. I still have more cilantro, pepper, and onion seedlings to pot up. I have to find more space and clean up the benches. I don't have room left.

Yesterday, I went to Lowe's and got another bag of peat moss to make more soil mix. I got up at 5 a.m. and went through my seeds again. I threw out some of the older ones from 2015 and 2016 and most of the tomato seeds since I can't grow them anyway because of tomato yellow leaf curl virus. I do have Katana, and BHN 589 which are TYLCV resistant I still have to try. The reviews for BHN 589 are pretty good and that will probably be the next one I will try. The reviews on Katana did not mention flavor, so that usually means, it is not its best feature.

Partenon Zucchini I ordered from Johnny's Seeds and Kitchen Garden seeds have arrived. I just got the order from Southern Seed Exchange yesterday. I have had to order from new companies this year since I am having problems getting specific cultivars of some seeds. The shipping is still atrocious. The Tulsi from Strictly Medicinal cost $9. The shipping cost more than the seeds. Many of the seed companies have been out of stock on some items and I have had to wait to see if it came back in. A few of the companies like Johnny's have restricted the days that individuals can order. You have to make notes about when the orders will open again and you have to shop on that day.

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Yesterday. I was able to pull out the zucchini and one of the komatsuna and fill a couple of pots for planting. I planted some long beans, Poamoho beans (flat podded long bean resistant to rust and nematodes), transplanted some cilantro seedlings to share space with the beans, and planted okra in a pot. This is the first time I am trying okra in a pot, so I will see how that works out especially since it is clemson spineless and not a dwarf okra. I pulled out the carrots. They could have been used for stew but they were starting to get hard and they are almost 6 months old, so they have gone to feed the worms and for compost. I planted minowase daikon and Detroit dark red beets in their container. I think I will have space to plant a few heads of lettuce between them. I have 2 pineapple in bloom now. The Contender bush beans are about 4 inches tall with true leaves. Bok choi and semposai have sprouted but I can't tell them apart. The older cilantro has started to go to seed. I need to clean up my bench, I don't have any space to pot up or plant any compots. I planted a Suyo cucumber to replace the Soarer in the cucumber pot that died. The seascape strawberries are making a break for it, they are spreading into other pots and even reached the ground under the bench.
Attachments
two camaro tomato plants each have one tiny tomato.  Romaine lettuce underplanted in the 18 gallon container
two camaro tomato plants each have one tiny tomato. Romaine lettuce underplanted in the 18 gallon container
sweet potato in blue container.  snow peas on trellis and other potted plants.  Hibiscus to the right is H. mutabilis.
sweet potato in blue container. snow peas on trellis and other potted plants. Hibiscus to the right is H. mutabilis.
Tree gardenia flower
Tree gardenia flower
Olympiad
Olympiad
MIss All American Beauty aka Maria Callas
MIss All American Beauty aka Maria Callas

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

More pictures from the garden taken on April 2. The cilantro planted earlier has gone to seed so I am collecting seeds now. I finally got around to fixing the frame for the bench. I still have to get the shade cloth back on top of it. Yesterday, I got around to weeding the front pollinator bed and put in more zinnia, cosmos, salvia, and African daisy seeds. I don't know if they all will grow. I have not had much luck germinating salvia or daisy seeds in the past, but I keep on trying. I planted some nasturtium seeds around the roses and put in the border in front of the fence so I can fill it with some of my used soil to continue planting the shrub and flower beds. Some of the shrubs needs pruning again and the grass needs weed whacking. I missed a few weeds so I will have to spot treat them. They are hard weeds to get to since they are literally growing in the fence. I have a couple of days to fill my green cans, both are about half full now.

The yellow bottle is one of the fruit fly traps. I don't know if it is working, but there are fewer flies around. It is also cold too. I have no flies in the cue lure bottle and I have started to get more oriental flies in the methyl eugenol trap. The yeast traps, don't have a lot in them, but it is hard to tell. There are some lumps of stuff in them I can't make out. The white flies are back. I cut back the hibiscus leaves and they are also on the kale. That is why the leaves look yellow. I have trimmed those back and taken out one of the two komatsuna. I will need to take the last komatsuna out the next time I harvest it. I harvested the last remaining baby bok (one was already showing a bud). The semposai, gail lan, and bok choy seedlings have sprouted. I broadcast seeds so they will be close and scattered. I need to get some sand so I can mix the small seeds so they will scatter more evenly. The soil is too rich so I did not add any fertilizer and it was too wet to do more than scratch the surface. I will side dress with nitrogen later. I did miracle grow the yard this past week. I made it lighter than usual since the ground was so wet. I only used 2 lbs instead of the usual 5-6 lbs. This is the most practical way to feed the orchids.
Attachments
yellow crown of thorns
yellow crown of thorns
second pineapple
second pineapple
Ajaka basil
Ajaka basil
pintung long eggplant
pintung long eggplant
camaro tomato under planted with cos romaine
camaro tomato under planted with cos romaine
main garden facing north Shimonita leeks, contender beans, komatsuna , Thai basil, perpetual spinach in the back and the shrub is Jamaican oregano
main garden facing north Shimonita leeks, contender beans, komatsuna , Thai basil, perpetual spinach in the back and the shrub is Jamaican oregano
facing opp the main garden.  Container plants. H. mutabilis on the right is in the ground. I have sweet potatoes, right stuff bell pepper, many hot pepper and citrus in pots, a pomegranate, araimo which needs to be harvested in two pots, snow peas on the trellis. On the bench:  ginger, parrot beak heliconia, strawberries more peppers and citrus, cilantro, stone pine, amaryllis and I need to move some of this stuff off because I need the space.
facing opp the main garden. Container plants. H. mutabilis on the right is in the ground. I have sweet potatoes, right stuff bell pepper, many hot pepper and citrus in pots, a pomegranate, araimo which needs to be harvested in two pots, snow peas on the trellis. On the bench: ginger, parrot beak heliconia, strawberries more peppers and citrus, cilantro, stone pine, amaryllis and I need to move some of this stuff off because I need the space.
SE section of the main garden is about 5 ft x 3 ft.  I have four kinds of plants here.  Blue vates kale, Italian parsley, culantro, and Thai Queen basil.  In this natural state they are planted too close.  I will have to do some trimming to open it up more
SE section of the main garden is about 5 ft x 3 ft. I have four kinds of plants here. Blue vates kale, Italian parsley, culantro, and Thai Queen basil. In this natural state they are planted too close. I will have to do some trimming to open it up more
ascda  Princess Mikasa
ascda Princess Mikasa
onc. sphaceolatum. aka "popcorn orchid" blooming a month early.
onc. sphaceolatum. aka "popcorn orchid" blooming a month early.

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TomatoNut95
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Location: Texas Zone 8

Wow, great pictures! 😃👍

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Some of my seeds failed to come up. They were older seeds so, I am doing a test germination now. Suyo cucumber, minowase, and some asparagus beans failed to come up. The Poamoho is starting to sprout but only 2 so far. I have packets of fresher seed from the minowase and I just ordered more Suyo. I will start some of the Progress cucumber, and add a few more of the Poamoho seeds in case some of them fail to germinate. I should have newer long beans, but I will have to hunt those down.
I may also have to get more shiso seeds. I am soaking the seeds now, but they are from 2013 so they may be marginal.

I harvested one of the grand rapids lettuce for dinner yesterday. I like it better than romaine because it is a soft lettuce.

The beets have germinated. I planted it in the rubbermaid container so there were only about 8 seeds. But since the seed is a cluster, I have some that are coming up in pairs. 2 of the Poamoho pole beans have come up. All of the cilantro bit the dust so I reseeded the pots. All four of the Clemson spineless okra have finally sprouted.
Some of the flower seeds I planted in the pollinator garden has sprouted. I planted a mix of seeds so I don't know what they are yet.

I caught 1 melon fly in the cue lure trap. At least that is progress.

Yesterday, I did some pruning. I cut back some of the roses, lavender and Euphorbia cotonifolia. I made cuttings from Red Simplicity, lavenders, rose pikake (jasmine sambac), nau (native gardenia), and more cuttings from the Ajaka basil. I still have more roses to prune. Except for the rambler roses, I haven't had any luck getting rose cuttings to take. So, I am still experimenting with these. I was going to repot the lemon grass, but when I tried to lift the pot it is already in the ground, so I will have to work on freeing it. I will try to take cuttings again from the Ohia. I may have to cut some of the vandas that are getting too tall.

I also trimmed the bonsai. I broke the top branch from the bougainvillia so I will have to let it grow out again. Bougainvillea is a brittle plant. I think it is time for it to go into a real bonsai pot so I am on the lookout for one. I have 2 bonsai pots but they are rectangular and small. I need a tall pot for the cascading jade plant and round pots for the Jaboticaba and Bougainvillea. There is no rush and I can wait until I find the right pot. If I can find a rock, the Jade might do well on that.

I went to the Farmer's market this morning and it has been raining for the last hour. It is overcast, the rain is light.

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TomatoNut95
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Minowase? What are Poamoho beans like? Shiso? Ajaka basil what is that like?

You grow fascinating sounding things, I'm envious! 😃

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Minowase is a type of long daikon radish or turnip. I have grown it over 2 ft long. I always broke the tip when it got that long. Poamoho beans are a flat podded stringless bean developed by the University of Hawaii. It has a long parentage with a lot of crossing back. It is resistant to rust (Kentucky wonder is not), and also resistant to nematodes. Kentucky wonder is a round podded bean. People here don't like round podded string beans.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepub ... ES-051.pdf

Shiso is Perilla or beefsteak plant. It is eaten with sashimi and sushi and you can even tempura it. It comes in green and red and sometimes a cross between the two. It is an annual that will go to seed when it gets cold. It can become a very large shrub 8-10 ft tall in a few months in the ground. The red leaves are usually pickled in ume (plum) juice as a condiment. Once it establishes, it will drop seeds which will sprout again when the weather warms up.

https://hihort.blogspot.com/2011/12/if-you-can-grow-basil-youll-have-no.html

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I made up some new soil mix yesterday. My friend called and said 2 of the main ag suppliers are out of perlite. I have a little over 2 cu ft left so I just came back from Home Depot (spent $236) and got (4) 2 cubic foot bags of perlite. They are a couple of dollars more than they would cost from the Ag supplier. I picked up 2 more akulikuli (Sesuvium portulacastrum). It is an indigenous plant similar to portulaca. I am planting it under the mailbox. It has small purple radial flowers. I also got an Akia, another native shrub that that I have had before. It has small yellow flowers. The last plant I got was a perovskia, Russian Sage. I used to have one in the herb garden. It attracts beneficial insects and is drought resistant. I also picked up some fertilizer and some other stuff to take care of weeds and the snails.

I haven't been to the store in a long time. The shelves are better stocked now although the brands of products have changed. The seed rack still had some seeds but they were out of some varieties. I did find some minowase daikon and buttercrunch lettuce seeds from a local company. I planted the buttercrunch lettuce and daikon seeds after I got home.

I potted up some of my older plants and moved the ornamentals to the front yard. I also potted up the asparagus roots. I don't know how they will do, I have put off planting them for a long time. I still have 30 glad bulbs to plant. I have used up most of the soil mix I made up yesterday already.

I got 2 hose savers from Amazon yesterday and I put one on the hose bib. I needed to do that since the old one leaks and I keep forgetting which way to turn the valve to shut it off. At least now it won't keep leaking if I forget.

The honohono orchid is blooming and it smells so good. The scent carries from 10 ft away. I have two others that have budded up. If they were in bloom all at the same time the scent would have carried farther. The flowers will last about 2 weeks.

It has not rained in about a week. I am getting back into the routine of watering the yard. It takes about an hour to water everything by hand. I might try to split some parts of the yard off since it is possible to still water some things every other day to cut the watering time. The cactus and succulents only need to be watered once a week. The orchids in pots only need water once or twice a week. The honohono and vanda like water daily. Most of the large potted plants can last a couple of days as long as they are not potbound. The small pots and cuttings will need to be watered daily. The front yard is getting watered now because I have some flower seeds sprouting. It will be cut back to only occasional watering since most of the plants there are fairly drought tolerant and I don't water the grass.

imafan26
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I had some energy today. I planted the akulikuli (native portulaca), and I finally got around to planting the 30 glad bulbs that have been sitting in my garage for over a month. I repotted the kwai fah (osmanthus fragrans), and cleaned up my potted leeks and green onions. I planted the 4 inch green onions into gallons. There were culantro mixed in with the shimonita onions so I ended up potting the culantro into 4 inch pots. Later they have to be put in the ground or separated again into 1 gallon pots. The aeridinae bloomed but one of the buds died and yellowed before opening. I seriously need to consider cutting the tall vandas.

The cuttings look good except the leaves on the nau gardenia are yellowing. The nau was not in the best condition so I am not surprised. I will see if the cuttings survive. I did MG the yard and the nau has greened up and has started to bloom so I may be able to get better cuttings later.

The camaro tomatoes are putting out more flowers and they are almost 3 ft tall now. They are really responding well to the warmer temperatures. A few more long beans decided to sprout , but I still only have 3 Poamoho beans. I just need 1 vine to survive so I can collect more seeds. The beets have sprouted and maybe some swiss chard (or maybe they are weeds. I'll find out in a little while). The roselle seeds are starting to show.

Yesterday I pulled the old snow pea vines off the trellis. There are some new snow peas that germinated from the over ripe pods. I collected the dried seed pods from the cilantro and they are drying in my lanai. I have way too many baby peppers and the strawberries are commandeering the nearby pots. I have a few lemons and limes, but the pots are not labeled. I don't know what they are. One does not look like Meyer lemon or Persian lime. It is very orange in color. I am wondering it might be the Yuzu?

The tree gardenia is looking better now that it has been opened up. I am slowly washing off the sooty mold and I am not seeing as many white flies. I think the white flies have decided to move over to the confederate rose.

I have to hose off the leaves of the confederate rose almost every day. I have cut the lower branches off and some of the side branches to keep it more compact. If it does not behave, I will give it a low haircut. It would not be a problem but it is near the citrus and sweet potato and the lemon leaves have scars from the white flies feeding on it.

The peppers I cut back are starting to bloom. One of them is showing signs of broad mites. The pepper canopies are very small now and the birds are picking off all of the fruit. I got one pepper this week, the birds got the rest.

imafan26
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I potted up a few plant and had to get 2 more bags of 3 cu ft peat moss. I still have a lot of big plants to repot. I put some of the larger peppers in 5 gallon pots.
I put the shade cloth back on my 8 ft orchid bench so I have put the cuttings in it. I had to move all of the 1 gallon green onions and leeks out. So, I weeded and repotted them. They are more or less perennial although I need to have young ones for garnish. I am running out of room in the yard. I put them by the hibiscus because the beans don't like to be near them and I have whiteflies on the hibiscus and the onions will be the least bothered by them. The lemons have white flies from being near the hibiscus.

I spaced the beets further apart since some of them came up too close to each other. The second sewing of fresh minowase daikon seed are coming up. I think the other seeds were just too old. The swiss chard is also coming up.

Some of the seeds I planted are coming up. The roselle, and red currant tomato are just starting to show some green.

I dropped some of my dried cilantro seeds into the pots with the beans and they are also sprouting. Now that it is getting warmer and the days are longer the beans and cucumbers are growing a lot faster.

The gardenia liked the Miracle grow it is putting out a lot of buds and the new leaves are green.

The cilantro have all pretty much bolted now. I am just allowing them to go to seed and the flowers are useful for attracting beneficial insects. The lettuce is also starting to rise up. It looks like it is the end of the cool season crops. Now, I will concentrate on the warm season and tropical vegetables that can take more heat. The days are about 80 degrees (at least for this week. )The nights have still dipped into the low seventies and a couple of days it was down to 64.

I have cut back almost all of the lavender and made cuttings. I have a few more roses to prune. The weeds in the grass need weed whacking again.

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My sister called me this afternoon. The plant I got for her Arctic Snow, has dropped all flowers and her newly planted papaya is yellow. My sister knows nothing about gardening. She believes the trend that organic gardening is better. However, she does not have a clue that organic fertilizers can't be just given once and done and that new plants should be watered in well right away and watered regularly. This is especially true since she really does not have good soil to start with because it has been starved with monoculture (grass), which is only mowed and not fed regularly either.

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Interesting because "organic" gardening is concerned with soil health. It's not just a lack of chemicals going into the ground or the provenance of the seeds, etc.

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The original mission of organic movement was to improve the soil health. But organics require regular inputs of organic matter to build and sustain the microbial population. Once you stop adding more organic material then it starts to reverse.

It takes time to build a healthy soil. It is also why the NOP does not consider container gardening organic since the soil in the container is not soil, the microbial population in a small pot will not be enough to sustain a high feeder plant. If you have to feed it weekly to keep it going it is not sustainable. NOP allowed organic in containers if the components were organic and the plants were intended to be planted out to the field and not to complete their life cycle in a pot. This part has been ignored because I see plants in the nursery that is labeled organic with eggplant and tomatoes on them being grown to maturity. The other big things about containers is that containers really don't do anything to improve the soil since they are self contained. Someone did calculate the minimum volume required for the soil to be sustainable.

You really cannot toss a handful of organic fertilizer (actually, I think if she read the bag, it would have taken more than a handful anyway) and stick a high maintenance plant in the hole and leave it to its own devises. Depending on the fertilizer, it is not readily available to the plants. It needs to be mineralized by the soil bacteria and that depends on the soil microbial population. That population wants to feed itself first. Plants don't always get what they need when they need it if you use the wrong kind of fertilizer and you don't water enough since a new plant does not have an extensive root system and because the Arctic Snow dropped its' flowers, it probably went into shock as well.

She has a Meyer lemon that puts out a few very large fruit, but the plant is less than 30 inches tall and it is over a year in the ground. It is also always being attacked by pests. Pests attack weak plants, not healthy ones and that Meyer in the ground should be bigger than that by now. I even had to tell her to fertilize it, because she was only giving it water. At that time it wasn't making any fruit.

A lot of people really don't understand what organic is. For most people they don't need to stick to the rigid definitions, but organic is not low maintenance gardening. Whether you are using IPM or organic fertilizer, you have to give it time to work before you plant, and it is not a once and done deal.

I don't do 100% organic. I do add compost and organic matter, but my soil tests indicate that I only need to add very small amounts of nitrogen. If anything my soil is on the toxic side since it is so high in phosphorus and adding the compost has actually made that worse. I use synthetic complete fertilizers in containers and I have heavy feeders like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, sweet potato, and citrus trees in pots. I try to use low number with slow N. because I really don't need that much in the pots either. I do have to use systemics on roses, and hibiscus, because they cannot be grown organically, but I rarely use more than water and snail bait for everything else. I have a pollinator garden and I have lots of lizards,and beneficial insects taking care of most of the pests. I do have thrips which I rarely treat, white flies are immune to everything so they only get water and I use barriers (they only works so-so), for fruit flies and birds. I do have scale on some plants, but I haven't seen an aphid for a long time. I do have to actively control ants. The scale is also immune to most chemicals so they get a bucket of soapy water and a brush. The hibiscus, ti, and panax get chopped since they are host plants for the white flies and fruit flies. They grow back later.

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I think it’s difficult and more difficult than most people realize when just starting to garden and try to grow food. Even having lots of experience growing houseplants doesn’t mean much (that was me! ...going back 30+ years ago...)

There are lots of conflicting information and lots of people with straight face telling you a set of instructions with promises of success that actually don’t apply to where you live or your particular bit of land. It almost always involves hit or miss successes, weather, and accumulated experiments and seasons of experience. Marketing pitfalls everywhere. Two mindsets needed are willing ness to try different methods and eternal optimism that next year will be better.

Your sister would do well to listen to your advise and try things out — it’s not always easy to find knowledgeable local expertise. If she wants to go _more_ organic, maybe also trial comparisons, but with open mind that conventional/commercial growing methods are *meant* to show *instant* substantive results, else how can they sell the products?

The question is are you willing/able to put in the time and effort ... and not have to have show-stoppers? (What are you looking for in the plus column from your garden for satisfaction?)

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That is the thing. My sister does not really garden. She just buys stuff she hears is good. Organic is promoted. Even I have a hard time getting around it at the store. While I think organic is great, I don't always want to pay a premium for it. Think about it, why buy organic bananas when most bananas are not raised with a lot of pesticides anyway, and are you going to eat the peel?

There have been recalls on organic produce for contamination and they are not immune to processing mishaps either.

The common non gardener thinks organics mean no pesticides. Which is not true, and these are the same people who will be the first to reach for a chemical to try to blast everything on a plant. My friend who is very much into organics has a mite problem and she has been using neem. Neem does not work on mites as well as sulfur!

People who only have a few plants get the organic plants and soil, but still don't bother to feed them with any kind of fertilizer organic or not. Most people don't realize if you want to start an organic garden from scratch, you have to start like 6 months early in order to get the soil web going and give the organic amendments and fertilizer time to work. You will have to continually add organic matter to maintain the soil web. People also think fertilizer of any kind is a once and done deal . Once the leaves are not yellow or the plant starts producing fruit, they don't think to feed it again until it starts to show signs of problems again.

I don't think it is necessarily all the fault of people. Organics has pushed its way into the markets and marketed itself well as a healthy alternative. But, they have failed to educate the common people about how much extra work it takes to be totally organic and is that what people really want? It seems most people want instant success and you have to put in a lot of work up front and have some patience with organic.

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My romaine is starting to bolt because the daytime temperature is in the 80's now. The salad bowl lettuce actually was less bitter than the romaine and it was about the same age. I like salad bowl better anyway since it is a soft lettuce. Unfortunately, so do the snails.

Yesterday, I thinned out the aloe again; cleaned up some pots. I have ground mealy bug infestations in some of my pots. I don't know what to do with the soil. They are hard to treat. The pots can be scrubbed and bleached. I have done hot water treatments, but it is a tedious process and the last time the water was too hot so after a few days a couple of the plants died. The stone pine did not die but it has a lot of brown needles now.

The cuttings are looking o.k. The nau leaves are falling off and that is not a good sign, and some of the lavender looks a little limp. I will have to wait it out. Both of those things can be a little fussy and I did take the lavender cuttings late.

I divided and repotted the mint and strawberries. I have another strawberry pot to still divide. I also repotted a few of the orchids.

A yellow vanda, phaius, and the cymbidium aloifolium are starting to bloom. Some of the orchids and bromeliads are getting sunburn on the leaves. It won't kill them but the leaves won't look pretty.

The white flies are after the citrus so I will have to take the time to scrub them off the leaves. It is hard to get water under the leaves since the plants are small and I can't easily get to them in the row. The wild bitter melon is growing back and some of the palm seedlings, Fukien tea, and African tulip seeds are sprouting. I have to keep a closer eye on those things since they are hard to get rid of if they are more than 4 inches tall. The bind weed is also in the garden so I have been hoeing them out every couple of weeks. The contender beans are starting to flower. And in the pots the Asparagus long and Poamoho beans are starting to grow faster. The cilantro planted in those pots are also sprouting. They may not last long in the heat.

The Camaro tomato produces tomatoes in clusters. I put bags on a couple of the larger clusters. I will see how that works out. Birds in my yard consider anything wrapped in newspaper or bags as presents for them to open. If it doesn't work then I'll have to put up the bird netting and construction fence. Right now the birds are focusing on eating the hot peppers. Soon they will be big enough that the birds won't be able to eat all of them.

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I repotted some peppers, the Greenstalk was delivered, and I harvested 3 of the largest araimo (dasheen). They weighed 1.13 lbs and I made nishime for dinner with them. Hasu (lotus root) is out of season and I haven't seen a canned one in a while so I used the frozen nishime vegetables. It is not the same, but you have to make do with what you can get.

I gave my mom 2 cucumber plants (Soarer) a month ago. My sister brought me two cucumbers from my mom today. I had one of them for breakfast.

I went shopping today. Except for the cat food, everything I got today could have fit in one shopping bag and that was $60 (total from 2 stores). I got onions, lettuce, konyakku, shiratake, carrots, chili powder, salad dressing and cat food. The canned cat food shelf was pretty bare at both stores. I had to Amazon my last batch of cat food because Sam's Club did not have any. The cost for Amazon and getting it from walmart is about the same. Sam's club has 8 cans more. I may have to start making cat food. As it is, I think the cans have gotten smaller. My cat sounds like Oliver asking for more after he finishes his dinner.

imafan26
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I am slowly potting up the smaller pots into larger ones and potting up the pot bound ones that are wilting after a day and a half without water. I called the hazardous waste department and they said I can take the mealy bug infested soil to the landfill. I can treat small quantities of soil with hot water, but it is getting to be too much for me to treat them. I just tried last to do a malathion soak last nite. I will see if it will be an option. Malathion can kill ground mealy bugs but it takes several treatments. This may be a better alternative than breaking my range again. I also added diatomaceous earth to my soil mix to see if it might help.

imafan26
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I went to the herb garden today and planted a rosemary. It rained a couple of days ago so the soil was moist. I lightly watered to top it off. I met with the someone from my bee hui. We have a bench and they are planning a pollinator event for arbor day. Hawaii's arbor day is in November. Not exactly prime flower time. The coordinator also wants to feature native plants. Bees have only been in Hawaii for about 150 years. It took a couple of attempts to even import them since the earlier colonies did not survive the ocean voyage. Needless to say, there aren't any native honey bees and the yellow faced bee is an endangered species. I haven't seen any of those since the varoa mites and hive beetles appeared and wiped out most of the wild colonies of bees. Most native plants evolved with other pollinators and some plants and pollinators are so specific that their existence is tied together. There are a few native species that bees will pollinate, but native plants are not popular among the local people. They are not very showy and most come from dry areas so they grow low and weedy.

My rain gauge collected a half inch of rain from the other day. The garden really likes rain better, everything seems to have grown a inch or two.

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First Harvest:
First Camaro tomato (219 g).
First harvest of contender beans (black valentine) (200 g)
One of the tomatoes had blossom end rot and this one has a bit of concentric cracking. It is probably from the storm systems that come by every couple of weeks messing up the water content. Everything was droopy today. There was supposed to be a flash flood watch the yesterday, but we only got a little bit of rain. I did not water yesterday so today the plants were a little thirsty. They all perked up after getting a drink but Camaro and Charger are not heat resistant tomatoes so they get BER and will drop fruit in the heat. Considering this tomato grows in clusters, I am surprised at the size. I will know how it tastes later. It is fully red but quite firm. It was in netting but it did not look like the birds tried to get it. Ominous sign.

Happy Mother's Day!
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pepperhead212
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Looking great!

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...I’m still too busy looking at the scale... That is a cool design I hadn’t seen before. 8)

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Being a woodworker, I really like that scale, too! :)

imafan26
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Thanks. It was a surprise when I was watering today. The tomato was barely coloring up two days ago. I have three scales. My last digital scale bit the dust a while ago. I have a couple of spring type scales but this one is has a higher weight capacity and I can use my bowl or dish on this scale and tare the weight. My other scale had to use the provided bowl and it was harder to measure the weight of produce on it. Cucumbers roll off the bowl. It was reasonable about $23 at Walmart. Since we pay double for shipping you can probably get it cheaper. It has non slip feet too. Also a plus. I just don't know how long it will last. Digital devices have built in planned obsolescence.

Since I am on this strict diet, I try to weigh all the ingredients every day. Sometimes, I do forget, especially when I am really hungry. I am getting better at estimating the weight by sight. The scale can weigh in grams or pounds. I think it has a capacity of 11 lbs.

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webmaster wrote:
Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:52 am
Interesting because "organic" gardening is concerned with soil health. It's not just a lack of chemicals going into the ground or the provenance of the seeds, etc.
Why are organic seeds important? It seems to me organic seeds or not if you grow them in an organic garden in organic soil then you have organic plants with organic vegetables.

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Part of the difference in identifying seeds as “organic” is the way they are processed and packaged.

Seeds may be fumigated or gassed with chemical pesticides and fungicides for storage, they may be treated with chemicals to prevent transmission of diseases. For pre-planting advantages, seeds may be coated with chemical pesticides and/or fungicides so the seeds will not be eaten or “rot” in cold or wet soil before sprouting, and the coating or “pelleted” small seeds may also include hormones or chemicals that promote growths.

I have also seen seeds that are coated with brightly colored substances — this may be just for visually enhancing so you can easily see the seeds?

This is why some of the commercially sold bulk or wholesale seeds for planting is not (packaged) for eating and may specifically warn against eating. This is also why you should be mindful about handling seeds and also washing hands afterwards before eating or otherwise handling food.

Some “organic” labeled seeds will be coated or pelleted with “natural” substances like clay but without the chemicals. As an example — Correctly fermenting to process tomato seeds have been shown to help eliminate typical diseases carried on the seed surface. Dedicated seed sources will pasteurize seeds to mitigate disease transmission, which also kills the sub-surface disease organisms without killing the seeds.

That said, I agree that by the time seeds sprout and take months to grow and produce fruits, none of that might matter. I think shortest seed to maturity period might be about 28 days for radishes? I would be wary of microgreens harvested within a couple of weeks of sprouting, and seed sprouts though, and would prefer the organic seeds (or my own saved seeds) to grow from.

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Organic would require all the inputs to be organic as well. Besides not allowing the seed treatments, organic seeds have to come from organically grown plants. For some people that is important. It does limit your choices since organic must choose certain varieties because if some of the more susceptible varieties were grown organically, they would not fare well.

For instance there are organically grown Sunrise papaya that are not resistant to ring spot virus. The growers have to rogue their fields of any "volunteer" papaya and they have to remove any infested trees. I don't know how they are dealing with the white flies that carry the virus. The PRSV papaya was developed in Hawaii and now in other countries because the virus is so devastating to the industry.

I have a hard enough time finding tomatoes with TYLCV resistance. I don't know of any of them that are organic.

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I harvested my first cucumber from the current Soarer. The progress cucumber died. It was probably too late to try to get the soarer to share the pot.

I have a suyo left that I have to find a place for.

I harvested a second round of beans from contender bush beans. I don't see any more flowers. I haven't grown bush beans for a long time. Does this mean that they are done or will they flower again? Should I pull them out? They are about 7-8 weeks old

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imafan26 wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 4:57 pm

I harvested a second round of beans from contender bush beans. I don't see any more flowers. I haven't grown bush beans for a long time. Does this mean that they are done or will they flower again? Should I pull them out? They are about 7-8 weeks old
All the beans I have grown always blossom 3 times. First harvest is 65% of the total summer crop.
Second harvest is 25% of total summer crop. Third harvest is 10% of total summer crop. Beans I grow are a 65 day crop for first harvest, second harvest is 1 month later, 3 harvest is another month later = 4 months to get the total 100% harvest.

These days I let second crop dry on the plants to be next years saved seeds.

If I want maximum harvest for my 5 month growing season I pull up all my plants after first harvest then plant seeds to grow another crop. I get 2 crops both 65% = 130% total harvest. I can get 30% extra growing 2 bean crops.

Your growing season will determine what you can do.

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Thanks Gary that helps a lot in deciding what to do.

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O.k. Gary, thanks to you, I figured it was time to pull the beans out. So, now I have planted Carolina Bell peppers instead. They are also nematode and heat resistant. It is my first time trying them. I pulled out the mustard greens. They had a very strong wasabi bite and my friend took them to feed her worms. I have so many pepper and lettuce seedlings I don't know what to do with them. I gave almost all of my remaining lettuce and a few of the pepper seedlings to my friend. She gave me a Kale smoothie in return. She makes good smoothies.

I did plant some of the lettuce seedlings in the garden. Buttercrunch, and manoa. and some salad bowl lettuce. I planted them closer since it is getting too hot for lettuce and I won't be harvesting these at full size. They will be too hard and bitter. Salad bowl may last longer since it can handle the most heat.

My Soarer cucumber is producing 1-2 cucumbers every other day and the camaro tomatoes are starting to ripen. I picked two more that are ripening on my counter.
I picked about 21 g of superchile from my 4 plants. They need to do more growing.

Today, I picked up another two bales of peat moss. The tower garden used up 3 cu ft of peat moss and about the same amount of perlite. Garden supplies are getting harder to find again. Some companies are out of some things and don't know when they will get more and I could not find Greek oregano today.

I found more pots with ground mealy bugs. I will have to find time to treat them again.

The seeds have germinated in the flower garden, along with some weeds. The grass needs weed whacking again. It has been a nice couple of days. The temperatures have been mild not quite 80, but it has been relatively dry. However, I do see a big rain cloud outside my window now. It may or may not bring a few sprinkles my way.

imafan26
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I picked a couple of more Camaro tomatoes. I am surprised at the size. I did not expect tomatoes in clusters would get this big. They are about 6-8 oz in size. I am still having BER , but I am trying to stretch the watering if I can to see if the flavor will improve.

I picked another Soarer cucumber today. It was a bit scarred up from thrips, but I will peel it anyway. I may have to pick my lettuce in the tower very soon. The temperature gauge in the yard reached 92 degrees yesterday and the lettuce has already had some tip burn so it will be turning bitter if it hasn't already. If it is bitter, then it is more worm food. The beets and daikon planted 4/11 are bulbing up.

The Chinese Giant peppers don't seem to be getting any bigger. They have been bigger before. Bell peppers are problematic. I have to throw some of the Chinese Giant seedlings away because they have bacterial spot.

The rain and humidity have caused the Thai basil to show more basil downy mildew, the roses have some black spot, and the lower leaves of Camaro have downy mildew.

The red currant tomato I just planted is starting to flower. It was in a pot for a long time but it is more resilient that other tomatoes.

The beans are misbehaving they keep trying to grab the tomato cage, so I have to push them to the other side of the pot just about every day. The Poamoho beans are flowering.

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Gary350
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imafan26 wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 8:18 pm
I picked a couple of more Camaro tomatoes. I am surprised at the size. I did not expect tomatoes in clusters would get this big. They are about 6-8 oz in size. I am still having BER , but I am trying to stretch the watering if I can to see if the flavor will improve.

I picked another Soarer cucumber today. It was a bit scarred up from thrips, but I will peel it anyway. I may have to pick my lettuce in the tower very soon. The temperature gauge in the yard reached 92 degrees yesterday and the lettuce has already had some tip burn so it will be turning bitter if it hasn't already. If it is bitter, then it is more worm food. The beets and daikon planted 4/11 are bulbing up.

The Chinese Giant peppers don't seem to be getting any bigger. They have been bigger before. Bell peppers are problematic. I have to throw some of the Chinese Giant seedlings away because they have bacterial spot.

The rain and humidity have caused the Thai basil to show more basil downy mildew, the roses have some black spot, and the lower leaves of Camaro have downy mildew.

The red currant tomato I just planted is starting to flower. It was in a pot for a long time but it is more resilient that other tomatoes.

The beans are misbehaving they keep trying to grab the tomato cage, so I have to push them to the other side of the pot just about every day. The Poamoho beans are flowering.
Put calcium in your plant water give plants plenty of it & BER is usually gone in 2 days. This is not a permanent fix when my pepper & tomato plants start having BER I often need to water them with calcium water every other day in our hot 98° weather all summer.

Move your peppers to full shade so they don't get so hot in the sun you will get more & bigger peppers. When we start having 90° weather I sometimes put white color shade cloth over my peppers other wise plants will have no peppers at all until Oct. Spray plant leaves with cold water several times every day to cool them down. A mist sprayer all day is very helpful to keep plants cooler.



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