Gardening: My Tomatoe and Pepper Progress

[probablynotnick]

My wife and I are closing on our first house soon that sits on a 1/3acre. We're both pretty excited to get a garden growing in the back, and all of this has been a fun read and only adds fuel to that fire!

Hope to have a few pics of my own to share next year!

 

[applescrap]

This is my first time growing hard squash. I think this is a winter squash, but wonder if it's an early pumpkin. Anyways anybody know when to pick it. It seems ready.

 

[jakeasaur]

This week's harvest

 

[shelly_belly]

This is my first time growing hard squash. I think this is a winter squash, but wonder if it's an early pumpkin. Anyways anybody know when to pick it. It seems ready.View attachment 580111

That looks like a spaghetti squash.

https://brownthumbmama.com/when-to-harvest-spaghetti-squash/

 

[applescrap]

^^thanks!

 

[applescrap]

Oh man look at the size of these squash plants they really took off. They grew down where they're getting hit by the sprinkler and I sense some powdery mildew starting. I pulled the pool back onto the deck but I think I cut the bottom with a screw. Anyways I also cut some of the large leaves that were suspect. Anyone know if that hurts the plant. Tomatoes are starting to grow put in the big spikes.

 

[user 211287]

The Pain Train just pulled into the station.

Only picked a few ghosts, Jamaican Golds and P Dreadie bonnets. Mystery pepper just for comparison to the ghosts.

 

[ong]

I think these are really cool — it’s a heirloom cherry tomato called Helsing Junction Blues.

 

[jakeasaur]

Gone for the weekend and came home to this. Anyone have any thoughts on the culprit? Chimpmunk?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Pick of the day

 

[z-bob]

I'm starting to pick cherry tomatoes and serrano peppers. The serranos are big ones, about 3 inches long and look like skinny jalapenos, but way hotter than most jalapenos. I planted "Celebrity" big tomatoes this year specifically because of their disease resistance, but it wasn't enough. I will get a few tomatoes off of them, but they are eat-up with blight. The cherry tomatoes (2 different varieties) barely seem affected by the blight, so I might plant all cherry tomatoes next year. The exotic peppers are doing well, but I'm not going to pick any until the first one starts to change color because I don't know how big they'll get and I don't want to pick them too early.

I have 3 hills of squash up, just planted a week or so ago. Should still be enough time to get a crop. And today I transplanted 2 rows of leeks from a packet of seeds I planted in a bunch a couple of months ago; they are about pencil size or a little smaller now. I spaced them about 2 inches apart. I'm hoping to pull about half of them for scallions in a few weeks and let the rest get big.

And I bought a 10 cent packet of collard green seeds, so I will plant those somewhere for a fall crop.

 

[applescrap]

Gone for the weekend and came home to this. Anyone have any thoughts on the culprit? Chimpmunk?View attachment 581424

Rat or mice?
Beautiful fruits sucks to see.

 

[jakeasaur]

Rat or mice?
Beautiful fruits sucks to see.

I'm leaning towards squirls... setting up one of my brother in-laws hunting cameras tonight

 

[probablynotnick]

What sort of light diffusers are you guys using? Thought I noticed that in Evilgrin's photos.

 

[user 211287]

Got milk and baby wipes?.....yep

2 kinds of bonnets

Bunch of Fresno, Trinidad Perfume and Aji Arnaucho

Mystery peppers and Ghosts

The HAUL!!!

 

[user 211287]

What sort of light diffusers are you guys using? Thought I noticed that in Evilgrin's photos.

Nothing if you mean photography related. My digital cam is a older Panasonic. If you mean like a shade cloth i use huge peanut bags to shade the black fabric pots and plants.

Early season pics but it gives you an idea.

 

[probablynotnick]

...If you mean like a shade cloth i use huge peanut bags to shade the black fabric pots and plants...

Exactly what I was asking, thanks! My wife and I just bought an old house that has a huge yard with part of the plot already tilled for a garden. The catch is that almost all of the plot is in direct sun for most of the day, hence my question. I guess "shade cloth" is the right term.

Can any of you recommend a good gardening book or other material to tide me over until planting season? I mean there are a thousand things to fix with the house, but I've always wanted a big garden and don't know where to start.

 

[user 211287]

thehotpepper forum is a gold mine of info.

Some peppers seem to love virtually full sun all day. My Aleppo and Jalapeno do fine with full sun to maybe 6pm. Many of mine are getting lots of shade by 4pm. You need to take into account my climate and temps. Its been over 90F a lot sofar but nights have mostly been in the 75ish F range.

If your highs are a bit lower and lows are similar then more sun should not be an issue. My buddy in Idaho is cranking out with rocoto peppers that are doing poorly for me. My plants look great but i have very few pods. He has tons of rocoto pods from the exact same seeds. His night time temps are way lower than mine. His humidity is also lower than mine.

 

[user 211287]

Mess of Papa Dreadie Scotch Bonnets, Brazilian Starfish and some Sichuan peppers. Them Starfish are so good to eat fresh. Add them to a slaw or tuna salad OMG!!! So sweet and not much hotter than a jalapeno. Most of it is pretty mild until you get closer to the seeds.

 

[bleme]

The Pain Train just pulled into the station.

I literally started sweating, just looking at those pics, LOL!

 

[catdaddy66]

Can anyone tell what the white spot is on my tomato plant. I don't know what it is but can only guess it's a type of mildew. Two thirds of my plants have it, most have a little but 2-3 have a helluva lot more than this. Should I fight it? If so, what's recommended? Do I need to destroy the plants? Sorry my phone takes crappy pics.

This sucks...

 

[ong]

Can anyone tell what the white spot is on my tomato plant. I don't know what it is but can only guess it's a type of mildew. Two thirds of my plants have it, most have a little but 2-3 have a helluva lot more than this. Should I fight it? If so, what's recommended? Do I need to destroy the plants? Sorry my phone takes crappy pics.

This sucks...View attachment 583078

It’s really hard to tell from the picture, but it almost looks like spittlebug eggs. Does it sort of look like foam/bubbles?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

have you seen any white moths flying around, they will do that and destroy your leaves when the eggs hatch

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

just had a flash flood and huge gusts of wind and spent the morning picking up 2 - 8 foot tall tomato plants off the ground, snapped the stakes and dropped about 6 softball size tomatoes, most green

 

[catdaddy66]

It’s really hard to tell from the picture, but it almost looks like spittlebug eggs. Does it sort of look like foam/bubbles?

Not really. It looks wet and rubs off easily, but it is spreading. If I pull off the leaves or prune the stems it slows down the progression. The affected areas lead to poor growth and less production. I have a natural solution that might make the plant less desirable to pests. Equal amounts of cayenne powder, garlic and dish detergent (.5tsp) in a half gallon of water. Sprayed it liberally with good results initially but slacked of due to high volumes of rain recently.

 

[ong]

Not really. It looks wet and rubs off easily, but it is spreading. If I pull off the leaves or prune the stems it slows down the progression. The affected areas lead to poor growth and less production. I have a natural solution that might make the plant less desirable to pests. Equal amounts of cayenne powder, garlic and dish detergent (.5tsp) in a half gallon of water. Sprayed it liberally with good results initially but slacked of due to high volumes of rain recently.

I would add some oil to that solution. My go-to aphid spray is a quart of water with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 2 drops of dish soap. If I use this as a foliar application three days in a row it really wipes out the aphid population (have to be careful you’re not also committing ladybug genocide though).

 

[HoppyDaze]

Fatalii plant loaded with pods

Same with purple Cayenne

Same with mustard Bhut Jolokia

Atomic Starfish

2 MOA Scotch Bonnet plants

Goat Horn

Yellow Brainstrain

Unknown

 

[stella_tigre]

This week's harvest, now 13 pints of tomato sauce and about 6 cups of tomato-onion-garlic sauce in the freezer. Peppers in the freezer, but the later ones get dried for the SIL and us.

Plus about another 10 lbs today, that will be the next batch.

 

[catdaddy66]

We are in the low to mid 90's currently and have cloudy days but little rain where I live. No issues though, as I hand water my containers. But my tomatoes are looking pretty threadbare these days. I have battled hornworms, grasshoppers and other pests as well as powdery mildew (I think), which necessitated me having to remove 4 plants completely. I still have a few fruits to pick though a bit smallish. Recently I gave a kickstart with fish emulsion, epsom salts and tomato fertilizer (always as instructed). Growth is occuring and blossoms are forming but production is mild.

Is this common and is it temporary, ie reversible?

My peppers are doing great despite something munching on a leaf or three...

 

[estricklin]

We are in the low to mid 90's currently and have cloudy days but little rain where I live. No issues though, as I hand water my containers. But my tomatoes are looking pretty threadbare these days. I have battled hornworms, grasshoppers and other pests as well as powdery mildew (I think), which necessitated me having to remove 4 plants completely. I still have a few fruits to pick though a bit smallish. Recently I gave a kickstart with fish emulsion, epsom salts and tomato fertilizer (always as instructed). Growth is occuring and blossoms are forming but production is mild.

Is this common and is it temporary, ie reversible?

Fairly typical for this time of year. They can go until frost but they get jaded along the way. They don't like to set fruit when temps are much above 90 either.

My peppers are doing great despite something munching on a leaf or three...