Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Marsha, how harmful is Pyrethrin to humans/animals? How long will it remain to be toxic after spraying? Does Pyrethrin wash off easily? Websites info is not consistent...
Thanks, doc.

Supposedly not very harmful at all. It's derived from Chrysanthemums and put into most OMRI listed pesticides, is organic approved.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Happy new year to all!

I am sensing that this fall season was a success for most part. What are the plans for the spring season? Are you guys starting new seedlings soon or using cuttings, or keeping fall plants?

This fall was a huge success; even getting the russet mites at this point in time is not a deal breaker plus it is only on the East Pool side and the dwarf plants. I will look at it as a learning experience. I will toss plants but keep some just to see if I can get them healthy.

New Seedlings - I have some nice seedlings now; some that should be planted out but waiting until after this weekend with the 30MPH winds forecasted.

Cuttings - I have about 6-8 all producing fruit. I actually harvested my first ripe fruits from cuttings.

Fall Plants - Remains to be seen; hopefully at least SunGold - it isn't slowing down yet and others. If I get a tomato here/there, I will probably pull the plant.

---
I started taking down some plants - I did 7 experimental plants - seeds from same tomato - it produced 2 Rugose Leaf dwarfs - one with Red tomatoes, one with Yellow tomatoes. 5 regular leaf / size plants - 2 with yellow tomatoes (the absolute WORST shelf life of anything), 2 with red tomatoes, and 1 with mahogany tomatoes. The dwarf with the yellow tomatoes have longer shelf life than the regular leaf ones.

Taking these down will free up good real-estate and 2 EBs.

[Zone9b]

I have another Raised Bed that I am growing Castle Dome Broccoli in. But in this RB I changed the spacing and instead of what I have been doing which is 11” rows and 8” spacing within the row for a total of 100 plants in a 5’ x 16’? RB, I changed the row spacing to 9” which allowed me to get 6 rows of plants in the RB instead of 5. In this RB I have a total of 120 plants. The plants were transplanted into the RB 42 days ago and are now heading. I should cut my first Broccoli heads in approximately 1 week. I’m going to have to give a lot of Broccoli away, given that the other RB with 100 plants should start heading in 3 weeks. It’s a hoot to see how much Broccoli one can grow in a Central Florida season in a single RB and it appears to be a whole bunch.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

Larry - I too think it's amazing how well the broccoli is producing. It definitely is a bang for the buck vegetable.

I sowed a few more broccoli seeds tonight. I want to stretch the season as long as possible. When will be the last time you sow more seeds?

The broccoli is maturing in really good intervals so no overwhelming supply. Since the permeable weeding cloth had 1' markings, I just followed them for my plants. My beds were originally 4x12 (three 4x4s with the boards removed). I planted broccoli 4*8 and thought I was doing great with 18 plants. Last year, the same area would have had 6 plants.

As I'm cutting the broccoli, I'm removing the plants. So far so good; they are coming up so easily. In prior years, pulling up the roots was tough. I'm sure related to how long the plant lived to give off shoots.

I just have small seedlings and recently separated in their own cell. I haven't had to reuse any of the space in the raised beds yet.

I probably have 50 plants in the raised beds total.

Cold weather coming so the broccoli (and lettuce) will love it.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Larry - I too think it's amazing how well the broccoli is producing. It definitely is a bang for the buck vegetable.
I sowed a few more broccoli seeds tonight. I want to stretch the season as long as possible. When will be the last time you sow more seeds?
The broccoli is maturing in really good intervals so no overwhelming supply. Since the permeable weeding cloth had 1' markings, I just followed them for my plants. My beds were originally 4x12 (three 4x4s with the boards removed). I planted broccoli 4*8 and thought I was doing great with 18 plants. Last year, the same area would have had 6 plants.
As I'm cutting the broccoli, I'm removing the plants. So far so good; they are coming up so easily. In prior years, pulling up the roots was tough. I'm sure related to how long the plant lived to give off shoots.
I just have small seedlings and recently separated in their own cell. I haven't had to reuse any of the space in the raised beds yet.
I probably have 50 plants in the raised beds total.
Cold weather coming so the broccoli (and lettuce) will love it.

Barb,
I will probably put my 4th crop Broccoli in a single bed in approximately 2/24/17 I would have liked to get a 5th crop in, but that is looking less doable. I’d be putting a 5th crop in approximately April 24th and that is just too late. However, I would feel comfortable transplanting Castle Dome plants with 4 to 6 true leaves into the garden here in Central Florida as late as March 24th. Of course if we were to have a very hot May that could reduce the yield of a late crop of Broccoli.
I very much agree Broccoli is a great bang for your buck crop. For me, it is a seeds, a raised bed with free compost, cheapo 10-10-10 fertilizer (Broccoli likes that nitrogen) and quite a bit of water and beautiful tasty Broccoli I receive.
The other Brassica plant which is even a better bang for the buck is Kale. I’m currently growing Lacinato but I have grown a number of different varieties in the past. I think Red Russian is almost too beautiful to eat. Especially if you get some cold weather, even a bit of frost, then you get the most beautiful mix of colors. I grow Kale directly in the Florida native soil and it does so well. I don’t even fertilize it any more. I just throw some water its way and it does great. I remember a few years ago a friend of mine in the gym, a senior who appeared to need to watch her pennies, was growing a garden, and bought fruit when in season and inexpensive for canning. I gave her Kale on occasion which she canned. On one occasion I almost filled the back of her old SUV with Red Russian Kale, which she canned. She was so happy which in turn made me happy. Gardening has many rewards.
I’m always on the lookout for another plant to use in salads as a green. Several seed vendors list a new Kale variety that may fill the bill. Here is what one of them has to say:
Prizm Hybrid (Baby Leaf) Kale
35-45, A 2016 AAS Winner! Produces attractive short, tight ruffled edged leaves that are content to be grown in containers, as well as, in the garden. Easy-to-maintain, almost stemless, 3-1/2 to 4" stalks are quick to re-leaf so harvest early and often for a continual supply throughout the season. Excellent tasting, almost nutty flavored leaves are tender enough to enjoy in fresh salads, but also hold up well when cooked. Easy-to-grow
I hope to give it a try.
Larry

[Bio-Ag-Guy]

Hello everyone!
I was reading this thread and saw the broccoli pic from Larry. ( nice plants)! I too am crazy about growing broccoli. It does great in my location and what can beat home grown broccoli? Except maybe home grown tomatoes.
Brian

[Barb_FL]

Brian - Glad to have you join us. Your broccoli plants looks great. What kind do you grow? Larry and I are doing Castle Dome; I did a few Premium Crop in my first batch of 18 plants.

Are you growing tomatoes in the ground? Do you have problems with nematodes?

Really rotten weather today; I'm sure my tomato plants are really beat up. I brought my spring seedlings inside to spare them.

[Bio-Ag-Guy]

Thanks for the kind welcome Barb.The broccoli varieties are Gypsy, Green Magic, and Belstar. Yes I am growing tomatoes in the ground! As far as nematodes, I'm sure they have some effect on the tomatoes , but I'm just as stubborn as they are.lol. I don't use anything to try to control them, I want to eat everything I'm growing without pesticide residue thank you.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Bio-Ag-Guy

Hello everyone!
I was reading this thread and saw the broccoli pic from Larry. ( nice plants)! I too am crazy about growing broccoli. It does great in my location and what can beat home grown broccoli? Except maybe home grown tomatoes.
Brian

Brian,
I want to join Barb in welcoming you. Congratulations on your Broccoli. If I were to try a different Broccoli variety, Green Magic would be on my list, but for now I will probably stick with Castle Dome and its 50 days to maturity. I’m curious as to what you soil makeup is. Do you have a descent layer of topsoil? Here in my location in Orlando my native soil is a bit wanting. It is said to be 70% sand and 30% silt. I have gardened in it and while I had some success not nearly as much as I do with a mix of Raised Beds and Containers. For vegetables such as Snap Beans, Broccoli, Lettuce, and Onions I mainly use Raised Beds. I also grow Indeterminate, mostly Nematode Resistant tomato varieties in Raised Beds. Also, I grow quite a lot of tomatoes in containers, which are mostly Determinate of which some are non Nematode resistant varieties. I see you appear to be using lots of wood chips. That is quite interesting to me. I have considered growing some vegetables again in native soil with heavy use of wood chips. Though I am not sure I could get results like yours, given what I expect is my poorer native soil.
Larry

[Bio-Ag-Guy]

Thanks for the welcome Larry. About my soil, it was sod, which when removed, left a couple of inches of top soil over top of white sand. I added 4 inches of compost, soft rock phosphate, gypsum, high calcium lime, and a generous amount of chicken manure. Then I covered it with about 18 inches of mulch and let it sit for a year before I planted anything. This my 4th fall / winter season gardening on this patch of ground, and it produces better each year. I'm not sure if what I started with could have been any less poor than what you described as your native soil.

I stumbled onto some writings of Carey Reams years ago, and have been a fan of his practices ever since. It has been a lot of work, to get the soil into RBTI parameters, but much more satisfying now! I don't think it is fully there yet, but a soil test later this year will let me know what's next. I am in process of reclaiming more of the yard for gardening, and I expect simular results. The heavy mulching I borrowed from the Back to Eden video. If the ground isn't kept covered, you can almost watch the organic material disappear.

I went this direction after years of struggling with bugs, diseases, you name it. Now the only bugs I deal with are caterpillars on the tomatoes. A little BT takes care of that. As far as disease pressure, that is still a work in progress, but seams to be improving also. Disease killed my tomatoes last year, but not before I harvested almost twice as many tomatoes as any of the previous years. Beets, broccoli, and onions have all thrived with no disease or bug pressure.

BTW, I didn't know that Castle Dome was the replacement for Packman which I have been growing for years, or I would have been growing it also. Love me some Paxman broccoli!

[kayrobbins]

Brian I am glad you are here to join in on all the discussions we have going on. We are spread out through most of the state. I think I am the farthest north so my growing is a little different than many of the group.

It got down to 29 here last night. I moved my micro tomatoes to the garage so they should be ok. I did not want to bring them in the house because I have all my stepped up pepper plants under lights and did not want to take a chance on bringing in any insects.

I did attempt to cover the Indigo Cherry and Indigo Apple tomatoes even though I doubt it will help. I left the other to fend for themselves. The top leaves look bad but the rest of the plant might make it. We do have another cold night though so that might be the end for them. If so, I will cheer myself up my starting my spring tomato seeds.

[kayrobbins]

I forgot to mention that Dwarf Beauty King that I have been raving about has finally been released. I know that I have shared seeds with several of you. This is one of my favorites of the Dwarf Project tomatoes and not just because I have been working on it. I hope a lot of people will give this one a try.
http://heritageseedmarket.com/index....f-beauty-king/

[Bio-Ag-Guy]

Kay, that is quite different than what I deal with as far as weather goes. 68 at my house right now, even though I'm in South Carolina right now 30 degrees.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I forgot to mention that Dwarf Beauty King that I have been raving about has finally been released. I know that I have shared seeds with several of you. This is one of my favorites of the Dwarf Project tomatoes and not just because I have been working on it. I hope a lot of people will give this one a try.
http://heritageseedmarket.com/index....f-beauty-king/

Kay, thank you so much for the seeds. I am growing it now. There's a photo of mine in my grow list photos thread. I can see why you like it so much.

Welcome Brian, so glad you are here. Sounds like you know a little something too. You aren't that far from me actually.

[Bio-Ag-Guy]

Thanks for the kind words and welcome Ginger. Yeah, Plantation is pretty close. Who knows, maybe I'll make it to the next plant exchange thing.