Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[efisakov]

O, baby girl! I hope it keeps to a minimum.

[Zone9b]

A document which I use and like is published by the University of Florida EFAS Extension and is titled, Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide1. However, I do wish it was expanded to include more varieties of vegetables.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021
I am all but at the end of growing snap beans for this Spring season. I noticed that the Gardening Guide included the number of pounds of snap beans to expect from a 10 foot row. The Bush Snap Beans I grew this season preformed quite well. Most of the production was from 2 varieties, Cassidy and Pike, which I have not grown in the past. Both were said to not be continuous producers, which I didn't find to be the case. At least from my interpretation of what continuous production means. Both varieties have a beautiful plant habit. They stand up straighter than any other variety that I have grown in the past. Even after picking them multiple times they stood up straight and looked great.
To the point: I ran the calculations to determine how well Cassidy and Pike had done per 10 foot row, so I could compare it the the publications number of 4.5 pounds per 10 foot of plants. The following is what I wrote in my Notes:
06/10/17 Yield per 10 ft of Snap Beans
Notice the yield in the table above for 10 feet of snap beans is given as 4.5 pounds.
My recent crop of Cassidy , which I picked 8 times before the plants failed, yielded an equivalent of 10.81 lbs per 10 feet.
My recent crop of Pike snap beans, which I picked 5 times, resulted in approximately the same total yield as Cassidy. However, Pike’s production was much more concentrated in the first 2 picks. At the end of the second pick, which was 65 days after seed planting, the per 10 feet production was approximately 7.51 lbs. While production at the 3rd pick, which occurred 73 after seed planting, dropped quite a bit from the second. At this point Pike had produced approximately a total of 9.53 lbs per 10 feet of row.
Larry

[efisakov]

Larry, I am growing Tendergreen bush improved (first time any type of beens). If squirrels do not kill them all, I will record the amount as well to compare. And I agree, they look beautiful.
Barb, did you calculate production of your beans?

[Ricky Shaw]

Why so much 'pH Up' Barb, acidic source water?

[Goldie321]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

A document which I use and like is published by the University of Florida EFAS Extension and is titled, Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide1. However, I do wish it was expanded to include more varieties of vegetables.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 ...

Hi, I've gone to that website myself. I'm in Zone 9A on the Gulf Coast (Hernando County). I'm starting my small veggie garden very late this year because I was getting over a fractured wrist. So far my tomatoe plants are getting flowers and my pepper plants will go into their containers tomorrow. I'm a container gardener since our 'soil' is so crappy. I almost didn't bother because it was so late, but decided to give it a shot.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Goldie321

Hi, I've gone to that website myself. I'm in Zone 9A on the Gulf Coast (Hernando County). I'm starting my small veggie garden very late this year because I was getting over a fractured wrist. So far my tomatoe plants are getting flowers and my pepper plants will go into their containers tomorrow. I'm a container gardener since our 'soil' is so crappy. I almost didn't bother because it was so late, but decided to give it a shot.

I will be trying to grow the following in the hot months. Most in containers and some in Raised Beds. Arugula (Astro), Egg Plant (Ping Tung Long), Cowpeas (Mississippi Silver), Okra (Stewarts Zeebest) Sunflowers, Swiss Chard.
Good Luck,
Larry

[Goldie321]

We had several days of rain here in Hernando County Florida. Coastal Flood Advisories were up, but I don't know of anyone who actually got flooded. I am about 10 miles or so inland and higher elevation. Fortunately our land perks very well, so even super heavy rains drain off pretty fast. We are pretty saturated now though. At least no tropical systems out there. That would spell major trouble!

[Barb_FL]

Ella / Larry - Other than one time, I didn't weigh my beans. The one time I did, it was just over 2 lbs. I filled a gallon plastic bag and still had more. I gave beans away twice. I've harvested 11 times now. I have tunnels in one of my raised beds (moles, I sure) and have had plants just die. When I pull them, they have barely any roots. I'm growing 2 types but don't know the difference except when I let the bean get too ripe; one has white beans inside (this is the one from HD/Lowes) and the other is the Provider Beans. My plants are pretty floppy; I think the most productive plants were in a huge container that was home to a blueberry bush.

RickyShaw - It could be my test method just using the GH drops. When I bought the refill, the color chart was a lot different than the one on the dropper. I tried using less once I discovered that. My tap was between 6.5-7 everytime I tested which I think is good.

It is super corrosive where I live; unless galvanized, things rust overnight. We've had to re-pipe our house for drinking water. The water just eats through the copper pipes. After the 4th leak, we re-piped. Other people keep fixing their leaks; I didn't want the slab to break for an undetected leak. When they re-pipe, they go through the attic; solar showers when the sun is out even in the winter.

Could be b/c of this, I don't get many fungal diseases.

On the bright side, those big color coated galvanized cages I brought from Harris Seed were perfect when I pulled them up. The regular galvanized cages that I've had for many years have rust on the bottom legs even when they were just in EarthBoxes.

Goldie - Good luck with your summer garden. You probably will have better tomato fruit set with cherry tomatoes. It is the night time temps that matter more (in Florida) whether you will get fruit set or not. You should be OK with the peppers / and cucumbers if you are growing them. Cucumbers will need a way to keep away the pickle worm moths (I covered with tulle last summer).

[MarlynnMarcks]

Do you plant yours in the soil or in containers? Do nematodes affect them?

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by MarlynnMarcks

Do you plant yours in the soil or in containers? Do nematodes affect them?

I grow Broccoli and Snap Beans in a Raised Beds (RB) full of compost which set directly on native soil. This means there are nematodes in the RBs. Brassicas such as Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts seem to be totally resistant to nematodes.
I also grow Bush Snap Beans in RBs but the nematodes don't seem to bother in the Spring. However, in the Fall nematodes seem to be in higher concentrations and they do appear to reduce the productivity of Snap Beans which I grow in the RBs. I just consider 3/5 the amount in the Fall that I normally get in the Spring is better than no beans at all.
There are other factors in the Fall that may add to reduced yields of Snap Beans. Two appear to be Common Bean Mosaic which most beans seem to be resistant to and the other is Rust which much fewer varieties are resistant to. I have had good success with Crockett variety in the fall and it is resistant to Rust. This fall I will also try Boone variety and it as well is resistant to rust.
Also, I have grown both Broccoli and Snap Beans in native soil, which is largely sand here in Orlando, but I have only had minimal success.
Oh, there is one exception. That being Rattlesnake Pole beans and they seem to grow almost anywhere.
Larry

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Ella / Larry - Other than one time, I didn't weigh my beans. The one time I did, it was just over 2 lbs. I filled a gallon plastic bag and still had more. I gave beans away twice. I've harvested 11 times now. I have tunnels in one of my raised beds (moles, I sure) and have had plants just die. When I pull them, they have barely any roots. I'm growing 2 types but don't know the difference except when I let the bean get too ripe; one has white beans inside (this is the one from HD/Lowes) and the other is the Provider Beans. My plants are pretty floppy; I think the most productive plants were in a huge container that was home to a blueberry bush.

I have noticed that when I pull beans at the end of the season they often don't have a lot of roots. Please see the pictures at the bottom. One plant which is still somewhat green appears to have a few more roots than the one which is largely dead. My guess when one pulls a plant that is near the end of its use the roots are dying as well and when the plant is pulled some of these roots remain in the soil.
Some would say this is a nematode issue but in the spring I don't think so. Also, I see no evidence of nematodes activity on the plants in the pictures. However, in the Fall it is a different story. When I pull the plants at the end of the Fall season I often see nematode activity. This is one of the things I attribute to less productivity in the snap beans I grow in the fall season.
I'm thinking of a different strategy for bush snap bean and broccoli production beginning in the fall and stretching thru the spring of 2018.
Simple put, this is to start the fall early with a crop of snap beans (pike and/or boone). As soon as the snap beans are pulled in early October they will immediately be followed by 3 or hopefully 4 continuous crops of Castle Dome Broccoli. When the Broccoli comes out in early spring 2018 in goes another crop of Pike Snap Beans. I favor Pike here because of the very concentrated early production of beans.
If this anxious plan were to work out I could possibly grow in 2 Raised Beds as many as 800 heads of Broccoli and a whole lot of Snap Beans too. Crazy ha!
If anyone has ideas as it relates to the lack of roots on Snap Beans at the end of the season please let us know. We could use the help.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

Larry - My dead plants looked like those pictures too. So weird that a dead plant is right next to one that is thriving. I'm going to dump a 4 lb bag of Neptune's Harvest Crab shells (to fight nematodes) in my Raised beds as soon as I pull the beans. Also dumping most of my Earthboxes and Root Pouches into the raised beds.

I think your plan sounds good; you will get over the worst heat for growing broccoli and still get 800 heads. I ended up with 100 heads not counting the doubles (one's that made a 2nd/3rd head. # was about right.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Larry - My dead plants looked like those pictures too. So weird that a dead plant is right next to one that is thriving.

I had a weird situation last year and it repeated again this year with tomatoes in one raised bed. I think I have root aphids. Two plants about 3 feet from each other, one is dying and one is perfectly healthy. I pulled the dying one and it had white looking eggs like but slow moving things attached to roots. I killed them before realizing I should have taking picture of it. From research it looks like root aphids . Bad news.
Root aphids used to be a problem in the west. They are spreading with purchased soil.
Pyrethrin may help.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

I had a weird situation last year and it repeated again this year with tomatoes in one raised bed. I think I have root aphids. Two plants about 3 feet from each other, one is dying and one is perfectly healthy. I pulled the dying one and it had white looking eggs like but slow moving things attached to roots. I killed them before realizing I should have taking picture of it. From research it looks like root aphids . Bad news.
Root aphids used to be a problem in the west. They are spreading with purchased soil.
Pyrethrin may help.

Root aphids, wow. That's a new one for me. I will have to Google that. Pyrethrins or permethrin(synthetic pyrethrin) will most certainly help.
I cut down the last of my tomato plants yesterday. Per Barb's advice, I am not breaking things down all at once. There us time, so I am doing about 1/4 of the garden each day.
The mangoes are going gangbusters, with all the rain we had my new pomegranate has established itself and is putting out new growth shoots.
Barb- 100 heads wowee! And they were huge, and delicious. Very special. You and Larry are amazing gardeners.

Barb,you don't solarize your EBs anymore?

[BigVanVader]

Larry your broccoli production is insane! I often hear from fellow urban gardeners that they dont grow broccoli because it takes to much space for the selling price to make it worth it. Obviously if your getting 800 heads from 2 raised beds that isn't the case. I may have missed it but can you explain your process, spacing, ferts etc? My wife loves broccoli and nobody sells it at my market so I may try a few beds this Fall, then if all goes well a big planting for Spring harvest.