Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Barb_FL]

Thanks everyone for responding.

Those Lucid Gem plants seemed to react badly to the copper spray. I think I will spray them with Neem Oil.

Marsha - When you do a Neem Spray, what is your formula? I have both the 100% Dyna Grow Neem and the 70% Neem from Safer Garden.

Also, when you were spraying your garden with the Copper solution, how many 1 gallon tankfulls did you use? On those dwarfs I seem to cut branches off regularly. Do you think I got too aggressive cutting as soon as I saw imperfection rather than wait for the leaf to die.

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Kay - Painted Pink is setting lots of fruit; I'm really surprised at the color; BLUE and GREEN. Plant is tall and wispy but also seems strong and fruit is set far apart. Seems like a good fit for Florida to avoid disease.

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For those of you with Mango Trees, do you have tons of buds/ fruit set yet?

Even my 2nd tree that has NEVER set a flower, has a lot of buds. This was my final year I was going to give it before cutting it down. It redeemed itself.

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My big blueberry plant is so confused; it has tons of flowers. Definitely DID NOT get the 150 chill hours this year (<45 degrees).

My 2 blueberry plants from Itsy were a bust. I had doubts that they were really Sunshine Blue b/c NO ONE had Sun Shine Blue. They grew but looked so different in the winter and now. They probably need 600 chill hours.

For those interested in growing Blueberry plants, Bakers (RareSeeds), has Southern variety pre-order - 2 plants for $13 - for zones 8-10. I preordered 2; shipping is only $3.50. This is a good price with shipping and they are reputable; so I'm sure we are getting the right plants for our climate.

http://www.rareseeds.com/blueberry-s...s-april-june-/

[kayrobbins]

I am glad your Painted Pink is starting to show the colors. It will change from blue and green to purple and pink when they get ripe. I can't wait to see what you think of it. It has to be one of the prettiest cherry tomatoes and I like the taste too.

Baker Creek is always so great with their shipping costs but I am really surprised that shipping for live plants is that reasonable. I don't think any other company would ship at that price.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I am glad your Painted Pink is starting to show the colors. It will change from blue and green to purple and pink when they get ripe. I can't wait to see what you think of it. It has to be one of the prettiest cherry tomatoes and I like the taste too.

Baker Creek is always so great with their shipping costs but I am really surprised that shipping for live plants is that reasonable. I don't think any other company would ship at that price.

Not only that, I also ordered 1 pack of pepper seeds and they shipped that separately.

Will keep you posted on Painted Pink. Thanks for the seeds.

Kay - Do you by chance have Giant Marconi pepper seeds?

How are your dwarfs doing? Are you growing Pink Passion? Depending on taste, this could be the holy grail of dwarf tomatoes for Florida Growers.

I'm waiting on some/any fruit set for the Dwarf Project tomatoes; finally getting a couple of flowers.

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Also, I'm growing out F2 of Garden Gem; completely ignored them as seedlings; got super tall/leggy - >2' ; refused to die off. One was so tall/leggy (>3'), that I wrapped it around in the container to see if it would make new roots. It is the middle picture.

[ginger2778]

Barb, I got 100% neem, I mix it 1 Tablespoon, and also 1 Tablespoon dish soap, because I was fighting Russet Mites and Tomato Suck Bugs,both per 1 gallon. Spraying neem is a late afternoon or early am only, and you have to keep agitating the container. The good news is it coats the leaves, so you have some residual anti fungal activity, that isn't washed off with a rain shower.
When I was doing the copper/ BT / soap mixture, I used 3 of my 3 gallon sprayers full, because I have somewhere near 100 plants, and they were full grown, and because you have to spray over and under the leaves, and completely down the stems to the soil line.
Same spray pattern with the neem, especially if dealing with TRMs. Good news is they are very susceptible to the neem/soap spray.

Mango- mine is going nuts this year! Dehydrated mango- here we come! Heeee!

[kayrobbins]

Barb I don't have Giant Marconi seeds. I should add that to my grow list because I have heard good things about it. The sweet pepper that I am most excited about this year is Albino Bullnose. It is never green. It goes from creamy white to orange and then red. I got the seeds from Baker Creek and I hope it does well.

Pink Passion did not catch my attention. I guess that is because I do not usually like heart shaped tomatoes. They never seem to have good taste to me but maybe I have just grown the wrong one.

[Barb_FL]

Marsha - Thanks for the spraying info and quantity - you are using 9 gallons.
I'm glad I asked; on the 100%, it says to use an oz (2 TBLS) so that is once again overstated.

Your mango blossoms/fruit set is unreal. I can't even imagine where you took that picture from.

My good mango tree is a Kent; the other that never bloomed before is a Choc-Anon which is suppose to be a twice a year fruiting; I've had this tree almost a year more than the Kent. I was beginning to thinking I paid for a non-grafting tree.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Marsha - Thanks for the spraying info and quantity - you are using 9 gallons.
I'm glad I asked; on the 100%, it says to use an oz (2 TBLS) so that is once again overstated.

Your mango blossoms/fruit set is unreal. I can't even imagine where you took that picture from.

My good mango tree is a Kent; the other that never bloomed before is a Choc-Anon which is suppose to be a twice a year fruiting; I've had this tree almost a year more than the Kent. I was beginning to thinking I paid for a non-grafting tree.

My mango is a Kent as you know. Kinda interesting that all those blossoms and fruit set will cull themselves to 1 dominant mango on the spike, but these Kents can get to 2 lbs by late July, and I get between 200-500 per year in a good year. That photo was taken from a low branch, but the tree has a 25 foot diameter canopy and is 30 feet tall, and covered. Photo of the whole tree. It is 24 years old, been trimmed back 2 years ago. I bought it as a small tree that fit in the trunk of my car in 1994.

Even the grafted ones can take 3-4 years before producing, but once they do, they always do. Good you didn't give up.

Yes, 9 gallons once the plants start getting big. Takes over an hour to spray too.

[ginger2778]

Barb, did I send you dehydrated mango last year?

[elight]

I'm curious... What are other folks using as mulch in their raised beds? With the rainy season soon upon us, I know I need to do something. I've done pine straw in the past bit find it difficult to lay out with good coverage, and also it must be removed at the end of the season. I'd like something that could just be mixed in without any ill effect - maybe pine bark fines? I'm curious what others dom

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[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Barb, did I send you dehydrated mango last year?

Yes, and it was yummy. I didn't know that only 1 Mango per spike. Now I won't feel bad when the smaller ones fall off. I have to tell my neighbor who also has a Kent; she thinks animals are knocking them off.

My Kent is 4 years old. Bought the tree in Feb 2013, 3 gallon pot; I got 4 Mangos - really good size too from that tiny tree.

2014, weather kept alternating really cold and then really hot and got 0,
2015 was 14 I think,
2016 TBD but tree is bigger (not your size) and has more blossoms/buds.

In 2014 no one here got mangos; everyone blamed the weather.

I'm psyched.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by elight

I'm curious... What are other folks using as mulch in their raised beds? With the rainy season soon upon us, I know I need to do something. I've done pine straw in the past bit find it difficult to lay out with good coverage, and also it must be removed at the end of the season. I'd like something that could just be mixed in without any ill effect - maybe pine bark fines? I'm curious what others dom
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elight,
On my compost beds I often don't use mulch. But when I do it is usually things that are just at hand. When the neighbor's Avocado tree loses a lot of leaves, as it is now, many fall in my yard. I normally rake them up and put them around my tomatoes of peppers. When I rip a lot of boards with my table saw, which I do to make garden stakes of varying size, I use the saw dust to mulch tomatoes. I know I should probably use something that is proven to work but I just don't get around to it.
However, if you or one of the other tomatovillians find something that works well, is relatively inexpensive and fairly available, please let me know and I will change my ways.
Larry

[kayrobbins]

I use large flake pine shaving that is normally used in horse stalls. It is kiln dried so it is weed and disease free. I pay $6.95 and the feed store for a compressed bag that cover 10 cubic feet when fluffed out. It lasts the entire season but has begun to break down by the end and I do mix it back into the soil. I have used so many other mulches but once I started using this I would not use anything else.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I use large flake pine shaving that is normally used in horse stalls. It is kiln dried so it is weed and disease free. I pay $6.95 and the feed store for a compressed bag that cover 10 cubic feet when fluffed out. It lasts the entire season but has begun to break down by the end and I do mix it back into the soil. I have used so many other mulches but once I started using this I would not use anything else.

Kay,
Large flake pine shavings sounds interesting, but cubic feet doesn't tell me much. Approximately how many square feet does a bag cover or roughly how many beds can you cover with a bag and how big are the beds? Or put another way how many bags do you use for how big of an area?
Thanks
Larry

[kayrobbins]

I have so many different sizes of raised beds so what I use might not be helpful to you. All you have to do is use on of the online cubic feet calculators that lets you put in the length and width of your bed and how many inches deep you want it and it will tell you what you need. I can usually do 12 beds with about 3 bales but I will be taking some out along the way to use in my large pots too.
http://www.cascom.army.mil/cubicfeetininches.htm

[aimeruni]

Hello, unfortunately due to delays beyond my control, I haven't been able to get stuff planted yet. I plan to start doing so today.

However I have a question.....is there even any point in still planting cucumbers, snap beans (i.e. green beans), and zucchini with how late it is?

My concern isn't now....it's when they will be starting to produce fruit, which will be about Mid-May, and my concern is it will just be too hot for beans, cucumber, and zucchini to set fruit at that point.

I will most likely end up growing asparagus bean (it's also known as a yard long bean, and it's type of Asian bean, that is normally grown in Thailand). I know it likes hot and humid temperatures, but will it do alright when the temperatures are consistently in the 90s? I have never grown it before, so I don't know.

I also want to grow something called mo qua, which is the Asian version of a zucchini...it also likes hot and humid temperatures and I have the same questions about growing it as I do the yard long beans.

Below are pictures for both...

NOTE: With mo qua squash, it's called fuzzy melon...it's not actually a melon in terms of taste and texture....it is similar in texture and taste to zucchini

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/07/s...long-bean.html

http://www.friedas.com/fuzzy-melon-mo-qua/