Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Barb_FL]

Ginny - your plants look fantastic! Are those plants anchored down at all; they would be toppled over with the wind I get.

[Fiishergurl]

Thanks Barb. It's misleading because they are growing so tall trying to find more sun.

They are anchored but we dont get much wind. You can see the wooden stakes that hubby hammered into the ground on the right side in one of the pictures. Then we tied the pots and bamboo to the stakes. If we get a gust like the ones at home the pots will probably topple over.

And there are not a ton of tomatoes due to lack of sun... about 10 to 20 per plant so far. But its been fun growing them anyways and yhey have done better than I thought they would with the limited sun.

Do you pepper plants produce well in the winter or do they shut down?

Ginny



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[Barb_FL]

Well the last few winters being so warm, they produce year round.

Even with the colder winters when they are totally ignored, the plants didn't die and came back to produce. Last year was the first year I put the peppers on the pool deck; I bet they would produce even in a cold winter if they were on the pool deck.

RE: Peppers - spring 2015 was the first season I tried growing them in an EB. I had 2 EB going; one with 3 Padron plants; the other with 3-4 Marconi plants.

Both produced like crazy; the Marconis had huge perfect fruit; the Padron produced tons too. BUT when they were done they were done. I had not seen this before and thought it was related to growing in the EB.

This spring, I had unused EB, so I planted 3 Plants (2 Marconi, 1 Bell) all in the same EB. I just mixed the tomato tone throughout instead of the fertilizer. BUT what I found is that even now -mid July my plants are so much healthier. The thing I'm doing different is not watering much. I don't keep the reservoir full at all. I don't water everyday and when I move the EB (on casters), it feels light. When I do water, I give it a 1/2 gallon of water. I never got the initial LOAD of peppers like in 2015, but probably will get more in the end.

Not just peppers, but I always thought that my EB mix felt too wet.

Kay - Do you grow peppers in SWC? Can you confirm or am I nuts?

[kayrobbins]

I do grow my Serrano peppers in a SWC and it has always done really well. I grow the others in raised beds or 5-7 gallon containers. The SWCs made from 5 gallon buckets don't stay as wet as EBs because of the soil depth. You never have a problem with them being too wet but if you don't stay on top of watering you can can get them too dry quickly.

[Barb_FL]

Thanks Kay; I never grew peppers in the 5 gallon SWC.

BTW - I forgot to mention, but I made Gazpacho (using Salsa Recipe but adding cucumbers) from my frozen whole tomatoes. It was dynamite!!!! I cut the tomatoes when the were partially frozen.

In the spring when I had tons of tomatoes I made both Salsa with cucumbers and a real gazpacho recipe. The gazpacho takes much longer to prepare and more ingredients and doesn't taste any better.

[Imthechuck]

Wow this thread has exploded!

I need to get back to gardening and solarize a few ebs........ There were quite a bit of boxes infected with nematode damage......

[Imthechuck]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

I do grow my Serrano peppers in a SWC and it has always done really well. I grow the others in raised beds or 5-7 gallon containers. The SWCs made from 5 gallon buckets don't stay as wet as EBs because of the soil depth. You never have a problem with them being too wet but if you don't stay on top of watering you can can get them too dry quickly.

I never have great luck with peppers in a swc environment?

Maybe its just me.....

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Imthechuck

I never have great luck with peppers in a swc environment?

Maybe its just me.....

Chuck when do you start your peppers? Try starting some in dec/jan to plant out at the end of feb. Whenever i start some in the fall they do great for about a month after planting out then get some crud and die. When i plant them out at the end of February they all flourish and go crazy even in the same untreated swc's that the others had died in. I know its hotter where you are but its worth a try if you havent already tried that.

Ginny

[efisakov]

Larry, am I doing something wrong with my broccoli? It keeps on growing but have not started to produce yet. I planted few on May 9 and seeded few more directly at the same time (to space harvesting time). They are branching, but no blooms development at all.
And the worst is that I purchase seeds from Lowes and can't find them to look at the name/days to production. Any recommendations?

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Larry, am I doing something wrong with my broccoli? It keeps on growing but have not started to produce yet. I planted few on May 9 and seeded few more directly at the same time (to space harvesting time). They are branching, but no blooms development at all.
And the worst is that I purchase seeds from Lowes and can't find them to look at the name/days to production. Any recommendations?

Not Larry - but I think most Brocolli needs a cold spell to produce the head. Mine never produces until we get a cold front.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Imthechuck

I never have great luck with peppers in a swc environment?

Maybe its just me.....

See my comment above; I bet it is root rot from the SWC. I have 3 Marconi plants in an EB and they are thriving. I also have a Marconi/Bell combo (3 plants total) in a homemade EB that doesn't wick as well as an EB and they are thriving too. I only water 1/2 gallon at a time and not daily.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Not Larry - but I think most Brocolli needs a cold spell to produce the head. Mine never produces until we get a cold front.

Thank you, Barb.
We have a heat spell going on. It has being two days over 90 and 5 more predicted.
Should I toss some Ice onto the ground over night and cover them with cloth? I do not think it would help. O boy. This is what happens when I have no clue what I am doing. I probably should have started sowing them directly in ground early March or something.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Larry, am I doing something wrong with my broccoli? It keeps on growing but have not started to produce yet. I planted few on May 9 and seeded few more directly at the same time (to space harvesting time). They are branching, but no blooms development at all.
And the worst is that I purchase seeds from Lowes and can't find them to look at the name/days to production. Any recommendations?

While I know very little about growing vegetables in zone 7, it is possible July heat maybe a factor for you. However, Also, the variety grown may be equally a significant factor. Dates to maturity seem to vary significantly between Broccoli varieties. Here in Central Florida I can grow successive crops starting in September and ending late May and sometimes early June. But my most productive growing time is December through mid April, i.e. when it is much cooler. I’m guessing that your most productive time to grow Broccoli in zone 7 would be early spring after possibility of a hard frost passes or late summer/fall before possibility of a hard frost. You could probably get away with pushing Broccoli much closer to those frost/freeze dates than you could many other vegetables. The take away here is a variety with too long of a dtm could push you into attempting to grow in a time when the temperature is not optimal for growing Broccoli or for that matter many other Cruciferous vegetables. Of course this could also
be due to planting too late in the spring or too early in the fall.
Currently there are 3 varieties that I would consider growing here.
If I was wanting to grow a variety with a medium date to maturity (dtm) and lots of side shoots I would use the recommendation of knowledgeable Tomatovillian b54red (Bill) who recommends Coronado Crown with a 66 dtm.
I personally have had good success with Premium Crop variety with a dtm of 58. It is not much for side shoots but when I harvest the heads I’m usually in a hurry to get the plants out of the bed so I can get another crop in. My goal is to see how much Broccoli I can grow in a single season and single Raised Bed from September to June.
This Spring I grew a small crop of Castle Dome variety with a dtm of 50. I was blown away when I harvested my first heads at 37 days from transplant and was finished at 46 days. Now I am anxious to see how many crops of Castle Dome I can push through my single bed in a single growing season. If you look for a seed vendor for Castle Dome, check out Earl May (free shipping).
If you notice when you harvest your Broccoli that you have a high instance of hallow stem, this is said to be due to inadequate Boron available in the soil. I attempt to avoid hallow stem through the small amount of Boron I get from my fertilizer, city water I use to irrigate with and modest amounts of Kelp Meal that I use.
I’m not a square foot gardener but I would be comfortable growing Broccoli at 1’ spacing.
Oh, and thank you for your heads up on Diatomaceous Earth as a way to suppress ants.
Wish you much success,
Larry

[efisakov]

Thank you, Larry.

[Barb_FL]

until what is typically a major weather improvement (October 15). This is what I use for estimating tomato fruit set. 2 months from sowing to fruit set so earliest sow date estimated as August 15. I will probably do a few seeds then, and stagger the rest on a weekly basis.

I want to try one long season like Marsha at least for 1/2 of my plants.

We are finally back to the usual summer temperatures of <90. No rain in over 3 weeks though.