Lessons Learned ?

JimmyWu · April 20, 2008

Hiyas...Being a newb. I was wondering what LL might be out there to help us along?

Luckily I'm off today as severe T-storms are moving thru Guilford co., predicted is pea/penny size hail.

I've brought in what plants I could and avoided a lesson learned.

I now know that you can "over winter" pepper plants, and thus another LL.

I'm leaving now to seek shelter for my truck, If I run into a tornedo....well I guess that's another one LOL.

-Jimmy

robin303 · April 21, 2008

Sounds like another good day for flying.

annecros · April 21, 2008

Fertilizer goes on the dirt, not on the plant. When they say "Side Dress" they really mean it!

gardengalrn · April 21, 2008

Jimmy, hope you made out OK with that storm. Sure looks ugly out there!! I was trying to think of lessons learned and there are sure a lot of them over the years. Ranging from idiotic best intentions to things that SHOULD have worked. Heed frost warnings, try not to get too early of a start outside, those are the biggest things. People told me these things for years and yet I persisted in setting out plants when weather was still unpredictable. Now I try to satisfy this urge by planting a few earlies in buckets that I can control a bit more. Don't sit on a bug problem, it won't get any better. Unless you want to sit a season out to let your garden go fallow, control bad BAD weeds like bindweed. Likely never to get rid of it but it does take some effort to choke it back to proportions your other plants can tolerate. It can be devastating.
I'll think of some more later but I sure hope you made out OK after that storm!

Ruth_10 · April 21, 2008

In the category of Tomato Truths:

Less water is better than too much.
If you have the space, give the plants as much space as possible and you will have to fight fewer battles with bugs and disease.
Mark the tomatoes you pick with the variety because you will forget what it is by the time you make it back into the kitchen.
Always eat some tomatoes in the garden. Wipe them off with your shirt, then bite into them.

JimmyWu · April 22, 2008

Lottsa good advice...don't forget the salt & pepper when you venture into the garden !

-Jimmy

tomatoguy · April 22, 2008

1. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers. They will give you nice, dark green foliage and very few tomatoes.

2. As someone stated earlier, water less rather than more. In an average season, despite our hot summers, I usually only water about 7 times. Last year, when the high temps were over 100 for almost all of August, I watered 12 times for the entire season.

3. Don't try to grow tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets unless you are well north of the Mason-Dixon line or you are retired. In the heat of the summer, even if you water your plants before you leave for work in the morning, they can be laid down from the heat by mid-afternoon.

4. Just making a hole in the yard for a plant or two doesn't get it. If this is your absolute last resort, make the hole as big and deep as possible and add compost and coarse sand to the hole.

5. If you have the space to grow more than you need, grow enough for your family and the critters, too. I have 20-25 plants most years and there are only two of us who live here. Thus, I don't worry about most pests. The only ones that concern me are the ones that can really wipe out a crop, such as blister beetles and hornworms. I don't generally waste my time on trying to get rid of aphids, stinkbugs, etc.

6. Don't do things that encourage disease. Some folks will disagree but I try to never get the leaves wet and I no longer prune my plants. Wetting leaves and pruning both provide an opportunity for diseases to come in.

7. Plant in a different spot every year, even if only a foot or two away. This keeps you from exhausting the nutrients in your soil and avoids the problems of diseases that have overwintered in the soil from the previous season.

8. Give children or grandchildren something they can handle to do in the garden and they might just take an interest in gardening. Let them help you plant seeds at the beginning of the season and let them help you pick tomatoes once the ripe ones are coming in. They are also capable of watering by 4 or 5 if you are there to supervise and show them how, where and most importantly, how much. Avoid the things that are a bit too challenging. You might want to wait until they are 9 or 10 before you let them weed since they won't have the hand strength to pull out weeds by the roots.

9. Use a support system that is capable of handling the size of the plants that you are growing. Commercially available 3 or 4 ring cages from WalMart or Lowe's are great.....for peppers.

10. Build a raised bed.

mater

snappybob · April 22, 2008

Don't forget the Daconil. Start early and spray regularly. I start the Daconil as soon as my plants look like they are feeling at home after transplant and every other week there after until plants are full grown late in the season. Once you get a fungal disease it's too late. Prevenative maintenence is key.

duajones · April 25, 2008

I thought I learned the lesson about plant spacing last year when I had 15 plants in a bed and it got to the point where I had to get on my knees and then my back to crawl under the plants to harvest tomatoes. Cut back to 9 plant in the same bed and I still have somewhat of a space problem.
As far as Daconil goes, I have visitied the gardens of 5 different friends over the past 2 weeks. Their plants are half the size of mine or smaller ( most likely because I got mine in earlier) and the foliage on most of their plants look bad (early blight) . I started the regimen when the plants went in the ground, spraying every 7 to 10 days as directed. Here recently I am only spraying the bottom third or so of the plants and they look real good at this point.
I'm a believer.

April 21, 2008	#4
gardengalrn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Kansas, zone 5 Posts: 524	Jimmy, hope you made out OK with that storm. Sure looks ugly out there!! I was trying to think of lessons learned and there are sure a lot of them over the years. Ranging from idiotic best intentions to things that SHOULD have worked. Heed frost warnings, try not to get too early of a start outside, those are the biggest things. People told me these things for years and yet I persisted in setting out plants when weather was still unpredictable. Now I try to satisfy this urge by planting a few earlies in buckets that I can control a bit more. Don't sit on a bug problem, it won't get any better. Unless you want to sit a season out to let your garden go fallow, control bad BAD weeds like bindweed. Likely never to get rid of it but it does take some effort to choke it back to proportions your other plants can tolerate. It can be devastating. I'll think of some more later but I sure hope you made out OK after that storm! __________________ ~Lori "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." -Abraham Lincoln

April 21, 2008	#5
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	In the category of Tomato Truths: Less water is better than too much. If you have the space, give the plants as much space as possible and you will have to fight fewer battles with bugs and disease. Mark the tomatoes you pick with the variety because you will forget what it is by the time you make it back into the kitchen. Always eat some tomatoes in the garden. Wipe them off with your shirt, then bite into them. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

April 22, 2008	#6
JimmyWu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Carolina Posts: 100	Lottsa good advice...don't forget the salt & pepper when you venture into the garden ! -Jimmy __________________ All Typos are Crappyrighted @

April 21, 2008	#2
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	Sounds like another good day for flying.

April 21, 2008	#3
annecros Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: West Park, FL Posts: 219	Fertilizer goes on the dirt, not on the plant. When they say "Side Dress" they really mean it!

April 22, 2008	#7
tomatoguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Rockvale, TN Zone 7A Posts: 526	1. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers. They will give you nice, dark green foliage and very few tomatoes. 2. As someone stated earlier, water less rather than more. In an average season, despite our hot summers, I usually only water about 7 times. Last year, when the high temps were over 100 for almost all of August, I watered 12 times for the entire season. 3. Don't try to grow tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets unless you are well north of the Mason-Dixon line or you are retired. In the heat of the summer, even if you water your plants before you leave for work in the morning, they can be laid down from the heat by mid-afternoon. 4. Just making a hole in the yard for a plant or two doesn't get it. If this is your absolute last resort, make the hole as big and deep as possible and add compost and coarse sand to the hole. 5. If you have the space to grow more than you need, grow enough for your family and the critters, too. I have 20-25 plants most years and there are only two of us who live here. Thus, I don't worry about most pests. The only ones that concern me are the ones that can really wipe out a crop, such as blister beetles and hornworms. I don't generally waste my time on trying to get rid of aphids, stinkbugs, etc. 6. Don't do things that encourage disease. Some folks will disagree but I try to never get the leaves wet and I no longer prune my plants. Wetting leaves and pruning both provide an opportunity for diseases to come in. 7. Plant in a different spot every year, even if only a foot or two away. This keeps you from exhausting the nutrients in your soil and avoids the problems of diseases that have overwintered in the soil from the previous season. 8. Give children or grandchildren something they can handle to do in the garden and they might just take an interest in gardening. Let them help you plant seeds at the beginning of the season and let them help you pick tomatoes once the ripe ones are coming in. They are also capable of watering by 4 or 5 if you are there to supervise and show them how, where and most importantly, how much. Avoid the things that are a bit too challenging. You might want to wait until they are 9 or 10 before you let them weed since they won't have the hand strength to pull out weeds by the roots. 9. Use a support system that is capable of handling the size of the plants that you are growing. Commercially available 3 or 4 ring cages from WalMart or Lowe's are great.....for peppers. 10. Build a raised bed. mater

April 22, 2008	#8
snappybob SETTFest™ Coordinator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 214	Don't forget the Daconil. Start early and spray regularly. I start the Daconil as soon as my plants look like they are feeling at home after transplant and every other week there after until plants are full grown late in the season. Once you get a fungal disease it's too late. Prevenative maintenence is key.

April 25, 2008	#9
duajones Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Corpus Christi,Texas Z9 Posts: 1,996	I thought I learned the lesson about plant spacing last year when I had 15 plants in a bed and it got to the point where I had to get on my knees and then my back to crawl under the plants to harvest tomatoes. Cut back to 9 plant in the same bed and I still have somewhat of a space problem. As far as Daconil goes, I have visitied the gardens of 5 different friends over the past 2 weeks. Their plants are half the size of mine or smaller ( most likely because I got mine in earlier) and the foliage on most of their plants look bad (early blight) . I started the regimen when the plants went in the ground, spraying every 7 to 10 days as directed. Here recently I am only spraying the bottom third or so of the plants and they look real good at this point. I'm a believer.