Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 26, June 29, 2012

[Ellendra]

Our regular gardening threadmasters seem to be busy, so I'm posting one to start us off with. If anybody has the ping list, please use it!

[Ellendra]

Like most of the midwest this summer, my garden is both hot and dry this year. I had to water the sunflowers. In all my years of gardening, I can't remember ever having to water sunflowers, they were always so tough they didn't need it, but last week mine were wilting from the heat and lack of rain.

My raspberries are in full swing. They're in a low spot in the yard, and every few days we turn the hose on them and give them a good soak. Still, the berries are looking a little shriveled compared to previous years.

My nephew and I picked some crab apples yesterday. There's a variety that the city planted just around the corner from my parent's house, in a median strip on a quiet road. This variety has apples that are almost as big and sweet as Red Delicious, and since no one picks them except me and the raccoons, they're free for the taking. They looked red enough to be ripe when I was driving past, so I thought that, like most fruits this year, they might have ripened early due to the early spring. I could tell the moment I touched one that they weren’t ready, though. Unfortunately I have no voice, and my nephew does this stream-of-conciousness thing where he talks non-stop about anything that passes through his head, and he was very enthusiastic about picking apples. As a result of those factors, it took me long enough to grab ahold of him and get his attention that, by the time I got him to stop picking, he had stripped 3 branches already! He's going to be great help when they actually are ripe! I didn't like the idea of wasting food, so I cooked them up as a pie filling and canned them. We got 2 quarts out of it. With enough molasses, brown sugar, and cinnamon, even green apples can be pretty good!

[Melinda in TN]

It was 103 here yesterday, supposed to be 105 today and 107 tomorrow. All of my land plants are suffering even though I try to keep them watered. The only thing doing any good here are my fish pond and bog plants that grow in an ornamental pond or one of my tub bogs. I grow Japanese Lotus in tubs. Here is the Angel Wing Lotus.

[Ellendra]

Pinging some of our gardening regulars. If anyone has the official ping list, could you send it to me, please? Thank you.

[Ellendra]

That’s beautifull!! I love those.

[momtothree]

OH MY GOODNESS!! Those are beautiful! Do they have any scent?

[afraidfortherepublic]

I think the official list is on Justadumbblonde's home page. Oooops. I'm wrong. I just checked. How about Red_Devil 232?

But here is something to get all the gardeners started. I sent it to JADB, but she didn't answer.

I'm Farming and I Grow It

The Peterson Brothers made the video (a parody) because they hated the rap song, "I'm sexy and I show it". They were featured on Fox & Friends this AM. All dressed up in starched shirts and ties they were really cute and charming. They said their 11 year old sister did the filming.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I check RD232’s home page too — no list.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Pinging all the names I could remember off of the top of my head. The list seems to be lost, so ping around.

[Melinda in TN]

Some, but they are very mellow. Here is one called Momo Botan. I think I spelled that right. This is a smaller Lotus.

The Angel Wing has pads the size of a platter. I've seen some of mine that were 18" across.

[Augie]

107° yesterday here in Central Missouri. The highest temp ever officially recorded for the month of June. 2” of rain since May 5. In spite of that my garden is thriving (thanks to copious irrigation). Sweet corn is coming in, blackberries are coming in, nectarines are done, peaches getting close, summer squash coming in, tomatoes just around the corner.

[Pilated]

Does anyone have a good antidote for fighting off flea beetles on my green bean and tomato plants?

[ApplegateRanch]

Our native sunflowers are blooming early, and at only 6-18” tall! Never seen them do that before this year.

It hit 106 a few days ago.

Yesterday, used grass clippings & shredded paper to do the final ‘hilling’ on about half of the potatoes. I’ll be getting another trailer load of clippings, as soon as they’re available, to do the rest; I get them from the State Veterans Home in town. 600’ of Yukon Gold, and they are already starting to bloom. There is NO straw, which is what I had planned on using, available within 50 miles; everyone is totally out & can’t get any.

I also hand weeded between the stalks of 6-25’ rows of Serendipity corn; then ran the tiller between the rows. Today, I’ll give them, as well as the okra, a side dressing of 10-10-10.

The broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and onions all got a shot of manure tea.

The owner of the restaurant that saves me all her coffee grounds has also retaken over a coffee stand she built then sold a few years ago, and I’m now getting those grounds, too.

The heat is starting to do in the peas; the coriander is blooming, so we’ll be getting the seed soon.

The surviving strawberries, especially the 2 that were least affected, are putting out runners like crazy, and appear to be healthy; best guess is they were hit by verticillium. The daughter plants should have better resistance, according to Mr. Darwin.

Winter wheat is starting to ripen.

[Pilated]

Does anyone have an antidote for getting rid of flea beetles on our green bean and tomato plants?

[WestwardHo]

What are flea beatles?
The heat...105+ degree weather is killing almost eveything even though I have camoflage netting for shade.
Last evening I found green beatles that look like squash bugs on everything...even my tomatoes.

I’m wondering about my tomatoe plants purchased from Lowe’s.
I only have three. #1 is supposed to cherry tomatoes. The plant is huge, the tomatoes are tiny and not worth eating.
#2. In spite of my intensive care, the standard size tomatoe never bloomed, stayed puny yellow green and now is dead. #3 Is a Roma tomatoe. It puts out beautiful green folage, few tomatoes..and they rot.
I’ve never had these problems before. Is it me? The weather?
Is anyone else having similar problems with store bought plants?

[bgill]

It's been above 100 for days. Friend said it got to 111 at their house a couple days ago. The corn burned up again this year. I'll give it next year and if it still doesn't produce, then no more. The green beans are done. The kohl rabi just started to make but it's in sad shape. The onions are done so I'll just pull the rest this week and call it a season. The tomatoes aren't doing much. I get about one or two a day. The bell and sweet peppers aren't putting on anymore and some plants didn't produce at all. I had started them back in January.

The jalapenos are doing fine but they are HOOOOOOTTTTTT!!!! My hands burn for days when I chop one or two and you can't eat them. I haven't had a habanero that hot. I tried roasting a couple but that ran us out of the house coughing. Those seeds are going in the trash. It's ridiculous. I'd hoped to put up salsa but with no tomatoes and these peppers off the scoville chart, oh well.

[ApplegateRanch]

Tomatoes are temperature fussy.

IIRC, Above about 85-90 during the day; or below about 55 at night, they don’t set fruit even if they bloom. Too far out of those ranges, and the buds don’t even open, but fall off. It can also affect any that are set, if they are immature.

[rightly_dividing]

Thanks for the ping. This is my favorite time of the week; to see all my fav FReepers and to talk gardening and other non-political things, like recipes. It does seem as though we need a second alternate to the keeper of the ping list, just in case Justa and Red are out of pocket.

Our tomatos are coming in great now, both the Big Boys and Grape tomatos, we have an eggplant that is growing, lots of banana peppers about 6" long. Our second garden, the okra patch that is way out back is growing well, being only one month old. Im not sure how long till it matures and produces.

My wifes flower beds are all doing great now; all of this year's plants have taken hold and are thriving.

Our plants of all descriptions, and in all areas are doing well in this Texas heat largely due to having drip irrigation on timers watering everything automatically.

[Pilated]

Does anyone have an antidote for getting rid of flea beetles on our green bean and tomato plants?

[ApplegateRanch]

Insecticides. For conventional growers, pesticides containing pyrethroids or carbamates (Sevin) are generally effective. On organic farms, rotenone was often used in the past, but it is not ideal because it is has a relatively high mammalian toxicity and its availability has become limited. Other materials often recommended for organic farms include neem or insecticidal soap but recent research indicates that these are not very effective. Other insecticides containing pyrethrins (Pyganic) or kaolin clay (Surround) have worked well in some studies but not others. Good control has consistently been obtained with the organic pesticide containing spinosad (Entrust) but this product is not yet labeled for flea beetle control. Insect repellents containing hot pepper or garlic may also provide some control. If you are an organic grower check with your certifying agent to be sure any material you use is approved for your use.

Commercial formulations of entomopathogenic nematodes may be helpful in reducing flea beetle damage. Applied to the soil, the nematodes attack beetle larvae, reducing root feeding and helping to prevent the next cycle of adults. For beneficial nematodes to be effective, they should be applied when larvae are present and the soil must not be allowed to dry out.

Flea Beetles Management By Vern Grubinger Vegetable and Berry Specialist University of Vermont Extension for full article.

See also Google flea beetles control