Tomatos are starting to pop

[Admin]

Looks like a little growth starting here



Hard to think about gardening with all this SNOW

[cj]

admin said:

Hard to think about gardening with all this SNOW

Yea, but it will be nice eating fresh 'maters two months earlier than normal ;D I may even get some seeds started today.

[Admin]

Chances are they'll shoot up and then keel over like they usually do

[wrightbrothers]

Verticillium Wilt Is the major cause of plants to "shoot up and then keel over".
Two things you can do to prevent it is not over watering, and using sterile soil on top of the seed beds. After they get a few sets of leaves this is not a problem.
Long stems before first leaves are caused by not enough light.

Tomatos and peppers can be planted deeper than the soil line at sprout time, or healed up with soil, with great benefit, unlike trees that need the same depth as sprouted.

I got to go get my seed order together. Come onnn spring.

[Admin]

wrightbrothers said:

Verticillium Wilt

Now there's a five dollar word have a karma buddy ;D

[bigpat]

I'm planning on a garden this year. I haven't had one in forever. When I was a kid we planted about 1 1/2 acre to vegetables, and the same to potatoes. Talk about a summer job! It really sucked when we had a dry summer and had to water it all by hand.

[hounddog25]

JC i am with you on the tall seedlings....my brocolli is out of hand already.i need to re-pot them already .a friend told me to get a cheap flouresent light and place it about 4 inches from the plants and they wont grow tall so fast.i will retry some seeds.

[mike692]

admin said:

Chances are they'll shoot up and then keel over like they usually do

JC, 'nother problem with seedlings dying is 'damping off' disease. Don't over-water, and instead of watering the top of the plants water them from the bottom.

[mike692]

I built a greenhouse a few years ago. Best investment I ever made. No more leggy seedlings! And I can wait until the end of April to start them!
Only drawback, is you have to watch for those late spring frosts. My greenhouse isn't heated, so I have to bring them inside or cover them.
I can put my tomatoes right in the garden. No hardening them off.

[Admin]

Mike, I've been wanting a greenhouse for years and one of these days I'm going to build one. I usually get my share if the damping off/verticullum wilt/shootin up keelin over crap but I still keep plantin em and wasting time and money . Maybe I'll try the floresent light thing today Thanks for the tips guys.

[mike692]

admin said:

Mike, I've been wanting a greenhouse for years and one of these days I'm going to build one. I usually get my share if the damping off/verticullum wilt/shootin up keelin over crap but I still keep plantin em and wasting time and money . Maybe I'll try the floresent light thing today Thanks for the tips guys.

I built mine out of some 2X8's and pvc. A 20X20 sheet of greenhouse film finished it off. Sand floor, and a couple of 55 gallon plastic barrels for water, and I was ready.
I have a garden bed in there. That allows me to plant lettuce and stuff in late summer, so I have lettuce well into fall. I can plant it much earlier in the spring too.

[Admin]

Sounds like a neat setup ;D. I'll be getting my hands on some 4'x7' heavy steel mesh panels that came out of a video store. They are the racks that hold all the videos. They have shelves that hook to the steel mesh. I'm thinking of building the greenhouse out of these and that way I can hook these shelves all over the place and have palnts all the way up the walls. I'll have to modify the shelves a bit but I think it'll be pretty cool. Then I'll cover the whole shebang with greenhouse film

[mike692]

admin said:

Sounds like a neat setup ;D. I'll be getting my hands on some 4'x7' heavy steel mesh panels that came out of a video store. They are the racks that hold all the videos. They have shelves that hook to the steel mesh. I'm thinking of building the greenhouse out of these and that way I can hook these shelves all over the place and have palnts all the way up the walls. I'll have to modify the shelves a bit but I think it'll be pretty cool. Then I'll cover the whole shebang with greenhouse film

That sounds great!

I made the mistake of buying one of those cheap framed greenhouse's online. The wind destroyed it the first year. I then built my current one and covered it with a roll of that plastic you get at the farm store. It made it two days.

Then I ordered greenhouse film from FarmTek. This will be it's 4th spring. I think I paid 40 bucks for it. Good investment.

[Admin]

Glad ya mentioned that I have a farmtek catalog right here ;D

[mike692]

admin said:

Glad ya mentioned that I have a farmtek catalog right here ;D

I've never had a problem with them! Great company!

I think the stuff I bought is Tufflite V or something like that. Supposed to last at least 4 years.

[badger]

I've been starting mine with the flourescent lights for quite a few seasons now. You will get a shorter, healthier seedling. I'm trying to start mine a little later this year. The smaller seedlings seem to transplant better.

[adkwildflower]

Very interesting thread. Nice hear some remdies for the damping off problem. It's always so disappointing when the drop dead on you Arrrggg, I hate that

[mike692]

adkwildflower said:

Very interesting thread. Nice hear some remdies for the damping off problem. It's always so disappointing when the drop dead on you Arrrggg, I hate that

Yeah, all that work and time down the tubes!

Watering 'from the bottom' has made a big difference for me! I haven't had one instance of damping off since I switched! It also help them build stronger roots!

[Admin]

I've got mine watering from the bottom but I think I better get that dang floresent light on them soon cause it looks like they're gonna have a gravty attack any minute

[mike692]

admin said:

I've got mine watering from the bottom but I think I better get that dang floresent light on them soon cause it looks like they're gonna have a gravty attack any minute

JC, something else you can do for 'legginess' is transplant them into bigger pots. You can bury the stems right up to the leaves. Roots will grow from the buried stems.
They look like they're leaning too......when I grew mine inside I'd turn the trays daily so they didn't lean.

[Admin]

I turn them so much that I have to feed them dramamine I haven't had any crash and burn yet but it's just a matter of time

[hawkeye]

Well, I was looking forward to a garden this year, but I'll be out on the ocean instead. Won't be putting that addition on my shed either. Oh well.

Might not matter much anyway, looks like I might have a serious buyer looking at the house. Don't know if I really want to sell or not. I HATE MOVING!!!