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Post by daylilydude on Jun 1, 2018 4:49:02 GMT -5
Do you have any volunteer plants coming up in your garden... what kind and will you keep them?
I don't think I will find any as of the going to the different SIP's type of growing...
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Post by farmerjack41 on Jun 1, 2018 6:27:06 GMT -5
Up to this point, the only volunteers I am seeing is potatoes. They are removed, afraid the might be infected with blight or something. Usually see some volunteer tomatoes, but not seem that so far.
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Post by paulf on Jun 1, 2018 7:27:20 GMT -5
The only volunteers are the occasional weed and it gets chopped quickly. A mulching program helps.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 1, 2018 7:36:53 GMT -5
Tomatillos always. I have used the volunteers as the plants for some years, but they get smaller every year, so I would start from seed again, to get them large. A few tomatoes, but, since I don't know what they are, I never use them.
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Post by guruofgardens on Jun 1, 2018 7:41:12 GMT -5
Weeds! Lots of different kinds of weeds! Even the beautiful yellow columbine turn into weeds when they multiply too quickly. Last year I had an orange cherry tomato appear so I enjoyed that last year, saved the seeds, and am planting one again to see what it's like. A few years back a Golden Hubbard squash appeared in the tomatoes.
Sunflowers always appear, but are quickly pulled. They are a nuisance.
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Post by september on Jun 1, 2018 8:00:40 GMT -5
I found some multi stem garlic volunteers coming up in last year's bed where I put my broccoli this year. I just left them, they didn't interfere with my broccoli placement. There were dill volunteers there too, but most of those got turned over during forking up. There are plenty of dill volunteers every year, even in my pathways. Lots of baby tomatoes sprouting, but no need to save those, I'm full up as is! I'm also seeing some peony poppy babies.
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Post by spike on Jun 1, 2018 8:13:59 GMT -5
Nothing yet but the garden was only planted a week ago and we finally just got some rain.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 1, 2018 8:20:15 GMT -5
I have 2 in-ground gardens and my compost pile in at the edge of the smaller garden. I always have squash coming up near the compost pile and I usually pull them out but 2 years ago year hubby talked me into letting them grow and cover the compost pile because they would be pretty. They actually were pretty but they got totally covered with squash bugs which then spread to my butternut squash in the garden and wiped them out so I told him "no more volunteer squash!" Bad idea.
I grew Elephant garlic about 5 years ago and didn't really think that it was that great so I didn't grow it again but this year I see a volunteer so I am letting it grow to see what I get. It must have come from a really small bulbil from the original Elephant garlic. I am surprised that it made it through several winters.
I have lots of dill volunteers and I keep those for the butterflies as well as my refrigerator dill pickles later in the summer.
I get tomato volunteers pull those because who knows what they will grow into and I don't want to waste the space or time with them.
I usually pull the potato volunteers due to the fear of Late Blight overwintering in them but last year I kept a few and they were fine and gave me some really nice potatoes so this year I have several volunteer potatoes and I am letting them grow. The will be between the rows of corn. I had no Late Blight last year so chances are good that the potatoes are fine.
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Post by octave1 on Jun 1, 2018 8:58:32 GMT -5
This year I seem to have lots of volunteers: tomatoes, dill, cilantro and parsley everywhere, squash and watermelon. If the volunteer grows in a spot away from any other garden plant, it will get to stay. After all, this is how I ended up with one of the best tasting tomatoes. It grew from the seed of a store bought Campari.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jun 1, 2018 10:33:17 GMT -5
Mercy is for the weak! Volunteers meet the axe!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 1, 2018 23:43:11 GMT -5
ladymarmalade, you're funny. I generally let herbs, chives, and scallion volunteers stay (though sometimes their survival is dependent on their ability to withstand being relocated). I will probably keep a few of the inevitable pineapple tomatillo volunteers next year. I am saving seed, too, just in case. I probably won't save any tomatillo volunteers, though, because the Gigante tomatillos are so much more productive and the fruits are so much bigger than the Purple that I would rather grow more Gigante from seed next year. Tomato volunteers are usually disappointing; I've quit saving them. Sometimes I keep okra volunteers, if I liked the okra I grew in that spot the previous year. Every pepper volunteer I have let live has, literally without fail, been crossed. That's probably because I grow my peppers so close together. Which wouldn't be a problem, except that every single one of them has been hot, and usually they are hotter than anything I grew the previous year. Pepper genetics are weird about heat levels, I guess. It's a shame, because these volunteer crosses are usually also super vigorous and productive. One volunteer in particular I had looked like a hybrid of Italia Sweet (or a similar long red) and something hot was just a ridiculous beast of a plant that swallowed its neighbors and made gallons of big long red peppers all summer...but they were too hot for me. I finally cut it down before it completely killed its neighbors. If I weren't such a pepper wimp I could have some great producers from volunteers like that. Maybe one year I will grow only sweet peppers, and then I can save seeds and let volunteers go with abandon, knowing that whatever I get, it will be sweet.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 2, 2018 0:05:07 GMT -5
Maybe one year I will grow only sweet peppers, and then I can save seeds and let volunteers go with abandon, knowing that whatever I get, it will be sweet. Unless a bird dropped a habanero seed in the garden. But then, you can tell what those are. A friend, many years ago, saved a tomato volunteer, that showed up in his front flowerbed. It was probably an F2, as he always bought his plants, and I'm sure they were hybrids. The plant got to over 5' tall, with flowers all over it, but, it was sterile, somehow, and he never got one tomato on it!
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 2, 2018 18:28:31 GMT -5
I gave my grandmother some tomato seedlings when she was 90 or so. Apparently she liked Sungold and unbeknownst to me saved the seeds. Next year she ended up having current tomatoes and a not very good yellow tomato.
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Post by bestofour on Jun 2, 2018 18:31:16 GMT -5
Tomatillos from my neighbor come up in every empty spot in my yard. Off with their heads!
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Post by september on Jun 2, 2018 23:54:22 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL , I keep my hots in separate beds from the sweets, but they are still close enough for bee carried pollen crosses. Only one time did I get an unwanted hot cross, and that was with a yellow Santa Fe Grande jalapeno that threw no-heat small bells the next year. I know my sweets cross, I get bell shapes or more rounded than flattened on my elephant ear types. Sometimes they are an improvement with thicker walls. I don't really care if they cross, because I don't share the seed and all I care about is that they taste good and I can freeze them. Since I am involved in a couple of the pepper trials this year, I guess I will have to bag those plants.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 3, 2018 12:30:41 GMT -5
I typically don't keep volunteer plants unless they are out of sight, out of mind.
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Post by daylilydude on Jun 3, 2018 13:27:13 GMT -5
Well I don't have an in-ground garden, but I do have a pile of old wet hay and noticed this growin in a few spots right around that area... any idea???
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jun 3, 2018 13:42:36 GMT -5
I'm just guessing, but maybe some type of squash.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jun 3, 2018 13:52:50 GMT -5
I second the squash and up the guess to butternut?
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jun 3, 2018 14:13:53 GMT -5
Usually tomato plants. This year though, I have not found any of those. Instead, I a Dill close to where I planted it last year and a Sunflower that I'm guessing came from a bird feeder in winter. I'll allow both of those to stay. Oh yeah, and several squash plants where I put a overripe squash for the birds to enjoy in winter. I've been removing those seedlings daily for a week or two now. There is no room for them in the plan.
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Post by carolyn on Jun 3, 2018 20:24:27 GMT -5
I have a few peppers, a few potato leaf tomatoes, some dill and cilantro, I saw blue potatoes coming up in the corn patch I left them, ummm, a few squash as a trap crop for cucumber beetles. I spray that plant with sevin when I see the nastty things... umm a cucumber next to the big dena tomatoes tonight... i left it it can climb a string, too.... lettuce, I transplant it from where it is to rows in the high tunnel yep, I save things to see what they are. I grew Honey Delight "cherry" tomatoes last year in the high tunnel and I kept several I see that started to see if it is a hybrid or not....and I am ruthless at times.
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nbardo
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2018
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Post by nbardo on Jun 5, 2018 10:29:02 GMT -5
Sometimes all the basil i grow is from volunteer plants. This year i had a few tomatoes sprout amongst some weeds in a bare patch just beyond my container plants. I added a drip emitter for it. It must have come from a fruit i tossed aside that had BER or a bad split that i gave to the dog. I culled all but one out of curiosity. Its almost as big as some of the plants i started indoors in spite of the fact that they had about 2 months head start! Theres a good chance its a F2 big boy, but i have my fingers crossed it tastes good whatever it is.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jun 6, 2018 7:01:12 GMT -5
nbardo, you must be in a warm region to have basil come back as a volunteer. I wish I were so lucky
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Post by bestofour on Jun 6, 2018 8:07:00 GMT -5
nbardo, I have basil come back from seed too, noticed a few plants yesterday. Actually whatever I let go to seed will bring volunteers the next year: tomatoes, squash, dill, cucumbers, peas, all of it. I'm in the south.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 6, 2018 10:26:18 GMT -5
Mostly dill, ground cherries, and tomatoes. Dill and ground cherries dates possibly from the late-1960s. Always leave a few ground cherries to enjoy them fresh. Dill is a downright weed but like it as leaves early on and there's always someone who wants seed heada. No tomatoes ever saved. Have more than enough without allowing an unknown variety into the crowd. Lemon balm and garlic chives were also terrible at trying to take over until I totally got rid of them.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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nbardo
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2018
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Post by nbardo on Jun 6, 2018 10:46:46 GMT -5
nbardo, you must be in a warm region to have basil come back as a volunteer. I wish I were so lucky I am in the St Louis, MO area. We usually get at least one good hard freeze in the winter but summers are hot and humid. We basically have one leg in the midwest, and a couple of toes in the south.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jun 6, 2018 11:47:25 GMT -5
Been to MO several times. I knew you had mild winter but I wouldn't have thought that Basil would return there. Thanks for replying
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Post by paquebot on Jun 9, 2018 23:19:22 GMT -5
Basil plants won't survive frost but they may seed if allowed to flower.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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