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Post by brownrexx on Jul 30, 2019 9:06:00 GMT -5
We have lots of threads about success with veggies but what are you having problems with this season?
In my case it's eggplant and beans.
My EP have been plagued with flea beetles and I don't usually spray anything because generally they outgrow the damage but this year so far I have only harvested 2 small EP from my 3 plants.
Second problem is Mexican Bean Beetles. I have had these infrequently in the past but this year they have infested both of my bush type dry bean crops. I was able to pick enough green beans for a few meals but they have become infested now too.
I dislike spraying anything but I broke down and sprayed the dry beans and EP with pyrethrin because they were looking pretty bad and I will pull out and dispose of the green bean plants. I have plenty of other veggies to eat anyway and I never spray any plant that has fruits hanging on it. The dry beans are inside pods so will not contact the spray directly and the EP have no flowers or fruits on them. I didn't like spraying the beans but they are going to die otherwise.
What are your challenges this year?
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Post by Gianna on Jul 30, 2019 9:35:01 GMT -5
But I only have successes... Oh, wait... For the most part this year the garden has been pretty good. Except for: -The entire large bed of Zinnias the rabbits ate to the ground in 48 hours. -The squirrel eating the apricots. RIP -The massive snail infestation. RIP X 20+ pounds of them -A row of 5 tomato plants - only one prospered, the other 4 have remained stunted for some unknown reason. ?? -The snapdragon seedlings are not up to snuff. Might have to replant -I planted a bed of peppers in the back with 'the extras'. Bunnies or squirrels ate all but a couple. Should have fenced them. Didn't. -Yacon grown in the ground in back were substandard so I tossed them all. -Early in the season I never got my fava bean seedlings planted out.. and they eventually died. That's what I love about gardening - there's always another project. edit: I forgot perhaps the biggest failure - the blueberry crop, most likely because of alternating warm and cold winter weather, essentially failed.
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Post by octave1 on Jul 30, 2019 9:38:55 GMT -5
Bell peppers and green beans. The bell peppers suffered from a prolonged drop in temperature and too much rain, and never really recovered. They got diseased and kept dropping leaves, so I decided they'd better go. The green bean plants did alright as far as germination and production, but the beans themselves were gnarly instead of straight. I don't know what the cause of that would be, but since I did not like those beans I ripped them out. So it's July 30 and I have 2 empty beds in my garden. Unheard of.
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Post by pondgardener on Jul 30, 2019 10:05:52 GMT -5
I was short of bed space this year, so I tried to plant okra on either side of some winter squash, figuring that by the time the squash started to grow, the okra would be well above the leaves. Well, the okra germinated late and is struggling to get a hold amongst the jungle of winter squash. Time to break out the machete...
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Post by paulf on Jul 30, 2019 10:58:24 GMT -5
Trying to figure out Mother Nature's timetable is the biggest obstacle we face. The container/raised beds were OK but not as productive as last year. Not enough green beans or cucumbers. Just enough zucchini and beets.
The in-ground garden seems to be a couple of weeks behind other years. Temperature swings and rainfall totals are crazier than usual. Tomato production is much less this year. The plants are healthy and most everything has fruit but numbers are way down and no new blossoms for the last few weeks. Suppose a dry heat wave has anything to do with it? Even my wife is telling me the ripe tomatoes are not keeping up with our appetites.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 30, 2019 11:18:32 GMT -5
Rabbits are the biggest challenge, which is why I had to enclose my beans. Trouble with that bottle gourd - I got a huge number of female blossoms, but no males, and by the time the males opened, the females had withered away, thus could not be fertilized. I'll have to try the other varieties next season; I may not have noticed it last season because I had two varieties growing at once, and maybe the other had the males, while this one had the females.
Had trouble with some of the tomatoes, due to the constant rain for the early part of the season. They are coming back, but I'll have a lull, except for the cherries, which didn't stop blooming - the reason I plant so many cherries.
A few branches were snapped off during some of those intense storms, but that could have been a lot worse!
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Post by coppice on Jul 30, 2019 12:55:04 GMT -5
I fear my scentesi pinkos paprika has lived too many generations in isolation. They are becoming depressed as a result (?depressed? as in, taking to long to grow, fruit, fruit size, etc).
I may have to cast about next year for some fresh blood to mix in with them.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 30, 2019 23:24:45 GMT -5
Challenge this year is what to do with the Triple Crown blackberries. Worked hard last year to keep tying the canes to the trellis wires only to have them die from cold. Some are now growing almost a foot per day at times. I know that I should be pruning back some of them but not certain which ones or what to do. I'll sort it out eventually.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by september on Jul 31, 2019 10:07:06 GMT -5
Challenges this year were prolonged deer damage to growing shoots of several kinds of crops, and the cold late start to the season. Never got any sugar snap peas, beans are late, and lost tomato branches and main ends of melons and cukes and most pepper plants. I could also say lack of rain, but garden watering is not a problem for me as long as I am home to do it. Lawn is drying up brown though, since we don't water it. Amount of fungal damage to tomato leaves is similar to or less than other years at this time. Never did get carrot seeds planted.
Rabbits never showed up this year, a couple of groundhogs did, but they were disposed of by Jim before they did any damage.
I decided to let my lower flower garden go to pot this year, the deer ate all the lily tops and other things before I could replace the deer netting around it. They ate the morning glory plants I put at the base of the arbor, and keep eating the rudbeckia tops that have reseeded themselves for years. It's so full of grass and weeds and tall white phlox taking over, that I will dig it all up at some point and order some new perennial roots and bulbs and start over with a heavier chip mulch. I think I will give up on overwintering dahlia's, too much trouble to find a place to store all the roots, and I never get them planted in the ground in time anymore. I have some I have left in pots brought in for the winter, and may just do that in the future.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 31, 2019 14:17:22 GMT -5
Challenges? Besides health, there's weather. I lost most of my peas to a storm last night. They were about ready to bloom too. Now what's left will have to recover. SAD!
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jul 31, 2019 14:23:41 GMT -5
Weather, grub worms, tomato worms, pickle worms family health issues.
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reubent
Pro Member
Posts: 389
Joined: May 2011
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Post by reubent on Aug 17, 2019 21:30:13 GMT -5
Didn't plant anything, so nothing to fail. But things are shaping up to go big with greenhouses soon.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Aug 18, 2019 12:27:10 GMT -5
I am embarrassed to say that my issue is with tomatoes. After an awful start, my plants really rallied once they were in the ground. But then I got super busy and my time in the garden was limited (and I also confess a wee bit of laziness when I did have time) and now I have a freaking mess. It's a mess, there's no better way to put it. Tomato plants everywhere. Most of the tomatoes on the ground are being eaten by rodents.
I'll still get a decent harvest, I think, but not the fabulous harvest it could have been. I'll definitely not be saving tomato seed this year, which is a bummer.
Next year I think I'll have no problems limiting myself to a much lower number of plants. I just can't maintain the quantity I have right now with my busy life in the summer months.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 19, 2019 22:07:59 GMT -5
My squash hasn't performed well at all. I planted my seeds and then replanted my seeds, bought a pack of seeds from Tractor Supply, bought ready growing plants - got less squash than I've ever gotten. I want to blame the straw bales I plant in but who knows.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 20, 2019 8:06:25 GMT -5
I want to blame the straw bales I plant in but who knows. I have always questioned plants grown in straw having the proper nutrients but I don't know since I have never done it. Some say that it's like growing plants in containers and that you need to constantly apply fertilizer. I plant my seed potatoes in a shallow layer of soil and then top with lots of straw and the potatoes develop in the straw while the roots are in real soil. Last year I tried planting the seed potato pieces right in the straw and not the soil. They didn't grow at all even though it was very moist. I uncovered them about a month later and planted them in the soil and they almost immediately started growing. This tells me that not all plants like growing in straw.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 21, 2019 11:12:45 GMT -5
brownrexx, I've done this for 6 or 7 years and this is the first year it's been so horrible so that's why I'm thinking maybe they were sprayed with something before being baled. Plus I probably didn't get them prepared as much as usual since normally I would have been working on it during the months my son was sick. So maybe it was me and not the bales. Oh well next year....
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 21, 2019 15:43:37 GMT -5
Yes, there is always next year.....
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