Oops--I did it again--brought home a plant I have no home for...
mjsee
17 years ago
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mjsee
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Have/would you dig up plants at a foreclosed/abandoned house?
Comments (33)The other day I drove past this lovely old farmstead, unoccupied, "For Sale" sign. I pulled up to check for rosebushes, to take cuttings, when I find these MASSES of crowded peonies around the garage out back. The poor things really needed dividing ;) So on my next trip I brought a shovel, a jug of water, and a bucket of compost. I divided three of the clumps, took the extra rhizomes, watered the others back in neatly spaced and with a bunch of compost mixed into the soil as a bonus. Weeded all around them too, because I can't help myself. I imagine the farm wife who planted them fifty, seventy years ago, watching out the kitchen window and chuckling. I don't feel even a little bad about it, as I l took nothing that will be missed (and they'll probably be trashed when the new owner tears down the old garage anyway), did no damage, and left the property and plants in better shape than I found them. I would never just tear up whole plants unless the bulldozers were already parked on the lawn....See MoreOops I did it again...
Comments (7)Lol, I am sure I will probably do it again next Friday since I have another day off. Thanks for posting your beautiful pictures! That Ivory Coast is stunning and Revolution is too! Does Revolution often have all green leaves sporting in it? Sorry Gesila, I have still have that song in my head... Linda :)...See MoreOop! I think I used too much Tomato-Tone!
Comments (8)Susan, No, Tomato Tone is not sufficient to prevent BER because BER is not purely a nutritional deficiency issue although that perception exists. Blossom End Rot is more of a physiological condition. BER can be linked to a certain extent to a calcium deficiency in the plant, but not specifically to a calcium deficiency in the soil. The actual cause of BER has more to to with uneven watering at specific points in the plants' growth cycle. The best way to prevent BER is to keep the soil evenly moist at all times and to avoid letting the soil go through wild swings from too dry to too wet. Some other stresses also can contribute to BER, including overfertilizing. When your plant experiences certain stresses at certain points its growth cycle, the plant actually suffers a calcium deficiency within the plant itself and this can cause the calcium to physically leave the fruit and goes back into the main part of the tomato plant to compensate, and then the lack of calcium in the fruit allows the BER to develop. BER normally shows up as the darkened, leathery spot at the blossom end of the fruit and it can cause accelerated ripening. (More rarely, it shows up as a black spot on the inside of the fruit even though the fruit appears normal on the inside. This is known as the internal form of blossom end rot. I have seen it in one of my fruit exactly once in my life.) So, BER can occur even with adequate calcium in the soil because dry roots aren't pulling enough calcium out of the soil, so to speak, and that sets off the chain of events leading to BER. In addition to extreme moisture fluctuations and overfertilizing, BER also can be related to cool, humid weather, compacted soil and excess amounts of either potassium or ammonia in the soil or soil-less potting mix. BER is more common on certain varieties than others and it is more common on soil with a less than ideal pH (either too high or too low). You tend to see it most often early in the season when the tomato plants' vascular systems are still immature and find it hard to cope with the stresses to which they're exposed, which also can include high drying winds. Many years ago it was simply believed the entire cause was a calcium deficiency in the soil, but more recent research shows it to be the more complicated scenario I described above. Some people buy a calcium spray that is supposed to prevent BER but it does not work because calcium cannot be absorbed through the skin of the tomato. Even if you have BER early in the growing season, it tends to go away on its own as the plants grow and become larger and better able to withstand stresses of all types. As far as overfeeding, I find it incredibly hard to overfeed if you use only organic fertilizers because they release slowly and are absorbed slowly. It can be very easy to overfertilize with chemical fertilizers and I avoid them about 95% of the time for that reason. I doubt Espoma considers that people using soil-less potting mixes with pelleted fertilizer are also using their fertilizers. Their focus is, and always has been, on making the best organic fertilizers possible to provide the correct nutrition to plants. They also produce organic soil-less potting mixes and I'm sure they'd prefer we all use them. Whenever any one of us combines more than one fertilizer product with another, especially when they involve chemical or synthetic ferts, we are playing with fire because combining them can lead to levels of some nutrients that are too high. As far as Supersweet 100, it doesn't crack any more or less than many other cherry types. I prefer Sweet Million because I haven't noticed as much cracking with it. Some of the non-cracking cherries have skin so tough that I won't grow them, and if I do grow them, they are only for dehydrating and not for fresh eating since dehydrating makes the skin tough anyway. Lots of cherry types crack and, once again, I think providing evenly moist soil helps prevent it. That's a lot easier to do with container plants that are not necessarily exposed to heavy rainfall since you can move them to a sheltered location out of the rain. Too much moisture causes cracking in tomatoes of all shapes and sizes because it can make the internal portions of the tomatoes grow faster than the skin so the skin has to crack...it can't help itself. I wouldn't put two indeterminates in one 25-gallon pot. For me, both Jet Star and Supersweet 100 routinely top 6' to 8' in the garden soil or if in a large enough (20-25 gallon) container. They also can be 3' to 4' across, so putting two of them in one container, even a large container, is not something I'd do because they will be very cramped and crowded and the crowded foliage can become diseased very easily due to a lack of air flow. Please do not hesitate to ask questions. None of us mind answering them, and you never know when the question you ask will help someone else who is too reserved to ask questions. Lots of folks lurk here and only read and never ask questions, so your questions/our answers may help them too. (Hey, you lurkers, y'all should join the forum and talk to us....it is free...and we are nice 99.9% of the time so---what are you waiting for????) Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: If You Haven't Seen Espoma's Mixes, Here They Are...See MoreIf you have house envy living in a small house.....
Comments (60)Yes we do live in the city. Right at the edge as Steph said. I am three long blocks from city hall,my office. Tonight my office was my recliner. Needed to work but I do not like to work in the building all alone late at night and when I do have to I let the sheriff know. Living in the city still allows the critters. Our city is so tiny (about 165 people now) even the critters hardly notice it is here. LOL The dog that got the worst of it the first time is the one barking at them still. The other dog heads to the back bathroom to hide as fast as he can. We laughed at him so hard. I do not think he wanted to have to have another bath....See Morebahia
17 years agotibs
17 years ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
17 years agomjsee
17 years agokarinl
17 years agomjsee
17 years agoplantfiend
17 years agoolelady
17 years agosandy0225
17 years ago
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