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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 14, 2019 20:00:23 GMT -6
Tips and Tricks This is the beginning of a forum designed to allow gardeners, and seed savers, around the world to share their gardening tips and tricks with other gardeners and seed savers. So, feel free to post a reply, to show us what you've got! I'll start off by posting Tip #1 My tip for the day, is how to avoid seed capping. That's what I call the phenomena that occurs when planting small seeds like carrot, or dill, before a heavy rain. The result will be that silt will flow in above the seeds, and once that silt dries, it forms a hard, impenetrable, layer above the seeds, effectively 'capping' them below the surface. If you raise this 'cap', once it has hardened, you will often find seeds that have germinated, only to be trapped below the surface, where they grow laterally, for a few days without sunlight and eventually die. Often times, this can be avoided, by covering the seeds 3/3/3 with a mix of sawdust, sand, and topsoil. Sand will not bond with other materials to form a solid cap and moist sawdust will cause cracking of the soil once it begins to shrink and dry. The cracking of the surface weakens the 'cap' and allows small seeds like carrot or dill to penetrate the surface. If heavy rains persist, sometimes, sawdust will float away but the sand will remain, causing the 'cap' not to be as strong as soil with no sand added.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 20, 2019 4:32:01 GMT -6
Has anyone noticed that if you trellis your tomato vines back into their cages at dusk, you break fewer vines than if you trellis at dawn?
I believe this is because the vines are 'wiltier' and less apt to snap after a hot day in the sun, than they are during the crisp hours, around first light.
Any other thoughts on this?
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Post by macmex on Jun 20, 2019 6:13:18 GMT -6
I believe that's true, and have also heard that vegetables picked early in the day, stay fresh longer, for the same reason.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 22, 2019 11:43:29 GMT -6
I used to pick blueberries for Jack "Coker' Denton; when he was still living. He'd have us pick from first light until 10:00 am, then he'd call us all inside to get paid. He said, "The fruit lasts longer if the heat of the day is not in it."
As many years as he had been selling berries; he ought to have known a thing or two about keeping them fresh.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 22, 2019 11:51:43 GMT -6
George, and I, are about to begin experimenting with finding horned tomato worms, using a Black Light, LED flashlight at night.
Neither of us know for sure if it will even work, but we'll try to keep you posted.
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Post by john on Jul 4, 2019 5:21:28 GMT -6
Ron I can confirm what you said about the vines being safer to work with later in the day. There is a consensus among giant pumpkin growers that you should wait until the heat of the day has come before adjusting or bending any vines. They snap far to easily in the AM or or on a rainy overcast day. As a general rule I try to stay out of the garden when the leaves are wet from rain or dew. There are some crops you may be able to get away with working with them when they are wet. Don't mess with green bean plants while their leaves are wet.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 13, 2019 5:26:10 GMT -6
You're right about green bean plants when the vines are wet. They snap really easily, plus, any green beans harvested with the dew still on them will become what grandma would call, "RUSTY." The dew leaves little discolored rings on the beans, making them harder to market.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 13, 2019 5:36:38 GMT -6
WOOO-HOOO!!!
I caught my first Tomato Hornworm, using a blacklight last night!
They really do fluoresce a phosphorescent color of green under blacklight.
It was awesome! I had seen worm frass on my white plastic during the day, but could not find the source of it, which I knew was a Hornworm. Late in the day, heavy rains washed away all the frass, so because I have 100 caged tomato plants along three rows, I could not remember which cage had the frass under it come nightfall.
I waited until about 10:00 pm to go look for it with my 100 LED Blacklight, I found it within a matter of seconds. It really does work. That worm was on the opposite side of the tomato cage, so I had to walk around to the other side. The worm showed up so well, that I was not afraid I'd lose it if I took my eyes off of it while I walked around the end of the row and came back to it. That rascal really showed up well!!!
If you ask me, the blacklight flashlight was worth every penny.
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Post by john on Jul 16, 2019 5:41:35 GMT -6
Another tip for beans if you need to pick a lot of them for canning or selling them. I plant a new crop of bush beans every couple of weeks, When the beans are loaded up with beans but are not too big, I pull the plants and throw them into a wheel barrow. I then go under the shade of a big tree and pick all the beans off. The spent plants make a great mulch to use around the rest of your garden. This saves my back and makes picking easy. Beans are probably one of the easiest crops to grow here. They germinate as big seedlings which makes them very easy to hoe or cultivate, so weeds are not a problem. I like the varieties 'Top Crop' or 'Provider' for my main crop, For filet beans I really like Maxibel. (nice straight 8"long round beans) . They are one of the best crops to put into a late summer garden. As space opens up from your spring crops, plant some beans in that space. I can plant bush beans here through July into the first week of August. Bean seeds are cheap, chiropractic bills aren't, so I choose to buy bean seed.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 22, 2019 18:17:08 GMT -6
Thanks, John, that was a great, time-saving tip.
I wish I would have thought of that while running the prison gardens at EWCC, in Taft. We had a two-acre bean field to hoe and harvest every other day. We also had a two acre okra field, so we alternated hoeing days ... I worked as a supervisor there, for 5-years. Beans and okra were some of the few crops I could think of that the inmates couldn't use to make hooch.
Thanks also, for the information on what varieties to plant. That is well received and much appreciated information.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 22, 2019 18:18:47 GMT -6
I got 5 more Horned tomato worms last night using the blacklight flashlight. My chickens sure did enjoy these big ol' worms! I placed them on this 12" inch concrete paver block for a size reference. One of these worms can destroy a tomato plant within a few days if overlooked.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 29, 2019 6:24:35 GMT -6
My tip or 'trick' for the day is how to prune okra bushes to promote pod production and to gain greater height.
I've got 3-1/2 rows of okra on 10" inch raised beds, 30" inches wide, double planted in a zig-zag pattern. My rows are 150' feet long.
Due to cold, rainy, overcast, Spring weather, my plants were stunted and began putting on flower heads at about 18" inches in height this year.
Due to their short stature at the time, I removed the first blossom heads this season, before they flowered, to allow the plants to grow a little more before they were over-burdened with pod production. (Pinching the blossom heads is a form of pruning) to allow the root system to develop more, as well as allowing the plants to become stronger and more mature before they are encumbered with such a heavy load to carry.
That way, when the time comes, they are more robust and able to carry a much heavier load of pods and branches. (You don't want weak plants that may blow over in high winds during a mid-summer thunderstorm). This early pruning will help them take a deeper root and help to develop stronger, thicker stems.
Since my Heavy Hitter Okra plants are a type of branching okra, they tend to grow wider, more rapidly than they grow tall. This presents a problem at harvest time, causing me to have to 'duck walk' alongside my rows, in order to spot the first, tender pods below the leaf canopy. The combination of my 3-1/2 rows is nearly 500' feet in length; double that number, because you have to harvest both sides of those 30" inch wide, raised beds, and you'll be 'duck walking' nearly a quarter mile every other day, during the first few weeks of harvest.
Due to their many branches, the plants tend to produce an overabundance of foliage early on. This overabundance of foliage requires so much of their energy, that they sort of get 'stuck' at about 2' or 3' feet tall for a couple of weeks, right during the beginning of harvest time.
Because of this condition, I prune the heck out of the lower leaves (not the branches) just the leaves.
By this time some of the leaves may be as wide as 16" inches across and they make it very hard to see the pods, down inside the plants. Pruning those leaves away, allows more sunlight and air to penetrate through the canopy, causing my plants to 'bolt'.
'Bolting' causes the newly developed blossom heads to form above the leaf canopy, rather than below it. This makes my plants much easier to harvest.
As of this morning, my plants are about 5' feet tall with pods forming just about shoulder height to me. (I think I am about 5'-11") so this is the perfect height for easy harvesting. Some of my plants are currently presenting as many as 7 tender pods per branch this morning, multiply that by any number of branches per plant; so pods being at a convenient height for harvest is fairly important to my poor aching back. This morning, I harvested 15 pounds of tender pods from one side of the first row. Since I plant raised beds 30" inches wide, each row has two sides to pick. I have 3-1/2 rows, so I'm looking at 7 row sides and a potential 90 to 100 pound harvest by this evening. Having okra at the right height makes a lot of difference when you're talking about harvesting 100 pounds of okra every other day or so.Pruning to promote bolting, gets the okra pods up above the leaf canopy. This one could use a little more pruning to get it completely clear of the leafy canopy. Typical branching, promoted by pruning, causes several branches to bloom and produce pods at the same height, for an easier harvest. Note the absence of most of the lower leaves. I try to keep most of the activity toward the very top of the plants. It does look like I missed a few leaves though ... When you have a thousand plants, it's easy to miss a few leaves at pruning time.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 29, 2019 7:06:23 GMT -6
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM!
I got up at 4:30 this morning, to go Horn Worm hunting in my tomato patch, using a black light flashlight. By 5:00 am, I had 19 horn Worms collected.
I think my black light flashlight just paid for itself today!
The only thing better than a paper plate full of homegrown tomatoes is a paper plate full of Homegrown Tomato Horn Worms!
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Post by macmex on Jul 29, 2019 8:36:40 GMT -6
Bet your chickens like this!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 29, 2019 13:58:01 GMT -6
My chickens are in hog heaven, with so many Horn Worms to peck at that they just got tired of pecking them.
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