Back to Eden Gardening

[Finding God in the garden]

More likely that they didn't have the root systems to mine for water deeply when it got really hot. I never water anything here....don't know how dry your spring weather gets where you live, but here we get spring rains and then they taper off, causing the plants to put down deeper root systems to mine for water and nutrients.

Folks who water from the beginning usually have to keep watering, as the root systems stay shallow and small because of it. For trees, in particular, this can be a death knell in these parts...then again, not sure what it's like where you live or the nature of your soils, but around here we have clay based soils, which holds a good bit of moisture down deep...the roots have to be strong to get through it, so watering them early and too often prevents a strong root development.

The use of good compost and a deep mulch should hold enough moisture for potatoes to survive without watering unless you live in a very arid, dry climate...even then, the BTE method is supposed to help preserve moisture to the roots of the plant.

Not sure about milkweed bugs...never heard of them...from what I could find, they are a beneficial bug in the garden, so maybe they weren't eating your spuds? Around here we usually get flea beetles or the Colorado potato bug, along with Japanese beetles, that prey on taters. A good spray with soapy water or a dusting with lime really helps with all of those.



They only have to be inside long enough to germinate, which for tomatoes means a couple of days. Depending on your weather where you live, you can then transfer them to a place outside where they get a lot of sunlight for most of the day and cover them with something like I've done...Agribon or a white sheet, which will protect them from getting too cold and/or too hot. Some people will use 4 mil opaque plastic but it won't let the rain through like the cloth. The white covering gives them a better exposure to the sunlight~maybe diffuses the light?~ than they will get on a windowsill, so you won't get plants quite as leggy as you would otherwise.

I even did pepper plants outside this year under that tunnel and they did better than I've ever seen any of my peppers do before.

We had temps down in the 40s and even a couple of times into the 30s when mine were out there this spring, but the Agribon kept them protected and warm.

Another question I have is I'm not sure what "normal" dying back on mature potatoes looks like vs. an infection or some other problem? When do I attempt to harvest? Most of my early variety potatoes have started flowering already too.

We are mostly clay here too in Oklahoma. I think we're like a silty clay on our property at least. It's difficult to get things mature enough around here before it gets hot. I've heard tomatoes won't produce well over 95 degrees which might be a problem here. Many times the highs here are in the 90's 90% of the month of May and then June, July, and August we have 90's and 100's then starts a gradual cool down from September on. Usually May and June are the rainy months here but haven't had a whole lot of rain this May. That's why I've been so surprised about all this fungus I've had on my apples and potatoes.

The only reason I watered was because they looked to be getting a little yellow-green (maybe they were just nutrient deficient or something but Ill try not to water as much next year and for the rest of the year on my remaining potatoes.

There were large numbers of what I believe were Milkweed bug larvae all over my potato plants. The first time I caught them I pulled off probably 50 of them and plants that were infested had large amounts of leaf damage. The only other culprit could be the pill bugs/sow bugs/Rollie pollies. We have no joke probably 10's of thousands of them in the garden and right around the garden and I've heard some people blame destruction of some crops on them but most info I read says they generally only eat rotting stuff or dead stuff but don't actually kill anything.

 

[Beekissed]

Got my hot peppers replaced with other seedlings today~most of my original seedlings were wiped out by a cut worm. Planted some in the spaces left by the death of the others and planted the rest directly into my rotting hay bales around raised beds. It's VERY warm in that hay and very moist, so they should do okay there...I hope.

I'll be in trouble if they get really big and have no support in those melting hay bales, may have to stake them then.

Spuds and pepper plants in the bales.

This bed has sweet onions, carrots and turnips(which need thinned), but also has hot peppers planted in the bales, as well as a butternut squash and a beefsteak tomato, along with a few petunia plants.

I placed straws around the stems of the smallest peppers planted into the soils and hay but haven't got a chance to do so in those planted into the bales. Not sure if a cut worm would travel up those bales to get to those, but I'll keep a watch on them.

Got a flat of annuals planted into the front flower beds and planted a few petunias into my hay bales too, just for funzies. Got a pot of annuals planted for the front porch too.

Also planted the rest of my spuds into a fence ring, layering in chicken compost, hay and leaves on top. Also did the same in the commode in the garden...should be fun to see if I can grow spuds in a commode.

My low tunnel and the green growing under there~romaines, pak choi, napa cabbage.

Spud rings are doing well with all this rain, growing like weeds and blooming already....

Flash, my garden buddy. Had a bath this morning in flea and tick shampoo and had his ears treated for mites, so he solarized the rest of the day to recover from it all.

 

[Beekissed]

Another question I have is I'm not sure what "normal" dying back on mature potatoes looks like vs. an infection or some other problem? When do I attempt to harvest? Most of my early variety potatoes have started flowering already too.

That's one thing I see over and over on YT...newbies pulling potato vines to harvest the crop before they are actually dead. Then they gleefully count the potatoes and exclaim over the amount they harvested...but if they had just waited until they died back all the way they would have had more and bigger taters.

I wait until they are brown and dried before I ever attempt a harvest. I've found that the spuds are still growing under there as long as there is any green on those vines. If you pull them too soon you'll have a bunch of baby potatoes, which is fine if you like that, but if you are storing taters for winter eating, you'll want a decent sized spud.

So, short answer is to harvest when vines are brown and dry, no green left. Normal dying back sort of looks like infection or disease but it's not. You'll know the difference when it happens before the season is over~disease~ or if it happens at the end of the growing season~normal...either way you can't do a thing about it to stop it from happening, once they start dying off, it's gonna happen no matter what. Around here they start dying back in July, are usually done with all that and are ready for harvesting by mid-August.

 

[flowerbug]

@Finding God in the garden

there is such a thing as vascular collapse in plants that happens during very hot weather. basically the plant transpires so quickly that the roots cannot keep up with the demand and the little tubes get gaps in them and stop transporting water.

i'm glad to see you're reading up on things (like using copper and various plants and
diseases and such). for people who live near rivers which empty into the oceans copper is a pretty nasty poison to many sea creatures.

 

[flowerbug]

oh and the other thing i wanted to mention, that every gardener learns some things by doing.

like over the years we've planted tomatoes, every year they get a disease which takes them out towards the end of summer. i'd have to look it up again to see what it is, but in the end, after many various attempts at defeating it, i've found that it just doesn't matter that much. by the time the plants are done in by the disease we've got enough put up that it doesn't make any sense to fight it. if i were really worried i'd plant earlier ripening varieties and try to find a more resistant plant, but Mom is very stuck on certain things so onwards we go as is and it's working. even with the disease we have between 20-30lbs of tomatoes per plant most years and that's good enough for me.

our location gets a lot of heavy fogs settling in overnight in the summer. i also gave up on a grape vine we had, and i really miss it, but have been too busy to find a replacement that is resistant to black rot/fungal problems. sometimes, you just switch to things that do grow and plant a variety of things and not all make it, but enough do most years... i'd rather garden than anything else. if my body could handle it i'd be outside all day.

 

[so lucky]

It's been an often-discussed topic here and probably other forums, that you just learn to plant what does well in your circumstances. For instance, some soil is no good for carrots, so it may not make sense to keep trying them without extreme soil amendments. And as our climate changes, it becomes a challenge to keep up with what still works. Some of us try to manipulate our garden to accommodate changes. Putting plants out earlier with protection from the cold, or planting in shadier areas may help with the extreme weather we are getting.
I sure would hate to be responsible for growing all our food, for DH and me. I just grow for fun, and most of my garden is flowers this year. No pressure.

 

[flowerbug]

@Beekissed, i have to remember to mention this to Mom if we ever put potatoes in again. she harvested them a bit early and remarked upon how small many of them were.

something was chewing on them so she was mad at that. i never figured out what it was. could have been groundhog or voles or ...

as for the idea of growing all our food and not wanting that kind of pressure, i like the idea that if you plant enough diversity then you can do very well even if some things don't work out each year. having fruits like strawberries which need some refreshing from time to time, but they're quick and early crops, rhubarb is almost indestructable here, beans (fresh, for shelling and also for drying and winter cooking ). peas, yum, yum, yum, radishes, turnips are all pretty good and easy crops for beginners if you have the space for them. carrots i consider more difficult but there are so many varieties of them so perhaps a few of those will work.

 

[canesisters]

@so lucky , I have said over and over that I recognize how blessed I am to be able to garden as a hobby and not as the main source of food for myself or my family.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

That's one thing I see over and over on YT...newbies pulling potato vines to harvest the crop before they are actually dead. Then they gleefully count the potatoes and exclaim over the amount they harvested...but if they had just waited until they died back all the way they would have had more and bigger taters.

I wait until they are brown and dried before I ever attempt a harvest. I've found that the spuds are still growing under there as long as there is any green on those vines. If you pull them too soon you'll have a bunch of baby potatoes, which is fine if you like that, but if you are storing taters for winter eating, you'll want a decent sized spud.

So, short answer is to harvest when vines are brown and dry, no green left. Normal dying back sort of looks like infection or disease but it's not. You'll know the difference when it happens before the season is over~disease~ or if it happens at the end of the growing season~normal...either way you can't do a thing about it to stop it from happening, once they start dying off, it's gonna happen no matter what. Around here they start dying back in July, are usually done with all that and are ready for harvesting by mid-August.

Well, I have 3 varieties of potatoes planted: Desiree, German Butterball, and Yukon Gem. The Desiree and Yukon Gem are early potatoes and based on the seller of the seed potatoes estimate the Yukon Gem potatoes should be harvested between 6/23-7/13 and the Desiree potatoes 6/14-7/6. The German Butterballs are late July- early August so I'm pretty certain those had brown spot, but is 3-4 weeks before the beginning of the harvest window too early for the natural dying back to begin? Those two early varieties are supposed to be resistant to blight so I just want to make sure I'm not cutting so many of the leaves and limbs off for no reason.

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, I remember you saying to wait till plant completely dies down before harvesting. Mine did and yesterday I harvested one of my containers and I still has quite a few of marble size potatoes. They were Yukon's and I did have normal size ones too though.

P.s. I'm not eating any potatoes grown in that comode! haha

Mary