Anyone doing a garden?

[peterp1]

Hoping it's appropriate to ask here instead of starting a new thread, but does anybody know how to do "Scott's Spreader" math. Every time I buy fertilizer, it has the setting for various Scott spreader models (and they vary quite a bit between models). Mine is the Scott's mini spreader, which never seems to be listed and it doesn't really have a model number. Now I just bought the Scott's "Wizz" battery powered spreader (which I haven't tried yet but think I'm going to like a lot based upon reviews https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HY5Q1K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), which will undoubtedly have different settings.

It's kink of baffling why Scott's doesn't have uniform spreader settings for all of it's models. Has anybody been able to figure out Scott's spreader settings math?

 

[RickeyM]

That one Sunny Boy Hybrid. I still may get enough for a sandwich out of it.

 

[RickeyM]

I saw this recently. I found it fascinating.
I usually plant them deep, next year I'm going to try ground level.

Since I grow mine in large 55-qt. pots I started mine deep in the pots cutting off lower branches and adding soil as they grew so they'd have more roots in the soil.

 

[LHorn]

Hoping it's appropriate to ask here instead of starting a new thread, but does anybody know how to do "Scott's Spreader" math. Every time I buy fertilizer, it has the setting for various Scott spreader models (and they vary quite a bit between models). Mine is the Scott's mini spreader, which never seems to be listed and it doesn't really have a model number. Now I just bought the Scott's "Wizz" battery powered spreader (which I haven't tried yet but think I'm going to like a lot based upon reviews https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HY5Q1K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), which will undoubtedly have different settings.

It's kink of baffling why Scott's doesn't have uniform spreader settings for all of it's models. Has anybody been able to figure out Scott's spreader settings math?

Nope. I have a manual hand spreader...a push spinner and a drop spreader. I usually just look at what its putting down and go by that.

 

[LHorn]

Peppers are starting to put out now that first picking gave them a push. Poblano's not so much...I'm never going to let them grow again without topping them when they are seedlings. They just get too unruly when they grow tall and the fruiting is sparse. My Boldog and Paquillo peppers from last year's seeds look like they crossed with the Poblano's. Lesya's are finally ripening up. One thing about the Spitfire's is when they dont get BER they are huge...see pic. Time to fire up the grill and smoker...I have about 3 banker boxes of peppers to process.

The last couple days haul...




Spitfire...

 

[RickeyM]

We had a lot of rain coming last weekend so I picked the biggest tomatoes so I wouldn't lose them to splitting. Some had already started to split a little. I've never had this many this big before. My smallest ones are about the size of what you see in the supermarket. The bigger ones look like they'd cover a slice of bread. Good thing they'll ripen off the plant. Today I had a tomato sandwich made from a Sunny Boy Hybrid tomato. I never knew there was such a thing as yellow tomatoes before I started gardening.

 

[LHorn]

I was caught off guard with these tall pepper plants recently. When the temps dropped and we got dumped on by Debby's rain plus another week of rain after that...the plants exploded with fruit. They literally have grown bunches to a branch like banana's. When Debby was hammering us I looked out and saw all the plants laying over to the point of bending the tomato cages over. So I was out in the downpour running twine, rope and string trying to save them. Some branches did snap off. At this point it's so unruly and fragile I dont want to move them anymore because when I do it starts knocking off fruit. The pics show them in the first round..they've gotten worse though.



These Lesya peppers are supposed to be really sweet but I think the Piquillo's were better last year. It could be because this year wasnt a good year overall though too. They do taste good and they are nice and thick fleshed.


Just got done vacuum sealing the first batch of smoked peppers this year. I kept the Lesya's separate from the others. All in all it produced 1.75lbs finished. I smoked this batch with Maple and a little Oak.


The first batch ready for the smoker then the second round in it. I had some Poblano's and other peppers that I salvaged on the bottom racks.



And a couple days in the dehydrator and its a wrap.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

I was caught off guard with these tall pepper plants recently. When the temps dropped and we got dumped on by Debby's rain plus another week of rain after that...the plants exploded with fruit. They literally have grown bunches to a branch like banana's. When Debby was hammering us I looked out and saw all the plants laying over to the point of bending the tomato cages over. So I was out in the downpour running twine, rope and string trying to save them. Some branches did snap off. At this point it's so unruly and fragile I dont want to move them anymore because when I do it starts knocking off fruit. The pics show them in the first round..they've gotten worse though.
View attachment 3277191
View attachment 3277192

These Lesya peppers are supposed to be really sweet but I think the Piquillo's were better last year. It could be because this year wasnt a good year overall though too. They do taste good and they are nice and thick fleshed.
View attachment 3277195

Just got done vacuum sealing the first batch of smoked peppers this year. I kept the Lesya's separate from the others. All in all it produced 1.75lbs finished. I smoked this batch with Maple and a little Oak.
View attachment 3277197

The first batch ready for the smoker then the second round in it. I had some Poblano's and other peppers that I salvaged on the bottom racks.
View attachment 3277202
View attachment 3277203

And a couple days in the dehydrator and its a wrap.
View attachment 3277204
View attachment 3277205

That's an incredible crop! Nice going on the smoking too, some home made chipotle. I see you've smoked some of them. I'd like to try this once summer comes along down here.

 

[LHorn]

Oof....it's that time again. Even with this the plants are still loaded with smaller ones and a lot that just need to turn red. Dunno how long I got with the temps dropping into the 40's at night already.

The box on the upper left has defects that need trimmed away then smoked. I'm pulling about 5 per day with BER...bad year.



@Johnno_Oz ...Thanks...and yes you should try smoking some. You will never want to go back to store bought paprika again.

 

[Govany]

 

[hjames]

Emma's enjoying the Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes I'm growing for her in the living room under grow lights.
When we've grown them outdoors in the past, the birds and squirrels would nibble every one and ruin them for us.
Indoors, they are happy being watered daily - but took a bit of a hit when we were away 2 days last week.
The other plant, Early Girl tomatoes, has so far produced 1 medium tomato that is just starting to blush ...

 

[RickeyM]

My Sunny Boy Hybrid and German Queen tomatoes are taking their own sweet time ripening on the plants. It's maddening. I pots they're requiring lots of water and I'm having to pick some of them and let them ripen indoors to avoid splitting. The hot spell that we got a break from a few weeks ago had been holding back my Bell peppers and the tomatoes. Since then my peppers and tomatoes are budding like crazy. My pole beans, which I thought had died out after the harvest, have taken to growing again and have started sprouting flowers again attracting bees I'm also thinking maybe some over-winter crops of lettuce, onions and maybe carrots.

 

[CT Jim]

My pepper plants have done very well this year, even the bell peppers put out.
We have had a long spell of hot weather so I had a hard time keeping the fabric pot stable with water. After having another droopy leaves day I pulled a lot of the peppers and concentrated on watering. Everything came back lookinggood.
I have the next crop of cucs in, and they are starting to climb. I grow ‘Swing’ and ‘Ancash’ both which are parthen…don’t need bees, but they put out a lot of cucs creating the zucchini problem. My zucchini still sucks, but I’m getting better.
The determinate tomatoes did awesome, the indeterminate….so so. I have 2 new Celebrity tomatoes going in for a late season crop.
I’ve noticed one thing in the raised beds, no matter how many bags of compost I add, the water retention is terrible. Makes a lot of work watering…..

 

[LHorn]

My pepper plants have done very well this year, even the bell peppers put out.
We have had a long spell of hot weather so I had a hard time keeping the fabric pot stable with water. After having another droopy leaves day I pulled a lot of the peppers and concentrated on watering. Everything came back lookinggood.
I have the next crop of cucs in, and they are starting to climb. I grow ‘Swing’ and ‘Ancash’ both which are parthen…don’t need bees, but they put out a lot of cucs creating the zucchini problem. My zucchini still sucks, but I’m getting better.
The determinate tomatoes did awesome, the indeterminate….so so. I have 2 new Celebrity tomatoes going in for a late season crop.
I’ve noticed one thing in the raised beds, no matter how many bags of compost I add, the water retention is terrible. Makes a lot of work watering…..View attachment 3285323

Yeah those fabric pots are a PITA to keep watered. Unless its been raining hard I water them every day...but not saturated. Problem is the first time you water them they only take about a pint or so before it starts running out the top sides. So now I hit them with water and let that soak in then come back 15 minutes later and hit them again...and if they really need it one more time. I can see each time the water runs out lower and lower in the pot.

If I grow next year I have been thinking of spraying the sides of the pots with that waterproofing spray for fabric like tents and stuff...long as its non-toxic. Maybe it will force the water down better.

For your raised beds try working some coco coir and vermiculite in. I got two blocks of that coco coir last year and that stuff holds a lot of water.

That batch in the pic above put another 12 lbs in the freezer. Now I have at least double the ripe red peppers to do another round of smoked paprika tomorrow. I've started pulling new buds from the plants to make them focus on the peppers already on them...which are loaded already. I probably only have a month of growing season to go.

 

[CT Jim]

@LHorn
They now make fabric pots with a liner to help with the watering issue, the reviews are mixed because once you create an inside firm coating, the air pruning loses it capability. I took 2 new pots and ran a 6” wide roofing flashing with its flexible rubber adhesive, the intent being to limit the sidewall breathing. It didn’t want to stick very well, so I started using a heat gun to help, but that sometimes made the fabric composition melt if I wasn’t careful. I do think it helped because the flashing only had to stay in place until the dirt was in, but I didn’t continue the experiment. What I would like to find is a 4”-6” watering tray that stays in place, that would help build up the water absorption by preventing the water to pass through too easily.
I might try amending the potting mix with peat moss, but that stuff has a difficult time absorbing water if it’s not treated with some absorbsion chemical. Sometimes. Potting mix has this additive. The issue with peat moss is once dry its a bear to make it soak up water again. I did try adding half a bale of peat moss to one of my raised beds, but I don’t think it did much, at least not the result I was looking for.
Another experiment I plan is to use one of those spray cans of sealer onto a portion of the sidewall hgt. They are flexible, and UV is unaffected because of the dirt fill. I have some FlexSeal which I’ll try.
I’m going to add more soaker type hoses. I already have the water timers, so that’s a pretty easy solution. I have two Jimmy Nardello peppers side by side, one in a 7 gallon fabric pot, the other is a same size hard pot. They are both the same size, and doing well.

 

[LHorn]

@CT Jim ...Huh...never saw the ones with liners. Good idea with your experiment. I've never had a problem with plants getting rootbound in the pots...but I did in the Solo cups.

I'm with ya on a deep watering tray...but they would have to have a easy drain on them. Lifting 40 or so full grown plants all strung up is impossible and they cant be left to soak if you get a lot of rain or overwater them. The cheap thin plastic trays disintegrate at the slightest movement. One year I even tried putting strips of cotton rags half in the tray and half out to siphon off excess water...but they quickly got clogged up with algae and crud. Then there's the cost of trays...even the "cheap" trays aint so cheap when yo need a lot of them. Be cheaper to build a kind of sluice box you can open and close. Fill it up until the plant stop absorbing then let it drain the excess. But for me that would be the whole length of my house.

Not sure whats going on with my poblano's and annaheim's. They have a lot of peppers about half the size they should be on them but it seems they have just stopped growing. I've been plucking any new buds to force them to focus on the existing peppers but its still been stagnate. All the paprika, Italian and Lesya's are doing their normal thing. It's been dropping into the 40's lately too so I'm getting some blackening on some.

Last haul put another 12lbs of poblano's and annaheim's mixed in the freezer and just finished with the second round of smoked paprika today.

 

[Smitty43]

Mrs Smitty went and picked muscadines yesterday and is making more jam and between the blackberry and strawberry jam and the other jams and jelly she has made I think we can feed a Army with this stuff!!!! But I must admit that she is teaching my granddaughter a very valuable lesson in life.

 

[LHorn]

And we have the wonderful results of temps dipping into the 40's at night...

 

[RickeyM]

And we have the wonderful results of temps dipping into the 40's at night...

View attachment 3294181

Nights in the 60's with the occasional dip into the high 50's around here. My sweet peppers have gone into overdrive. I'm noticing BER on some of my tomatoes lately. Something seldom seen before this late in the season. I've taken to applying cal-mag with a foliar spray and putting some bone meal to the plants.

 

[LHorn]

This is a good read for BER. Evidently the deficiency takes place two weeks before it shows up on the fruit.

https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=C938

Most of my Anaheim plants are still loaded but the leaves are starting to yellow even though they are still blossoming. They seem to be the only ones subject to blackening too. I gave them a shot of the Alaskan fish fertilizer 5-1-1 for a boost of nitrogen...but I think its just their normal endgame for the season.

It will be interesting to see the root structures this year too. It started out bad from the crappy soil in the starter trays causing some dampening...and good roots are critical for calcium intake.

I also had a few grubs in my pots last year and this year has been horrible for insects. I'm still fighting off freakin ants drilling holes in my peppers. Next spring I'm going scorched earth on those bastards!