Anyone tried growing "western" veggies?

[Big Chief 0]

Mine just seemed to wither away over time. Just like states before, grew up big and fast, and then just died. It must be the heat. We need to join forces and figure this one out. I need a good Beefsteak tomato on my burgers!

[Gary 4,119]

The first try I put some in my wife's regular garden and some more in a planter that is built around the back porch. No fertilizer. The leaves gradually withered up and the plants died. The next try was putting some in the planter again with fertilizer and in the garden again with fertilizer. Same results. The last time I planted them in the planter and sprayed them with some kind of smelly stuff from a garden center. I planted the last ones in large pots with potting soil. Again the same results. No matter what I do they all die the same. My wife tells me that I should plant right now because tomatoes won't grow in the heat. The very best result was a couple of tennis ball sized tomatoes before the plant died. This will be the third winter that I have tried.

 

Edit - I also tried a partially shaded area with no better luck.

 

Gary, did the plants appear to just wither away, or was it a fungal attack ? Are you growing them in pots or the ground ?

 

If you are feeding them a hight K or P fertiliser for the fruit, it may be denying them nitrogen for the leaves. Over fertilising, will kill a plant in a day or two. The symptems are curling leaves, which go brown and die at the ends, this spreads to the whole plant.

 

Over watering will deny the roots oxygen and they will rot in the soil. Letting them dry out 'till leaves droop, will be helpfull.

 

You could try removing every other leaf, to give the roots less work to do. If it's not fungal attack, try a fine mist spray in the evening.

 

You've got me thinking now.

Edited August 30, 2006 by Gary

[nidnoyham 30]

Just looked in my greenhouse. One Tom' plant has died back, lost its green, gone yellow and withered. The other two are still green. Marrows have died back quickly, now they have finished fruiting. I think you are getting an acceleration, of a natural trait of these plants. they are going through their cycle too quickly, hmm.....

 

Basically, they will produce the next generation, but the conditions aren't good enough to give them a good start, rather they die a cot death, till things improve. It has to be the ground and air temprature too high.

Get the wife to stare at them now and then, the icy look may do the trick.

[radwhacker 0]

I would suspect it has to do more with the high humidity than the high temperatures. Here in Las Vegas we can get bumper crops of tomatoes during the summer and the typical daily temp is 105-110 - but our humidity is very low. We typically plant them on a north or northeast side of a structure so they get a break from the sun in the afternoon.

[HILLY 9]

Off to the UK next week for a holiday and when I come back I am going to bring some french salad seed potatoes (Ratte) to give it a try. I really miss new potatoes and reckon they will grow in our climate. We will see.

[Big Chief 0]

I think all of us should give the guy that figures out this problem a beer or two!

[windynoi 0]

Has anyone tried Jalapenos?.....Now I know the Thais have plenty of hot and spicy peppers, but I really do enjoy growing my own and I love the taste.

 

Why would anyone want Jalapenos (mild chillies/peppers) when then they can get real chillies

 

Jalapenos are are for people who think they like Chillie but can only handle the taste of Peppers.

Edited September 4, 2006 by windynoi

[nidnoyham 30]

I haven't totally given up yet. I'm looking into hydroponic. I was told that it's something in the air that diseases the plants but I can't see how that can be. If they won't grow hydroponically I'll believe it and will give up.

 

 

Gary

 

You can give Hydro' a try without laying out too much to experiment.

 

Buy a kids swimming pool, big enough to lay a small wooden pallete in, place the plants in a rockwool or pebbles in a pot on the pallete, between the slats, so the roots can get to the water. you only need a small airpump to aggitate the water around the roots. The downside of Hydro, is that water PH and temperature are more critical than soil. Not sure where you would get the nutreints from in LOS.

 

If it works, then you can get some proper gear and start a production line. Se you at your stall by the roadside.

Edited September 4, 2006 by nidnoyham

[whitespider 1]

We tried sprouts as my wife loves them but they failed dismally. We did produce some but they were like little hard peas

[torrenova 644]

Basil grows alright here. No rom for tomatoes but I second the comment that the Thai varieties are almost pointless.

[Namdor 0]

Humidity is the prob..

Place the Plant downwind of the air outlet from an air conditioner condenser... warm dry air... minimal humidity.