Isualum13
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I have an impressive patch of weeds. I'll get some tomatoes, squash and, pumkns but peppers and onions are pretty well a lost cause. Getting rid of the garden this year as I'm not motivated enough to keep up with it. Going to bring in some dirt to raise the ground around the foundation of my house a bit and level and reseed my yard.
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NWICY
ISU4Life
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For some reason our basil isn’t either. Short and bushy and have harvested a ton so it hasn’t been a problem, but about half the size of years past, maybe just a different cultivar?
AgronAlum
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Todays work. Fridge pickles and more salsa.
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ISUAgronomist
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- On the farm, IA
- Jul 27, 2024
- #304
We've processed 90 lbs of green beans. Already harvested 50+ zucchini. Peppers here and there. Snap peas still going strong. Sweet corn up next then carrots.
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CycloneDaddy
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- #305
stormchaser2014 said:
My jalapeño and bell pepper plants aren't growing.
If u ever figure it out let me know as I also struggle growing them. I would think they would get bigger then this.
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NWICY
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mkadl said:
Me too! First year trying these. Had to hand polinate from straight eight. The package I bought was all female. Other than raw how do you like to eat these? The same as regular?
I like them with onions and peppers in a vinegar, water, and a touch of sweetener brine type deal,
stormchaser2014
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CycloneDaddy said:
If u ever figure it out let me know as I also struggle growing them. I would think they would get bigger then this.
Someone told me it could be because of all the rain we've had. They said their peppers last year were great because it was a lot drier.
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CycloneDaddy
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stormchaser2014 said:
Someone told me it could be because of all the rain we've had. They said their peppers last year were great because it was a lot drier.
possible Im over watering them.
K
Kinch
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Harvested some potatoes and peppers this week. Planted fall carrots last week. Had to pollinate melons by Qtips (couldn’t find my small paint brush).
C
cydnote
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Kinch said:
Harvested some potatoes and peppers this week. Planted fall carrots last week. Had to pollinate melons by Qtips (couldn’t find my small paint brush).
I used to hybridize hostas and would just pluck the stamens from one plant using a pair of hemostats and use them as my "paintbrush" on the receiving flower. The pollen can also be air dried on a sheet of paper (usually 24 hrs) and then frozen for later crosses or even the following year. This technique was necessary to cross early flowering specimens with later developing ones or using last years pollen to cross late flowering with early. Not all this would be applicable (but could be) for your melons just sharing info/possibilities. Nature can be fascinating.
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KinchK
Kinch
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cydnote said:
I used to hybridize hostas and would just pluck the stamens from one plant using a pair of hemostats and use them as my "paintbrush" on the receiving flower. The pollen can also be air dried on a sheet of paper (usually 24 hrs) and then frozen for later crosses or even the following year. This technique was necessary to cross early flowering specimens with later developing ones or using last years pollen to cross late flowering with early. Not all this would be applicable (but could be) for your melons just sharing info/possibilities. Nature can be fascinating.
That’s awesome information. I plant mostly heirloom melons, so this would be perfect to try. The melons I used had a very narrow passage to place the pollen on the Q tip and I probably did more harm than good. Your method might be an excellent way to cross an early with a late melon. Thank you!
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Kinch
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Had one of the best meals ever in a camp out.
Sweet corn over the fire.
Potatoes cut up and wrapped in foil over the fire. Didn’t have cheese, so used popcorn salt. Also had cut onions and added Mrs. Dash.
Peppers, raw.
Minnesota melons.
Picked wild blackberries, added a bit of sugar.
And then brauts and ny strip.
C
cydnote
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Kinch said:
That’s awesome information. I plant mostly heirloom melons, so this would be perfect to try. The melons I used had a very narrow passage to place the pollen on the Q tip and I probably did more harm than good. Your method might be an excellent way to cross an early with a late melon. Thank you!
If you want to insure your crosses are as intended, take the hemostats (or tweezers) and pull the stamens from the receiving flower before doing the cross, leaving the stigma as the stand alone receiver of the pollen. Yanking the stamens will not affect the cross success and will avoid self pollination if done with care. The main key though is to make the cross before the bees find the flower and to make sure the pollen is ripe (fluffy yellow appearance) If you remove the stamens on the receiving flower the bees will be less interested in entering that flower. You can also remove the petals from the flower and the bees will show no interest at all. If the stigma has a bulb of moisture on it rather than looking clean and dry it is more than likely already pollenated foiling your efforts to make the intended cross. Also, label the flower with a string tag or such because the fruit will all look the same at harvest--your cross will reveil it's genotype/phenotype when you plant the seeds it produces the following year.
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cydnote
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Kinch said:
That’s awesome information. I plant mostly heirloom melons, so this would be perfect to try. The melons I used had a very narrow passage to place the pollen on the Q tip and I probably did more harm than good. Your method might be an excellent way to cross an early with a late melon. Thank you!
This could get lengthy but I'll share a couple more of MY techniques for storing pollen to make your experience more successful: Only pluck the stamens that exhibit bright fluffy pollen. Some claim that underdeveloped anthers will ripen after harvesting but I have not enjoyed that experience so I quit messing with them. After collecting the stamens, lay them out on a sheet of typing paper and use a knife, toothpick, or such and while pressing down on the stem of a single stamen slide your tool under the anther and pop it off of the end of the stamen. Trying to dry the stems will take longer and they will become shriveled so their use as a "paintbrush" goes away as opposed to using them immediately after they are gathered. Air dry the anthers overnight. I stored the anthers in small plastic vials obtained from my Vet's office for free (I believe their use is for dog heartworm blood tests? and don't be shocked if they ask you if you are dealing drugs, haha). After drying fold the paper and use it to funnel the dried anther/loose pollen into the vial. You can then toss them in the freezer. They don't need to be thawed to use later. I simply shook the vials and the pollen would adhere to the cap of the vial and when opened gently the cap can then be used to paint the pollen onto the stigma. Hope this helps and have fun! .
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CYdTracked
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- #315
AgronAlum said:
Who needs a garden when you have neighbors and family. Everyone around here plants way more than they can use.
Two different neighbors handed us these last night. Also a jar of pickles that lasted about 5 minutes.
View attachment 131941
FIL dropped off these this morning. The salsa was full but gave some to the neighbors and ate the rest.
View attachment 131943
We’ve already been through a couple gallon bags of green beans. Getting some potatoes and onions later today.
I don't feel like I over plant and I like sharing my excess produce with neighbors. For example I only plant 1 cherry tomato plant and at its peak I can fill up a grocery bag pretty full more than once a week. Lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and green beans all produce way more than we can eat when they are at their peak too. I think my neighbors enjoy getting free fresh produce and I get thenl satisfaction that they enjoy it.
This year my tomato plants are behind but everything else is going nuts right now.
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AgronAlum
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CYdTracked said:
I don't feel like I over plant and I like sharing my excess produce with neighbors. For example I only plant 1 cherry tomato plant and at its peak I can fill up a grocery bag pretty full more than once a week. Lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and green beans all produce way more than we can eat when they are at their peak too. I think my neighbors enjoy getting free fresh produce and I get thenl satisfaction that they enjoy it.
This year my tomato plants are behind but everything else is going nuts right now.
One of my neighbors plants started putting on tomato clusters. Never seen anything like it. This one plant has over 50 tomatoes on it.
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Ms3r4ISU
cowgirl836
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10 cups of zucchini frozen today after giving away a large one, using one in a pasta dish and another in zucchini bars. O ly one out growing on the vines now. More cucumbers than I can count. He's canned twice, 7-9jars each time and Teo crocks going. Tomato crop coming but my suspicion is that it'll be lighter than last year.
C
cydnote
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After planting a garden for nearly 50 years, one would think he would have seen everything but I ran into a new one yesterday. While perusing the garden last evening I noticed something had been feeding on the leaves of one of my rows of potatoes. Since we were anticipating rain last night I decided I would address the problem this morning. When I got there this morning I found that row almost defoliated and identified the culprit as a "blister beetle". I told my wife the only time I've ever heard of them was at ISU (Dr. Kline, required horse course for animal science major at the time), and the reason I remembered them was because they are toxic (and can be deadly} to horses. Have never heard of them since and have never seen one live. I have a 2 gallon sprayer that's my dedicated insecticide sprayer and it had some Bonide Eight (Permethrin) left over from last year so I checked the harvest interval and sprayed all the potatoes. It knocked the beetles off the plants immediately but didn't seem to instantly kill them as it does with Japanese beetles. After mowing a good share of the afternoon I swung by the garden and the plants were once again covered with the blister beetles. Hundreds of them. Round two of the spray tomorrow? From what I've read multiple applications may be necessary to control them.
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WartburgClone
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ianoconnor said:
No veggies, but found a monarch caterpillar in my native pollinator garden the other day
All I have are 10 million oleander aphids.
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