Ominous Signs

Well, the good times had to end at some point. Last week's heatwave did no favors for the garden. Very high daytime and nighttime temperatures meant practically no pollinating or fruiting for the week, so reduced yield down the line. Prolonged hot weather also leaves plants weakened, making them more vulnerable to disease, which is unfortunately the case for one section of the rooftop garden.

More Tomatoes and Some Peppers on the Way

The garden is, unbelievably, still doing great. I'm actually in a mild state of shock over how well everything is going. I cannot remember the last time something has not gone wrong by this time of year. I'm certainly not complaining though, I'm just pleasantly surprised.

Not the Kind of Excitement I Was Looking For

Last Friday's storm tore down a cage from one of the Garden Patch Grow Boxes. Surprisingly, the Yellow Perfection tomato plant survived and only 2 tomatoes were lost in the collapse! The main stem bent, but did not break. The fun isn't over yet though, let's see if it survives Hurricane Irene.

The Thrill is Gone

Now that I've eaten the Tasty Bites melon there is nothing new in the garden to look forward to. I'm already thinking about what to plant next year, ha! It's okay though, the other plants are still going strong.

Where Are My Melons?

Don't the melon plants look fantastic? Now if I could just get some melons to go with them everything would be great! I guess my hand pollinating efforts have failed, I'll keep on trying though. Last year I got 3 melons out of 2 plants with no hand pollination. I thought I could easily do better this year since I had a better handle on how to grow these plants, but now I'm getting worried.

Unfortunately I was right, the tomatoes do have early blight

Damn, it's definitely early blight and it has spread to the other 2 tomato plants in the GrowBox container.  Dark lesions with a bulls-eye pattern of concentric rings (click on the photo for a closer look) are the classic symptoms of early blight.

Early blight produces a wide range of symptoms at all stages of plant growth. It can cause damping-off, collar rot, stem cankers, leaf blight, and fruit rot. The classic symptoms occur on the leaves where circular lesions up to 1/2" in diameter are produced. Within these lesions dark, concentric circles can be seen. The leaf blight phase usually begins on the lower, older leaves and progresses up the plant. Infected leaves eventually wither, die, and fall from the plant. 

Ever since the cherry tomato plant was infected I've been watching these vegetable plants like a hawk, so I noticed the signs very early on, and have been treating it with weekly applications of organic fungicide.  As a result, the infection hasn't spread that far up the plants and tomato production hasn't been affected.  Hopefully all of them will hold out until the end of the season.

These bulls-eye lesions didn't appear on the cherry tomato leaves.  Maybe because the leaves were too small? Anyway, it was nice to be able to figure what was going on.

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Vegetable Plant Update 02 2010

 

The Lilac Islander peppers are a gorgeous purple right now.  It's a very pretty vegetable plant well suited to a container garden.  In fact, I think it would fit right in in an ornamental garden.  I've had to trash a few peppers due to sunscald, but other than that all the pepper plants are doing well.

The cherry tomato plant looks much better.  After one application of organic fungicide I see very little advancement of whatever fungus has infected the plant.  Just to be on the safe side I'll continue with weekly treatment until the plant stops producing fruit.

The cucumber also looks much better.  Dousing the plant with a strong spray of water has been an effective way to manage the spider mites.  The plant is noticeably greener and perkier.  I was concerned the mites would migrate to the cantaloupe.  They haven't yet, but as a preventative measure I've been dousing those plants as well.

Do you see the cantaloupe melon perched on the terracotta planter?  There's another one sitting in the GrowBox container and one more behind it.  Just 3 melons from one large self-watering container is probably not the most efficient use of that container, but I don't care!  How awesome are rooftop cantaloupes?

 

I can't wait for these to be ready. They're developing that distinctive netting on their skin so hopefully soon.

 

The eggplants are loving it on the rooftop.  I wasn't sure how they would perform in the 12" self watering containers, last year they were in the 16" containers, but they seem to like it, I've had no problems with them so far.

In my previous plant update I mentioned that the tomato plants were growing unevenly, now they're almost the same size.  I've had to pull a couple of tomatoes due to blossom end rot because I let the soil dry out once, but other than that they're doing well.  Whatever fungus is on the cherry tomato plant has not yet infected these guys, hopefully it stays that way.

1 Bag of Fertilizer: $13.05

Running Total: $152.41

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Something's Afoot in the Garden, Aphids & Disease

So I was all set to write about how well all the vegetable plants are doing in the rooftop containers and then we had that ridiculous heatwave.  When the temperature rises above 90 I don't step out on the rooftop until after sunset, so it has been about a week since I've seen the garden in daylight.  I was hoping everything would be the same, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.  My cucumber plant now has spider mites.  Spider mites are super tiny pests that suck the life out of plant leaves.

Injury is caused as they feed, bruising the cells with their small, whiplike mouthparts and ingesting the sap. Damaged areas typically appear marked with many small, light flecks, giving the plant a somewhat speckled appearance. Following severe infestations, leaves become discolored, producing an unthrifty gray or bronze look to the plant. Leaves and needles may ultimately become scorched and drop prematurely.

Dry conditions greatly favor all spider mites, an important reason why they are so important in the more arid areas of the country. They feed more under dry conditions, as the lower humidity allows them to evaporate excess water they excrete. At the same time, most of their natural enemies require more humid conditions and are stressed by arid conditions. Furthermore, plants stressed by drought can produce changes in their chemistry that make them more nutritious to spider mites.

They thrive in hot, dry weather so it's no surprise that they're in the garden.  Many of the cucumber leaves have white spots, some have already completely dried out and turned from yellow to brown.

Spider mites are very small so they're hard to spot with the naked eye, but you can tell they're present if the underside of the leaves look "dusty."

I hosed the entire plant down with a strong stream of water and will continue to do so periodically through the rest of the growing season. I also added a little more fertilizer to my DIY self-watering container 2, hopefully the plant can grow faster than the mites can kill it.  I assume there's some kind of spray I can buy to treat the mites faster, but I've decided to not be too aggressive about treating the problem.  I've realized, after eating several cucumbers off the vine, that I don't like them enough to grow them, so ultimately I'm not that concerned about the fate of this plant.  If it makes it great, if not oh well.

Something is also going on with the cherry tomato plant.  Many of the leaves toward the center of the plant are yellow with brown spots.  I'm hoping it's just a nutrient deficiency and not some fungus.  I've added more fertilizer to my DIY self watering container in case it's the former and ordered some organic fungicide in case it's the latter.  If it is a fungus I'm leaning toward early blight.  Unlike the cucumber plant, I absolutely love homegrown cherry tomatoes, so I'm going to do all that I can to make sure this vegetable plant survives the season.

Serenade® Garden Disease Control Concentrate, 30 oz.: $24.85

Running Total: $139.36

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