2021 garden thread

Over the Bars

Well-Known Member
Well it feels like spring today, too bad there's still a foot and a half of snow on the ground! Anybody start their seeds yet? I started 4 trays of 72 pods each so far. I would say more than half have already germinated and I had to move them off the heating pad and under the lights. Lots of varieties of peppers mostly hot ones, tomatos, basil, cilantro, and eggplant so far. I have more grow lights supposedly comming in Tommorow. Have a pretty legit setup this year. With a 4 foot wire metal rack with 6 adjustable shelves. And multiple grow lights under each shelf. Plus one shelf with a 4 foot by 2 foot germination pad. Also trying to reflect some of the unused light back onto the plants by surrounding the sides with mylar emergency blankets. Working pretty well so far. Once I get more trays off the mat going to start getting some other seeds going as well. Going to have to expand the gardens this year to fit it all.
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
Didn't do much the last few years and in fact took out my garden weed beds at the end of the year because I was having ant problems. Might give it a go again this year but will need to get something big proof.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Ordered seeds - leafy stuff, radish, etc that will go in after the snow melts.
will combo order tomatoes with Team @Roadie soon -

What is the trick to eggplant - we end up with them covered in bugs.

Speaking of which, it is almost time to order up a praying mantis egg for the greenhouse. those little bugs don't stand a chance.
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
got my community garden plot a few weeks ago. I plan on changing a few things this year (I say that now). Was just thinking about seeds and getting my act together.
 

Over the Bars

Well-Known Member
Ordered seeds - leafy stuff, radish, etc that will go in after the snow melts.
will combo order tomatoes with Team @Roadie soon -

What is the trick to eggplant - we end up with them covered in bugs.

Speaking of which, it is almost time to order up a praying mantis egg for the greenhouse. those little bugs don't stand a chance.
As far as the eggplant Im betting you are getting aphids. They flock to eggplant leaves by the 100s they are little green bugs and go mostly on. The bottom of the leaves and insert something like a mesquito and suck the life out of them. You can use a few different things to get rid of them diatomaceous earth but it can also can kill pollinators. If you don't mind using pesticides than seven comes in a red bottle of concentrate spray that on the leaves and all the aphids will completely leave them alone and die that's what I use to get rid of them just don't spray it on an flowers or on the actual vegitables. I did my eggplants in a riaswdd bed last year and they did really wellIMG_20200824_185150.jpg
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
As far as the eggplant Im betting you are getting aphids. They flock to eggplant leaves by the 100s they are little green bugs and go mostly on. The bottom of the leaves and insert something like a mesquito and suck the life out of them. You can use a few different things to get rid of them diatomaceous earth but it can also can kill pollinators. If you don't mind using pesticides than seven comes in a red bottle of concentrate spray that on the leaves and all the aphids will completely leave them alone and die that's what I use to get rid of them just don't spray it on an flowers or on the actual vegitables. I did my eggplants in a riaswdd bed last year and they did really wellView attachment 152495

I'll show this one to the spouse - i don't mind spraying a couple times. TY!
 

rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Yes they are peat pellets I have had way better luck using them vs seed starting mix and cardboard carton style ones. Plus they are really easy to transplant
Good to know...mrs Rottin' and i had crap luck with soil and cardboard starter sets last year indoors. Grow lights just came, and will be starting indoor stuff soon. Do the peat pellets come with cups or are they independent ?
 

Over the Bars

Well-Known Member
Good to know...mrs Rottin' and i had crap luck with soil and cardboard starter sets last year indoors. Grow lights just came, and will be starting indoor stuff soon. Do the peat pellets come with cups or are they independent ?
Get the peat pellets with the plastic tray and dome cover they come in trays if 72 and come with some fertilizer and labels.
When your growing from seeds there are so many things you can do wrong to screw everything up and sometimes you can do everything right and still not have good results but that doesn't happen too often. It's all about noticing what's happening that your doing wrong and correct it. Here's some thing's I have learned that will greatly increase your results.
# 1 soak your seeds in a water filled cup for a day before you sow them. This will really shorten the germination time and Increae the sucesss rate that they germinate by softening the seeds up.
#2 plant them at the right depth! Most seeds need very little soil overtop of them but it will tell you on the packet. I just make an indent with a pencil and then scrape the soil back over top
#3 use a heating pad under your trays to get the soil temp up to 75degrees range. Air temp and soil temp are not the same thing. Bottom heat will drastically improve you sucesss and the heating pads really aren't that expensive.
#4 keep the dome on top of you trays until the seedlings pop out then take it off or move your pellets that have sprouted to a different uncovered tray. If you don't they may start to get mold growth and rot out and die.
#5 get the plants right up under the grow lights most are leds now and produce little to no heat so your not going to burn the seedlings. I try to keep them an inch away. This will make it so they don't get weak and leggy
#6 rotate the plants around under the lights if you notice them not growing straight up or see them getting leggy.
#7 don't over water them this is probably the biggest mistake made. And I am guilty of this one often. If you see the leaves getting yellow chances are you are over watering. There is a way to rescue the plants if you notice it early enough by mixing hydrogen peroxide into water and watering them with that. The extra oxegen gets Into the plants and can make them green again in a few days.
#8 if you see they just aren't really making any progress after getting there first set of real leaves or any time during growth they probably aren't getting the nutrients they need. You may notice they are getting purple stems. This can be fixed if caught early with little I'll effects by adding plant food. Just make sure your cutting significantly with water and not using the amount need for full size plants or you will kill them.
#9 you have to get them ready to go outside "hardening them off" you can run a fan on them. Swaying back and forth slightly will force them to thicken their stems to be able take the wind when they get outside. Also you should start Opening the window for a short amounts of time to get them use to the outside temps.
#10 grow lights should not be on 24/7 plants need a dark cycle inorder to grow correctly. Put them on a timer so they are only on between 15 and 18 hrs a day.
#11 this may be the hardest one to do. If you plant multiple seeds in each pod you need to thin them out eventually so they aren't over crowded. You will need to snip the inferior seedlings in each pod at the base with scissors and discard them. Leaving multiple sounds like a great idea an you would think you will produce more because of it but the plants won't grow as big or produce as much if they are over crowded

Just a few things to think about.. there are lots of other ways to mess it up also haha
 
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Over the Bars

Well-Known Member
Got some more lights in the mail finally and everything is coming along nicely most have true leaves just starting to pop out. Very successful germination rates only a few hot peppers that haven't poped up yet and cilantro. already started putting a fan on them on really low for short amounts of time to stimulate strong stems. Im going to be sowing some flowers today as well this is completely new territory for me I've only ever done veggies and let the wife pick out some flats of flowers each year but I figured with all the additional money invested this year to expand my previous seed starting setup I might as well grow some flowers as well. Going to do impatients, salvia, and snap dragons today and sunflowers closer to last frost. PXL_20210304_001021628.jpgPXL_20210304_000816824.jpgPXL_20210304_000802695.jpg
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
Does anyone know where to get cedar lumber? Sure I can call around the lumber yards, but if someone has recently gone through this exercise I'd like to know! I need to build new beds, and I don't want to go with "regular" (pine?) lumber again. My old boxes wound up infested with ants which is why I tore them out.

I picked up some vinyl boxes from Costco but I'm not too excited about using plastic, seems like there's mixed reviews as to whether or not it leaches into the soil. Depot also sells a cedar box kit but its like $80 for a 4x8 bed and it looks like it's shitty. I think I can do better!
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Does anyone know where to get cedar lumber? Sure I can call around the lumber yards, but if someone has recently gone through this exercise I'd like to know! I need to build new beds, and I don't want to go with "regular" (pine?) lumber again. My old boxes wound up infested with ants which is why I tore them out.

I picked up some vinyl boxes from Costco but I'm not too excited about using plastic, seems like there's mixed reviews as to whether or not it leaches into the soil. Depot also sells a cedar box kit but its like $80 for a 4x8 bed and it looks like it's shitty. I think I can do better!

Check Huston - last time i needed cedar decking, i got it there.

 

Over the Bars

Well-Known Member
PXL_20210407_102613072.jpgi already gave a bunch of stuff away trying to figure out what to do with it all now until it's time to plant outside.with all the upgrades I made to my setup and the mistakes I've learned from my success rate was very high and everything grew way faster than normal this year. These are all plenty big enough to put outside already now I need to keep them alive almost another month before they can go outside

PXL_20210402_224221326.jpg
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
View attachment 155312i already gave a bunch of stuff away trying to figure out what to do with it all now until it's time to plant outside.with all the upgrades I made to my setup and the mistakes I've learned from my success rate was very high and everything grew way faster than normal this year. These are all plenty big enough to put outside already now I need to keep them alive almost another month before they can go outside

View attachment 155313
Which county are you located? I'm thinking to move out the zucchinis this weekend and start the greens. You got a great start and managed to stop them from getting too leggy.
 
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