Let's see those '11 gardens!

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Small garden my #@$. That's a dang nice size garden! I am in south-central AL so I feel your pain on watering. What I do is pull back some mulch and feel to see if it is wet or not. I normally water at night or early morning.

I am pulling squash and cucumbers left and right, with tons of tomatoes sitting on the plant green as a leaf. I was hoping to have 'mater sandwiches by now but I am stuck with everything but! Peppers are nice though.

OK, Scott..... I'm in middle Alabama also. The spell of non-growth you went thru was after the tornados??? That'd be my guess. It was due to the cold weather that followed. I went thru same thing here. As to watering, it depends on how deep you water, how you mulch. If you have good mulch to keep in the water, and you water heavy, you can probably go 3-4 days without watering, easy. I do not have mulch, can't find a suitable medium.

Squash, Zucs, tomatoes, melons and the such need lots of water. A good judge, stick your finger into the soil an inch deep. If it is dry, water.

Contrary to Joe's method, do not water at night, if you can help it. Water in the morning is the best plan. Watering late inthe evening and/or night can lead to blossom end rot on many veggies, especially tomatoes, squash and Zucs. Watering tomatoes starting at high noon, in the hot, hot sun is a big cause of tomatoes splitting the skin on the vine. The cold water on the hot skin does it. Tomatoes are susceptible to several issues if they "go to bed" with wet leaves and fruit, so water in the morning, the plant dries before nightfall. A good plan for most of the leafy plants you might be growing.

Good luck, ALL!

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

Contrary to Joe's method, do not water at night, if you can help it. Water in the morning is the best plan. Watering late inthe evening and/or night can lead to blossom end rot on many veggies, especially tomatoes, squash and Zucs. Watering tomatoes starting at high noon, in the hot, hot sun is a big cause of tomatoes splitting the skin on the vine. The cold water on the hot skin does it. Tomatoes are susceptible to several issues if they "go to bed" with wet leaves and fruit, so water in the morning, the plant dries before nightfall. A good plan for most of the leafy plants you might be growing.

Good luck, ALL!

I never knew that was a cause for BER. I had always thought it was from a low concentration of calcium in the fruit.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by wayner123

I never knew that was a cause for BER. I had always thought it was from a low concentration of calcium in the fruit.

It's a good way to get all sorts of fungal infections, too. Take it with a grain of salt, Wayner. We're talking doing this repetatively.
There's nothing wrong, and it's actually great, to do a leaf feeding of Miracle Grow at night. That way the plants will suck the goodness right in when they respirate.
It's a good way to "push" the plants, but only if necessary.

BER is also stress induced. Too little water for long periods, too much water for long periods, wet feet, sunscald, just about any stress you can imagine will do it.

The best way to get it is an eternally wet growing season. It's nothing that spraying with fungicide won't hold off. You have to be proactive, though. Constant rain? You're gonna have fungus. Fungus will be the stressor, then you got BER.
If you spray faithfully, you'll beat the rot. When we had the great blight here a few years ago, everyone pulled their plants. I had the best crop ever.

I ised to use a 1/4 mix of Sevin and Fungicide all year long, only halting a couple weeks before harvest of whatever stuff we were growing. It kept the bugs and problems to near zero.
Mind ya, that might not work everywhere. It's food for thought. Every different zone has their own problems and their own ways of fixing them.