Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Barb_FL]

Kay - So glad to hear from you. How are you doing? Any tomato / pepper plants /herbs this year?

The cold January really affected my pepper plants. My Amethyst is coming back strong now. The others, Yellow Monster are taking longer.

This week is really hot (high up to mid 80s by Thursday) and then cooler weather on the horizon.

[ginger2778]

Kay, how are you? So good to see you posting.

[ginger2778]

Barb, that RA is off to a great start, bet you are going to find the fruit delicious. I see you are getting into hybrids more now. Folks just love Momotaro.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Barb, that RA is off to a great start, bet you are going to find the fruit delicious. I see you are getting into hybrids more now. Folks just love Momotaro.

Mostly b/c we were gone all of September and had a later start and less plants.
It will change next year with yours.

I'm totally hooked on the SunX cherries. SunGold is my least favorite. The SunPeach is the easiest thing to clone. On the limbs with flowers that breaks, it even produces tomatoes as it is making roots.

BTW - the one thing I am going to test with my new plants is adding Neem Seed Meal to the mix. Hopefully, the plants will become soft bugged resistant. I never have fungus gnats. I'm putting out new yellow sticky cards and they are full fast. The cold weather was wonderful for less bugs.

[kayrobbins]

Thanks for asking. I am doing much better. I actually have enough hair to finally had to get a haircut after a year without. I have been exercising regularly during the colder months to build up my energy level and am back to gardening.

We have had 15 days this month in the 80s which is not normal. I planted my tomatoes and peppers last week. I have never done them quiet this early and will either move or cover them if we do happen to get a freeze.

I have never hear of Neem Seed meal. Where did you find it? It sounds promising.

[Barb_FL]

Anyone else seeing beetles munching on their tomatoes? Particularly the ripe red and brown cherries. I haven't seen any on the yellow cherries.

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Thanks for asking. I am doing much better. I actually have enough hair to finally had to get a haircut after a year without. I have been exercising regularly during the colder months to build up my energy level and am back to gardening.

We have had 15 days this month in the 80s which is not normal. I planted my tomatoes and peppers last week. I have never done them quiet this early and will either move or cover them if we do happen to get a freeze.

I have never hear of Neem Seed meal. Where did you find it? It sounds promising.

This is it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...A30EMMM6TS4YCT

I still waiting on it from Amazon but had my DH pick it up at a hydro store today (slightly cheaper too <$16) because I want to get my plants in their final destination. I have an earthbox that is growing lettuce so I will do that one first. We've been to the well often so I don't feel bad uprooting it.

Consistency of coffee grounds; I put 2 TBLS in several of my very mature plants and watered from top. That is how I add dry fertilizer once plant is established. dry fertz such as Plant-tone, Tomato-Tone, or Tomato Maker.

It mixed fairly well in water; not 100% water-soluble. IT STINKS - a combo of Neem Oil and Coffee (I don't drink coffee),

For the new transplants, I will follow directions and mix thoroughly in the soil.

I also started a 'tea' form for spraying on the plants. Directions on the box.

---
It has been so dry and over the last month, upon inspection of various leaves, I have those Russet Mite Larvae or something else close. I haven't found any adult TRM but early on saw lots of larvae moving.

So rather than spray everything with Neem Oil - I don't want to spray the entire garden with a 1-2 gallon hand held sprayer.

Here's the part where you may think I'm nuts.

I hook my hose up to this:http://https://www.amazon.com/gp/pro...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



filled with soluble kelp (already very strong liquid).

Then at dusk, I've been blasting my plants. I know I can't get every nook and cranny but thinking repeated use should get them.

I started with fewer plants mainly the dwarfs which had the most insect larvae. I really blasted them hard the first night thinking that they would be pulled anyway.

Then on subsequent nights, I added more and more plants until I am doing all in the backyard (not the 5 on my porch or the 3 in the driveway). The entire thing takes 20 minutes. The container solution is strong, but it dilutes at 1 oz per Gallon. At first I was doing 2 oz per gallons, but backed off the last 2 nights.

I still see larvae but rarely do I see one moving. On the dwarfs, I haven't seen anything move since day 2. I've done this for 4 consecutive nights.

I would like to do this with neem and the hose. Hopefully, I can figure something out using the neem seed oil. I know the tea won't been strong enough .

[DocBrock]

Is it unreasonable to expect having a container garden in southwest Florida that has zero aphids on the plants? So far my tomatoes are untouched, but my peppers all have a few aphids. My plants all look great, the young ones are growing steadily and the mature plants are producing like crazy. It's driving me nuts though, every little leaf at the growing tips has a couple aphids hiding in them. I've sprayed everything a few times with Safer End-All (combo rtu spray with pyrethrin, insecticidal soap, and neem oil) and the amount of aphids greatly decreases, but I keep anticipating seeing zero. I've even sat out there in the evening a few times and hand squished every aphid from every leaf of every plant before spraying them down thoroughly and moving them into the garage for the night. There always seems to be a couple more the following day. Not sure what to do or whether a few aphids isn't really a problem. I don't use any chemical fertilizers, everything is super low dose liquid nutrients added when I water. One is Dr. Earth Home Grown liquid biweekly, and then I'll use Fox Farm Big Bloom and General Hydroponics Cal-Mag monthly on my plants that are blossoming. Any help will be greatly appreciated before I turn into Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

[Barb_FL]

I don't have any aphids on my tomato or pepper plants; all grown in earth boxes or root pouches. I use the Seabright yellow sticky cards on every plant. (Brand is very important as others are death traps to good things like lizards)

I think a healthy mature plant should be able to resist aphids.

Since early 2017 season (drought) I do get the Tomato Russet Mites (only seen larvae and moving larvae this year, none of the ugly adults. I am struggling with that with my latest test adding neem meal to the mix and top dressing the mature plants in root pouches with the neem meal. No adverse side effects.

You might want to get a little scope to see if there is anything you are missing.
I use this one; it is good/cheap:https://www.amazon.com/Carson-MicroBrite-60x-120x-Microscope-MM-300/dp/B00LAX52IQ/ref=sr_1_2?
ie=UTF8&qid=1520555740&sr=8-2&keywords=magnifying+scope

When I'm at the end of the lifespan of cucumber plants, I get tons of aphid eggs. I pull the plant b/c it isn't worth the hassle treating it.

[DocBrock]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I don't have any aphids on my tomato or pepper plants; all grown in earth boxes or root pouches. I use the Seabright yellow sticky cards on every plant. (Brand is very important as others are death traps to good things like lizards)

I think a healthy mature plant should be able to resist aphids.

Since early 2017 season (drought) I do get the Tomato Russet Mites (only seen larvae and moving larvae this year, none of the ugly adults. I am struggling with that with my latest test adding neem meal to the mix and top dressing the mature plants in root pouches with the neem meal. No adverse side effects.

You might want to get a little scope to see if there is anything you are missing.
I use this one; it is good/cheap:https://www.amazon.com/Carson-MicroBrite-60x-120x-Microscope-MM-300/dp/B00LAX52IQ/ref=sr_1_2?
ie=UTF8&qid=1520555740&sr=8-2&keywords=magnifying+scope

When I'm at the end of the lifespan of cucumber plants, I get tons of aphid eggs. I pull the plant b/c it isn't worth the hassle treating it.

What do the yellow sticky cards do? I saw them at Ace but thought they were for houseflies. I just sprayed all the plants again and noticed something that looked like spider web around the base of the stem on a bell pepper that wasn't there earlier today. I'm assuming that's from mites. Also, under a watermelon seedling leaf there was a tiny black caterpillar with red/orange on it. I picked it off and lost it before I could take a pic. I'm going to have to look up what that was. I was doing so well being big free until today hahah. I wish I was on this forum when I decided to start gardening in December. Everything is potted in miracle gro natures care organic and natural potting mix. I blame all my problems on it. I've had major drainage issues, fungus gnats galore, and now probably mites. My other choice was standard MG mix, so it's all I had at the time. A few weeks back I dug everything up, laid out the mix to dry on giant garbage bags, amended it with tons of perlite and put the plants back in. It was a lot of work and that stuff isn't cheap. Next year I'll know better and either mix my own or get something like pro-mix. I'm just thankful my plants are growing well.

[Barb_FL]

The sticky cards attract a lot of the bad bugs like leaf miners, whiteflies, and aphids.

Hopefully, Marsha will chime in. She is an expert in all things tomato.

Since I've been using the sticky cards, I rarely see any leaf miner squiggly lines and when I do it is b/c the card is so full or not near the leaves. I also haven't had any white fly issues.

Here is the only good brand to use outside in Florida. (The others are heartbreaking).
https://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Sticky...w+sticky+traps

The potting mix is very expensive where I live; Miracle Grow is about $14-15 so for $42 I can go pro-mix and get the same # of plants.

[efisakov]

It can be soil you purchased. Many times bags with soil sit under the rain (in stores) and aphids lay eggs in it. Once they infect the soil, they reproduce quite quickly (as fast as 6 days). You need to treat soil. Start with letting it dry so the larvae dies. The other things you used will kill adult aphids, but not larvae. Plant garlic in these pots. Peroxide diluted with water kills larvae, but it is to expensive to use on multiple pots.
Wish you luck with it.

[DocBrock]

How do I use the peroxide? On the soil or as a spray on the leaves? Also at what dilution?

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by DocBrock

Is it unreasonable to expect having a container garden in southwest Florida that has zero aphids on the plants? So far my tomatoes are untouched, but my peppers all have a few aphids. My plants all look great, the young ones are growing steadily and the mature plants are producing like crazy. It's driving me nuts though, every little leaf at the growing tips has a couple aphids hiding in them. I've sprayed everything a few times with Safer End-All (combo rtu spray with pyrethrin, insecticidal soap, and neem oil) and the amount of aphids greatly decreases, but I keep anticipating seeing zero. I've even sat out there in the evening a few times and hand squished every aphid from every leaf of every plant before spraying them down thoroughly and moving them into the garage for the night. There always seems to be a couple more the following day. Not sure what to do or whether a few aphids isn't really a problem. I don't use any chemical fertilizers, everything is super low dose liquid nutrients added when I water. One is Dr. Earth Home Grown liquid biweekly, and then I'll use Fox Farm Big Bloom and General Hydroponics Cal-Mag monthly on my plants that are blossoming. Any help will be greatly appreciated before I turn into Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

You can simply hose off aphids with a blast of water, but they will be back because they multiply very quickly. Aphids are easily killed with plain old soapy water, and you can spray that as often as you want. I would use a simple spray like Ivory liquid or dr. Bronner's, not a detergent, so don't use your liquid dish soap. That's only because I'm trying to keep it more organic for you because the liquid dish soap will for sure work to kill the aphids. If you keep it up every day for about a week you won't have anymore aphid issues on your peppers. They really like basil too. I've never seen anything on any of my tomato plants down here we just don't have that variety of aphids. Is this your first year in Florida?

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by DocBrock

What do the yellow sticky cards do? I saw them at Ace but thought they were for houseflies. I just sprayed all the plants again and noticed something that looked like spider web around the base of the stem on a bell pepper that wasn't there earlier today. I'm assuming that's from mites. Also, under a watermelon seedling leaf there was a tiny black caterpillar with red/orange on it. I picked it off and lost it before I could take a pic. I'm going to have to look up what that was. I was doing so well being big free until today hahah. I wish I was on this forum when I decided to start gardening in December. Everything is potted in miracle gro natures care organic and natural potting mix. I blame all my problems on it. I've had major drainage issues, fungus gnats galore, and now probably mites. My other choice was standard MG mix, so it's all I had at the time. A few weeks back I dug everything up, laid out the mix to dry on giant garbage bags, amended it with tons of perlite and put the plants back in. It was a lot of work and that stuff isn't cheap. Next year I'll know better and either mix my own or get something like pro-mix. I'm just thankful my plants are growing well.

Most of us here hate Miracle-Gro anything and a lot of us have had issues with fungus gnats from it. Fungus gnat problems are easily cured by using a few granules of g n a t r o l which I buy through Amazon or Ebay. It's granules of BT and it kills fungus gnat larvae so they never establish. I strongly recommend finding a buying source for Pro mix BX. Absolutely excellent first-rate and I've never ever had a problem with it after years and years of use. You can find out who sells it from the company's website. If you have to get something from Home Depot then get the Lambert's brand, is also pretty good it just doesn't have as much perlite as I like.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

It can be soil you purchased. Many times bags with soil sit under the rain (in stores) and aphids lay eggs in it. Once they infect the soil, they reproduce quite quickly (as fast as 6 days). You need to treat soil. Start with letting it dry so the larvae dies. The other things you used will kill adult aphids, but not larvae. Plant garlic in these pots. Peroxide diluted with water kills larvae, but it is to expensive to use on multiple pots.
Wish you luck with it.

I buy Gnatrol granules and put just a pinch mixed into my potting mix. It's BT colony forming units so you don't need much because they multiply to form a colony once wet. BT kills the fungus gnat larvae, mosquitos too. Perfectly natural.I get it on eBay or Amazon, 8 oz lasts a whole season.