Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[jinman]

Well, I watered my garden like it wasn't going to rain and sure 'nuff, it didn't. The good thing is my garden looks great. It's at that stage where every day it looks like the plants grow 2" or more, especially the tomatoes. They are going gonzo. I hate to keep watering, but if the temperature stays mild, I don't mind. When it gets over 100 F, even watering can't save the plants.

Ron, I understand about the hassle of netting, but I've had to trim tomatoes many times to get the cages off of them. My peas may really be a hassle, but I'm hoping to re-use the netting with the tomatoes. With my sugar sweets and sweet 100 types that are more vines than plants, I may actually do something of an arbor supported by t-posts. I'm in full experimental mode.

 

[Bird]

I've had to trim tomatoes many times to get the cages off of them.

Are you talking about getting the cages loose from the plants at the end of the season? As I mentioned, I used cages made from concrete reinforcing mesh and of course the plants grew through the mesh. I found the easiest way for me was to just chop them off with a machete. After one lick with the machete on each side of a cage, I could lift the cage right off.

 

[NativeSon]

Are you talking about getting the cages loose from the plants at the end of the season? As I mentioned, I used cages made from concrete reinforcing mesh and of course the plants grew through the mesh. I found the easiest way for me was to just chop them off with a machete. After one lick with the machete on each side of a cage, I could lift the cage right off.

Bird--I've used the concrete mesh for years for my tomato cages and some of them are over 20 years old. I cover the ground around each plant with hay or straw, to hold in the mosture and eliminate the weeds, and then put the cages over the plants. When it's time to clean up just pull up the cages. Most of the time the plant comes up too, and you can pull it out of the cage from the bottom.

Thur nite we went down to the church in Mineola and they got a real good rain with some pretty strong wind. When we got home the ground was barely wet and virtually nothing in the rain guage. It's getting time for the rain dance.

Charlie

 

[Bird]

I cover the ground around each plant with hay or straw, to hold in the mosture and eliminate the weeds, and then put the cages over the plants. When it's time to clean up just pull up the cages. Most of the time the plant comes up too, and you can pull it out of the cage from the bottom.

I used oat straw since a friend provided me with more than I needed. And I first tried doing as you said, pulling the plants out from the bottom, but I found it much easier if I used the machete first.

 

[txdon]

Opening the pool worked! 2 day total 1.9"

 

[sseelhoff]

Opening the pool worked! 2 day total 1.9"

You shut off my spigot. I want my rain back. .1" since you opened it up. Everything passed us by on the way to your pool.

 

[jinman]

I found the easiest way for me was to just chop them off with a machete. After one lick with the machete on each side of a cage, I could lift the cage right off.

Yep, like you, it's not much trouble to cut the tomato vines to remove cages. I have a pair of short handled loppers that work great for cutting vines sticking out through the cages. Most of the time, mine have grown up out of the cage at the top and bushed out so that the cage won't come off until I trim the tops too. Then it's just a case of pulling my j-stake hold-downs off the bottom of the cages and lift them off. I'm not sure how much more trouble the netting could be, but I'll know after this year. My biggest problem with my field fence cages is that I have to stack/store them outside the garden, and so many cages is a pain to take care of. In my pea-sized brain, cleaning the vines out of the net and just rolling it up for inside storage over the winter is what I'm trying to achieve. We try to do things that are easy for us to manage like our easy deer fencing and flat soaker hoses on extension cord reels as shown below. This method makes them easy to roll out, easy to roll up, and easy to store on a shelf in my barn.



BTW: In case somebody wonders, the big pots still around our tomato plants are there to protect the tender young plants against cutworms and give support in the wind. We just leave the pots in place and trim the stem up about a foot to keep splatter off the leaves and reduce soil borne disease getting on the tomato leaves. I've also found that roots form on the lower stem and I can fill the pots with compost and the stems root into them. I need all the roots possible picking up water when the summer heat arrives.

TxDon: 1.9" of rain is terrific. Just opening your pool did that, huh? Maybe I'll get a sign made that says, "Jim's pool is now open," and put it beside my new ponds. . .er . . . pool. Yep! I have two new pools that are now open. Are you listening Mother Nature?

 

[pacerron]

Yep, like you, it's not much trouble to cut the tomato vines to remove cages. I have a pair of short handled loppers that work great for cutting vines sticking out through the cages. Most of the time, mine have grown up out of the cage at the top and bushed out so that the cage won't come off until I trim the tops too. Then it's just a case of pulling my j-stake hold-downs off the bottom of the cages and lift them off. I'm not sure how much more trouble the netting could be, but I'll know after this year.:

Since everything gets a bit harder each year ( wait till you go over 70 and you'll know what I mean ) it might
be a good idea to test a number of methods this year, on parts of rows, rather than a complete row experiment just once a year.

 

[Western]

Ji, if your "pools" are open, then I may have to get some "floaties" and come stand in line What ever works!!

I have had something clipping the leaves off my snap beans at night, I was thinking possibly cutworms?? Didn't want to use poisons, but went ahead and put a granule around them to stop the damage. Will try to get a photo today, does anyone have an idea what may be doing this? No chewing evident and the cut off leaves are laying there whole??

Don, 1.9" makes you the Central/N Texas winner:thumbsup: must be the good "livin":thumbsup: If we had got half of that, you'd have seen our hats flying clear from Houston:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Since everything gets a bit harder each year ( wait till you go over 70 and you'll know what I mean ) it might
be a good idea to test a number of methods this year, on parts of rows, rather than a complete row experiment just once a year.

Oh no, it's 'go big or go home' around here.:wizard: I suppose that's the Texas spirit coming alive.:us-texas: I'll still use cages on my pepper plants, but the tomatoes are gonna get netted.

 

[texasjohn]

Just less than an inch overall in last couple of days, zero runoff. Still way under for the year.

Txdon, backhoe works, try to get as much root each time as you can. If you have a chisel plow you cache put shanks very close together and kinda grub up each plant/root system.
l

 

[houstonscott]

Rain gauge showed 1.25 in Oglesby. No real run off. Coryell creek is not even running, ground just sucked it up. Sure hope May brings more rain, noticed hoppers are getting going again.

HS

 

[bindian]

About .50 inch rain here over two days. Huntsville got over 5 inches!. The ground sucked it all up here. Everything is green, but the ponds are not anywhere near full.:thumbdown:
hugs, Brandi

 

[txdon]

My neighbor 6 miles to the north heard about my pool strategy and opened up his hot tub and got 5". There seems to be a pattern - the smaller the pool the more rain. How big is that pond Jim?

 

[jinman]

Does opening a Jacuzzi tub count?:confused2:

 

[farmgirl19]

Ji, if your "pools" are open, then I may have to get some "floaties" and come stand in line What ever works!!

I have had something clipping the leaves off my snap beans at night, I was thinking possibly cutworms?? Didn't want to use poisons, but went ahead and put a granule around them to stop the damage. Will try to get a photo today, does anyone have an idea what may be doing this? No chewing evident and the cut off leaves are laying there whole??

Don, 1.9" makes you the Central/N Texas winner:thumbsup: must be the good "livin":thumbsup: If we had got half of that, you'd have seen our hats flying clear from Houston:laughing:

Western; My bet would be cutworms. You can get something with Spinosad, as the active ingredient, and it is safe for critters and all, just not the "bugs". It is considered organic. It will even help keep fire ants at bay, so is another plus. I think green Light makes a RTU formula, that comes in a hose end sprayer, and there are also concentrates available, for using your own hose end sprayer. After losing a couple of plants to the cutworms last year, I began using it, and didn't even have to use it a second time, although I was ready for a second application.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

My neighbor 6 miles to the north heard about my pool strategy and opened up his hot tub and got 5". There seems to be a pattern - the smaller the pool the more rain. How big is that pond Jim?

Don, I watched the radar and the storm did its best to "split" and avoid us here on airport hill. Thankfully it was too big to totally divide and we ended up with about 1.5" or so. All in about 30 minutes.

Just south about 15 miles they got almost 4". North of here got 5". So, here we are in the middle appreciative what we can get..

 

[Western]

Western; My bet would be cutworms. You can get something with Spinosad, as the active ingredient, and it is safe for critters and all, just not the "bugs". It is considered organic. It will even help keep fire ants at bay, so is another plus. I think green Light makes a RTU formula, that comes in a hose end sprayer, and there are also concentrates available, for using your own hose end sprayer. After losing a couple of plants to the cutworms last year, I began using it, and didn't even have to use it a second time, although I was ready for a second application.

I was thinking cutworms too, but since the ones I have dealt with in the past seemed to "cut" the whole plant off at the base, I 'm not real sure on this one. I physically checked each pant yesterday for signs of any bug, white flies ,thrips ect rta, didn't find anything but ladybugs:thumbsup: The leaves are cut off where the stem attaches to the leaf?? I will look for Spinosad Thanks!!

 

[jinman]

I've seen several grasshoppers in my garden and my bean leaves had holes in them until I sprayed with Sevin. This morning while watering, I saw two squash bugs and two cucumber beetles. I gave them the firm 2-finger handshake and sent them off to bug heaven. I've worked too hard to let bugs chomp on my stuff. On the bright side, my blackeyes are popping out of the ground like gangbusters. I'm gonna have an excellent stand this time around and I'm hoping hail doesn't strike twice in the same spot. I don't believe I have anymore freezing weather to worry about. I'll plant okra and my wife's herbs this next week. Her herb garden started in two flats is ready to be set out. I already have a great stand of sweet basil where I scattered seeds a few weeks ago. I'll have plenty of fresh basil to go along with my tomatoes.:licking:

 

[two_bit_score]

About 2 minutes after dropping off a rental car at Austin airport on Friday afternoon the sky turned really dark and I could see some strange cloud formations. By the time I got to 35 and go up on the flyover it was pouring buckets and visibility was nil. One never knows what high winds can do and it was not comfortable inching up that flyover. And I literally mean inching.

Thankfully most people had better sense than to get on the flyover so there was very minimal traffic behind me, as far as I could see any way. My apologies if you happened to be behind me but you didn't need to be driving fast at that time anyway.

.