Hello and dress your lettuce

Hi all.  I'm new to the forum and old to gardening.  After decades of gardening I've moved to a location where I can grow eggplant.  Was looking for tips and found this site.  Very well organized and easy to use, also like forum rules.  I just finished a B.T. in Plant Science and would love to help answer questions, and I'll be asking them too. 

Here's a tip I discovered in desperation:  Last month we had a sustained period of high humidity, fog, drizzle and rain, and  noticed my lettuce 'melting'.  I id'd botrytis and possibly sclerotinia, (both rapidly spreading fungus,) and was really tempted to nuke everything with fungicide, (just a freak-out knee jerk reaction, I never use nasties).  Instead I made a weak apple cider vinegar solution, 2 tsps vin. to 1 c. water, in a spray bottle and sprayed the affected plants as well as any growing nearby.  I figured it'd either help or not.  The weather stayed wet for a few more days, but I didn't see any spread of the pathogens, and the sprayed plants weren't damaged by the vinegar.  Anyone else try something like this?  If I see early or god-forbid late blight on the tomatoes I'll try it again.

Stay Cool,

Welcome to the SFG Forum. What does B.T. stand for?

Welcome to the Forum.   

We are always interested in others' experience and information.  I stumbled across this site and was hooked.  I'm a new SFG with no experience, and I have learned so, so much.

Are you going to try square foot gardening?  Have you bought the All New Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholamew?  

Thank you for the welcome!  I've been feeling sort of invisible.  B.T. stands for Bachelors of Technology, I'm not sure why my degree isn't Bach. of Science, and my academic advisor wasn't sure either, but I think it has to do with the fact that the curriculum is totally hands-on plus classroom instead of just lectures and sterile research.  (State University of New York at Cobleskill, NY.)  Awsome program, So glad I did it!

No, I don't have Mel's book, but I remember when Rodale's OG was pushing it, and FEDCO offers the recent edition, I almost got it, but my limited budget didn't allow for it.  I do, however, understand what he's going for, and it's so simple to do and easy to understand for first time gardeners and 'old-timers' like me.

I like to solve problems; I've recently moved from a place where I was on top of a mountain in the Catskills to a low, hot valley with different plants, bugs, and diseases, and this is a challenge for growing and very interesting. 

Sorry for the length of this, I obviously don't get out much!  Ha Ha, BT also stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, aka Milky spore that folks use for Japanese Beetle control.............OK, plant humor.

Hi Mary, This forum promotes gardening based on Mel Bartholomew's All New Square Foot Gardening book, released in 2006 and a second edition was released in 2013. To get our gist, at the home page, on the left, is the hover tab. The threads there are the fundamentals. The stickies found in sub forums are also fundamental.

Go ahead and pick up a copy of the book, it's worth the read.

Again, welcome to the SFG Forum.

hortMcoop12 wrote:(snip)

Ha Ha, BT also stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, aka Milky spore that folks use for Japanese Beetle control.............OK, plant humor.

LOL!  That's immediately what I thought when I read your original post but then did a   when I read "...in plant science".

Anyway, welcome to the forum!  There's lots of very helpful folks on here and I'm sure with your background you'll have lots to contribute also.  That tip on using cider vinegar sounds useful.  If you go on the New England sub-forum we've been discussing various homemade remedies for fungal diseases.  Check that out when you have a chance.

OH, I forgot to add: I'm also growing eggplant for the first time, but the two plants I have (one 'Baby' eggplant and one 'Early Korean Long') are actually in pots, not in my SFG.  My zone is probably alot like yours and I can't tell you how many times earlier this spring & summer I put those pots inside because the temps outside were going to dip below what the eggplants would have been happy with. How are you doing with yours?