Central Florida SFGers - when do you start fall planting?

Hi Erika,

I planted Wisconsin SMR58 pickling cucumbers on 8/13. Aside from the stinkbugs they have been the easiest thing to grow so far. It's been 7 weeks.

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I do remove dead leaves, and there seems to be a bit of wilt at the bottom, but other than that its going good. I keep it up on the trellis, there seems to be more yucky stuff happening at the bottom if it is too crowded and wet. No problem with blossoms falling off. Lots of baby cukes.

If we on this forum could live off tomatoes, cucumbers, and potatoes we would be all be just fine

uugh, I should not have mentioned my current lack of pests. That was yesterday. Today they are back.

Really having to baby the pumpkins along. They keep dropping the blossoms, and some of the the leaves are wilting and browning. Today I inspected closely and found, what I believe are cabbage worms (?) eating the leaves. I was cutting the old browned leaves away and there they were.

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On this leaf I counted 7 worms.

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I do like the sfg'ing method since there was room enough around the box that I was able to get in there and cut off each bad leaf and kill the worms.

Been keeping an eye peeled for borer poop. They killed one vine already. The good news is that I do have 3 baby pumpkins in the vine of the newest growth.

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I guess I need to go get some BT.

Sorry about the worms. But, what beautiful cucumbers! I hope mine do half as good. (Just planted the seeds Friday.) And, too funny about the ninja cucumbers. That's quite a few to have totally missed.

I was checking the tomatoes today (something going on with my Homestead ) and noticed one of the leaves on my Mortgage Lifter looked really big, and the yellow flower looked way too big and the wrong shape......it was a volunteer cucumber! It's made its way halfway up the cattle panel and I never noticed it and I check the tomatoes every day! Funny thing is that cucumber vine never did anything last spring when I planted it. I'm going to leave it and see what happens.

Now my corn silk is turning red too. I hope this is normal?

Some of mine is... some of mine isn't.

I read that corn stalks/ears/silks turn purple when the plant is stressed. Then I read the variety I planted is great for the Northerners with cold winters. Awesome. I'm baffled at how I missed that.

I also read that silks will turn brown as they shrivel once they are no longer needed to pass the pollen along into the ear.

This is my first year growing corn, so I really don't know what normal is for these things. My corn is start to purple near the edges where the leaves leave the stalk, if that makes sense.... I'm pretty sure mine are stressed by the heat, but they seem to be making ears.

Anybody here ever grow Lablab beans?

Hi all~

I am considering getting a large piece of tulle to cover my veggie plants to protect against the bugs. Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions for our southern situation?

Tulle worked in NC this summer.

Kay

Donna~

How is the BT working for you? It did wonders for my squash plants, but I have to apply it every several days due to the rain.

Mary Kay

I don't know what to think about the BT. After 3 days I still have worms on my cukes. I saturated them with the BT too. I will reapply today since we had 2 1/2 inches of rain yesterday, and will see what happens this weekend.

Donna~
I feel your frustration about the constant rain and pests. In fact I'm contemplating the purchase of a very large sheet of tulle to cover the whole raised bed and my bags too. Found a 108" tulle for $1.68 per yard on line. Only down side is I would have to manually pollinate the squash & cucs. But at least they would have a fighting chance!

I have decided for the spring crop to plant raddishes and garlic and onions in and amongst my regular veggies to help ward off some pests. And maybe marigolds too.

Kay~ Thanks for the input. I appreciate knowing it works. I think I will give it a try.

Hi Donna~

How's your worm situation? I lost three baby cucs to the vine boarers so I have placed knee hi pantihose over them to see of it helps. Will look funny as more fruits start, but I'm hoping the boaring worms won't like the pantihose stuff.

Donna, what brand BT did you use? I have always used Thuricide from Southern AG and had great success, but I bought a different brand (don't remember the name) at our feed store and have had zero luck with it. I don't know if we just have an especially bad infestation this year or if the new brand wasn't as good. I just bought another container of the Southern AG BT and am hoping to spray tomorrow and see what happens. I've had to resort to my second line of defense: paying my kids a nickel for every worm they find ($1 for hornworms)! My broccoli leaves look like lace they have so many holes in them.

I think I finally figured out how to get pictures on the forum. yay!


My caged in veggie garden. It keeps the area cats out of the box.

Potato bags.........the nice one is red skin potatoes, the other is white skinned potatoes and I won't get any from that bag, I'm sure. Planted together and treated the same.

Watermelon, cantelope and eggplant (I got confused)

Tomato from seeds from the local farmers market. I figured if they grew for him, they should grow for me too.

Squash on the left planted in August and attacked by SVB - lost over half. Planted some on the right to make up for the loss.


My sad little green beans. Transplanted start that didn't make it. Had to start over, won't be ready for Thanksgiving, I'm sure!

And finally my brussel sprouts. I read they would not grow in Fla, but you know, I had to try..........


So, I'm not exactly square foot gardening, but kind of. I know I have so much to learn.

Binfordmj - I enjoyed your pictures! What did you use for your "cage" on the rectangular bed? I have some critters I'd like to keep out of my beds, too.

Hi ksbmom

That thing has come in handy in so many ways! It was given to me by an old friend years ago and I just held onto it. It is like shelves that you can build into what ever configuration you want. Basically it is square wire parts that are held together with these little plastic things. Great for organizing a closet or garage. After the day I put the raised garden bed in and a cat found it and treated it like his own grand catbox, I got mad and realized those shelve things would be perfect for a cage and I wouldn't have to buy anything. I don't have a clue as to where to get them any more.

Found this on the internet, it's the same thing.

binfordmj wrote:...I don't have a clue as to where to get them any more...

I remember buying these from Ikea years ago. No idea if they still sell them there as there isn't an Ikea anywhere near me now.

FreyaFL wrote:

binfordmj wrote:...I don't have a clue as to where to get them any more...

I remember buying these from Ikea years ago. No idea if they still sell them there as there isn't an Ikea anywhere near me now.

Target has them:
http://www.target.com/p/set-of-4-storage-cubes-black-14/-/A-10474035#prodSlot=medium_2_44

Bed, Bath & Beyond also has them:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=16719773&RN=1009&

We use these several places in the house. I think we even have a box of them in storage from when our daughter was in college (they are great very portable bookcases). You just gave me an idea to make open bottom cubes to protect seedlings from getting munched by birds.

Lindacol, thanks for finding them! I might need to get more. I also have my sweet potatoes growing in them - 2 squares wide, one deep and one high, lined with landscape fabric. Got that sitting ontop of 2 large milk crates. Looks kind of rigged, but it keeps them off the ground and it works great. My first harvest of sweet potatoes was amazing! Great drainage too!

binfordmj....even if the b sprouts don't grow, the leaves are edible.

I've been lurking in your area ever since I found out my son and his family plan to move to the Fla Panhandle area in summer 2014, bringing me with them. Its very interesting and something I'll have to get my head around, gardening in opposite seasons. Being a northern gardener, they'll be lots to learn when I put in my new SFG. It amazes me that winters bring such great gardens. I love the photos, especially. I'll keep visiting and trying to absorb as much southern gardening knowledge as I can.

Donna, what brand BT did you use? I have always used Thuricide from Southern AG and had great success, but I bought a different brand (don't remember the name) at our feed store and have had zero luck with it. I don't know if we just have an especially bad infestation this year or if the new brand wasn't as good. I just bought another container of the Southern AG BT and am hoping to spray tomorrow and see what happens. I've had to resort to my second line of defense: paying my kids a nickel for every worm they find ($1 for hornworms)! My broccoli leaves look like lace they have so many holes in them.

Hey Sue,

Been gone a while so haven't been posting. To answer your question, I am using the BT from Southern Ag. I didn't think I had much luck with it, but we had some unexpected family stuff and the garden got neglected for about a month, so I didn't do more than 3 or 4 sprayings before that. I sprayed yesterday since there were worms in the summer squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes. I'm going to watch it closely, I don't want to lose this crop of squash since I lost the first one which I think I planted too early. I'm having an issue with a fungus on the pumpkin and squash leaves. I managed to only get 1 pumpkin, I think planting in Aug/Sept was way too soon.

So here are the results of my August planting:

I just pulled up all the cucumbers that were planted the end of Aug. I managed to fight the stink bugs, fungus, and worms and from 7 squares put up 18 qt. jars of pickles. I would guess I lost about 50% of that crop to heat and worms, hoping to do better this time around.

The corn got about medium sized, all had worms in spite of being sprayed with BT, but we did get some to eat.

All the greenbeans, limas, and cowpeas did great, although some heat stress. They have been harvested and replanted already.

The best and easiest thing we grew/growing is okra. Holy smokes its fried okra a couple times a week. Going to have to start okra pickles or something. Those plants are still producing, I have 4 plants from the Aug planting, and two smaller ones planted later.

The eggplant are just now starting to flower, but the plants are very small. Next year I'll wait to plant that later. Carrots, garlic, onions, and potatoes are doing great but slow, haven't harvested any yet. The Yukon golds from publix that sprouted are the best. Some in pots, some in the ground. Both are good although the ones in the container in MM seem to be a bit bigger. The ones in the ground right in the sand are not far behind though. No luck with spinach, but the lettuce and collard have done good. No worm problem with the lettuce but they like the collards. Back to spraying them.

The tomatoes from seed planted in Aug just limped along and finally started growing. The Better Boy and Roma from Home Depot have really taken off and full of little tomatoes, covered them in Bt yesterday since there were a few worm victims.

Won't plant watermelon or cantaloupe early again either. Grew fruit then succumbed to heat, replanting those now. Have one vine with several melons but it looks kind of sad.

My strawberry tower is growing good. The plugs from HD last month are finally growing, was slow to start. Just brought back 3 strawberry bowls from Tennessee last week and separated the plugs and they are bright and perky with some little berries. I think they are confused they are not in Tennessee anymore.

So I'm anxious to hear how everyone else did/is doing, since a lot of us planted at the same time. Somebody please tell me the BT is going to work this time

donna

Welcome back Donna~

I'v been worried about you since you haven't been around. Sorry to hear about your pest issues, but it sounds like your garden is doing rather well just the same.

Would love to see more pics of your garden.

Donna, do you have any bats around your place?

We've always had pickleworms in the late season, but in the last two years they have exploded.

My theory is that we lost the bat patrol. I haven't seen any bats in a couple years. Now when I go into the garden with a flashlight, the pickleworms moths are there by the dozens.

What do you think?