Is this anything?

Hey friends. I'm VERY new at this, and I need some help. I just watered my little store-bought seedlings, and this is what I saw on the outside of one of my tomato plants:



And while I'm at it, what have I done to this poor broccoli plant?



Thanks in advance!
Tracy

Why did you choose cardboard to line your box? I was thinking of doing newspaper but I'm wondering what the advantages of cardboard are. Please let me know, my boxes will be going up this week. :o)

Peat has a tendency to mold/mildew/form fungus. For the most part it is harmless. So long as my plant looked healthy I wouldn't worry about it.

The yellowing on your broccoli could be over watering or it could be a mineral deficiency. I'd probably start by adjusting my watering. Let the surface soil dry out a little between waterings, but don't let it get to dry. These days I find myself watering my plants every couple days.

If that doesn't help it out, I might consider giving the plant a weak fertilizer.

krazikandiland wrote:Why did you choose cardboard to line your box? I was thinking of doing newspaper but I'm wondering what the advantages of cardboard are. Please let me know, my boxes will be going up this week. :o)

Do you mean my little plastic bin I have pictured here, or my garden box outside? Because neither one has cardboard. And honestly, I don't have the foggiest when it comes to cardboard vs. newspaper. Maybe someone else out there can answer your query.

jazzymaddy wrote:

krazikandiland wrote:Why did you choose cardboard to line your box? I was thinking of doing newspaper but I'm wondering what the advantages of cardboard are. Please let me know, my boxes will be going up this week. :o)

Do you mean my little plastic bin I have pictured here, or my garden box outside? Because neither one has cardboard. And honestly, I don't have the foggiest when it comes to cardboard vs. newspaper. Maybe someone else out there can answer your query.

This is really weird, I posted to a totally different entry under "Show me yours" that was a link to a blog.... Now I can't find that post and my reply showed up here. Strange. I hadn't even read this post yet.... oh well, ignore my original "response" because now it's just making me look crazy. Lol.

Oh good. Crazy loves company, so thanks for joining me.

Thank you for your help dizzy. I'll keep you updated.

jazzymaddy wrote:Hey friends. I'm VERY new at this, and I need some help. I just watered my little store-bought seedlings, and this is what I saw on the outside of one of my tomato plants:



And while I'm at it, what have I done to this poor broccoli plant?



Thanks in advance!
Tracy

Howdy Tracy:

The leaf yellowing does look like to much water, however, once you put the plant in your Mel's Mix it should be just fine. If you are more than a week away from planting into your garden bed you might want to consider transplanting it into a larger pot using Mel's Mix as your potting soil. Remember to harden off your plants by placing them in the sun for an hour the first day and increase the time by one or more hours each day until planting. You don't say where you are or your weather so we don't know how long it will be before you can plant outdoors in full sun.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Jazzy,

I concur that things look fine. The peat just perhaps got too soggy. I will only add that the Broccoli looks like it is has perhaps outgrown the transplant containers, used up the available nutrients in the small space and is simply sacrificing the lower leaves as a survival mechanism. Totally normal behavior to support the newest growth of the plant, the oldest and hence lowest leaves get sacrificed first. Can't see from the pic but if this is only on the lower leaves though.

I'd get them in ASAP before they get too rootbound and especially as we're going to get real warm real quick here Jazzy (my few mile neighbor!) and Broccoli no likey that!!! I hate to say this but you might not get big heads this spring from them going in this late but learn the growth cycle and deffo try again in the fall. They do great in the fall from a warm headstart and then mature later in the cooler weather to form big heads !!!

Thanks a mill, staf. I think you may have nailed it. I've been wanting to plant the broccoli so badly, but it's been so windy lately, I haven't dared mix my stuff yet. By this weekend though. Even little brox will make this brood happy. It's even the baby's. favorite.

Thanks once again for your help neighbor!

Oh incidentally, would a little shade cover help it out any?

Yes, shade will help but the trade off is losing some photosynthesis / growth speed and you are against the clock little for hot weather. Heavy mulch and watering will help keep the root base cool and hopefully keep it from bolting as long as you can but you can only do that for so long until it inevitably bolts. You just want the plant to be big and sturdy enough before it does that otherwise your brocco heads will be small and weak.

Hey, small heads big heads ....don't matter. Growing is half the fun

Jazzy,

This might help give you an idea of how Broccoli grows. The leaves get real big and the stem thickens.



Then, the growth pattern changes and you begin to notice that the leaves coming up and out from the middle start to get smaller but real dense and start growing around each other. One day you carefully peel back those leaves and a little bud is visible hiding. This is what you see here in the middle of the above pic.



From this point here (above) and about the size of the bigger ones, you still have about another 6 weeks to go until harvest. Here is a pic from last fall about two weeks out from harvest. This is the hardest time to resist the urge to pick but try. They get bigger !!!



Then....voila. Worth the wait. Store bought cannot compare. Even the stems are real juicy, fresh and tasty. Not woody and usually discarded.



Hope this helps anyone

Hey Jazz, your broccoli are straining in those wee pots they are in. Is your garden bed ready, if it is they can come out of the pots and go in the ground. Go ahead and strip off the yellowing lower leaves, they are no longer useful to the plant. Congrats on starting your gardening adventure!