I just wanted to say thank you so much for showing issues and problems in the garden!! It’s sometimes disheartening to see all the good in others gardens and then have bad things happening to my own. Everyone has their struggles, but it’s so great to see someone sharing theirs!
Jess I just watched your chicken way video, and don't think it's silly at all! I was just last night feeling lonely because none of my siblings (I'm only 14) get how I Love and am thrilled with gardening! I said that one of the reasons I love watching you is because I feel like I others get me, and I'm not crazy because I scream when a sunflower opens! You are part of my chicken way!
Joanna wow its so great that you already get a thrill out of gardening! Never quit. Its a joy day in and day out! Keep sharing your joy. You might enjoy a community gardening experience to meet older snd younger gardeners. There is also a master gardener program!
Joanna Mericle , you are a precious person and I’m glad you commented. You found the right group for people to understand how you feel, continue to be yourself!
Gardening is so fun and so crazy. I’m glad you get a thrill out of it all. We all do! It’s kind of like a roller coaster. But honestly the good far out ways the bad. Do your best and pray. God hears and loves us so much. Enjoy the ride. 😍
Joanna if you like watching chicken videos you should watch KyleTheRooster. It is just one of the most joyous & funniest channels I have ever found. Who woulda thunk that I would've got addicted to needing my daily fix of watching JD (Jason) feed & talk to his chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks & geese!😅 It is just so hilarious but oddly relaxing at the same time!
Great great great video....I love how you not only show us the ups of gardening but the downs also with lots of solutions and advice that helps us all through it all. You make facing our challenges much much easier....thanks from all of us....
Thank you. As a new gardener it's so easy to panic! I went on the hornworm hunt with a blacklight flashlight 2 nights ago and caught 3. Going out again tonight. Happy hunting!
Thank you for reminding me that I don't need to get upset or worry when my garden doesn't look pristine any more. The heat and humidity has it us as well here in East TN, but I'm going to try and not stress over what I can't fix or keep up with. Thank you for your dedication to gardening. God Bless.
I spend a couple of months collecting our egg shells, just rinse and allow to dry. Just before tomato transplanting, I throw the shells into the blender and grind to a powder. A couple tablespoons go into each hole.
Thank you for sharing all parts of gardening and not just the good days. I love how you are transparent about your process and encouraging in your videos. You have help me a ton over the last few weeks!
Just a thought that might help with water rot issue. Rotate where you Start to water and add a fan to circulate the flow of moisture to reduce stagnation of droplets. Also 2 or 3 mildly rusty nails in 1 gallon of water, spraying w water bottle around main stalk can help w the green issue and cut Banana peels pieces boost potassium and last thought is take a few of those peppers that are ripe (that the bugs Have Not touched) put in a blender and then put in a fertilizer spray bin that attaches to a hose to spray all over the tomato plants while you are watering to get rid of bugs Naturally. My grandmother with a Green Thumb shared these old hints. Also any salon or barber will give you hair clippings free to put around your greenhouse keeps bigger pests away too. Just offer a few goodies from your garden when harvest is plentiful or something Jared or a basil plant for their home etc... which ever you choose. Happy 4th and God Bless
The beautiful thing about gardening is that it teaches us patients, it teaches us to problem solve, and it teaches us coping skills. Even when you have been gardening for years and years, you are always learning and growing.
You probably know this, Jess, but it's important to wear a mask to protect your lungs when applying diatomaceous earth, especially inside the high tunnel. Good luck! Hope you win the flea beetle battle. Love your chill attitude. Gardening is best when it's fun. :)
I am soooooooo grateful I found you on UA-cam!!!! I've been watching since quarantine. You teach me things in a way I understand and your enthusiasm is so contagious. Your so authentic and I appreciate realness:) Sometimes I watch a video over and over taking notes!! I stress about my garden which is not the reason I do it. Thank you again for that reminder. Blessings from hot & humid TX:)
With tomatoes there is always SOMETHING! Thank you for making me feel better about my growing. I'm sorry you are having these issues. I guess I thought that you would not have any problems in your high tunnel! I researched why my tomatoes were getting blossom end rot early on and I finally decided that it was just too much rain. I did add some balanced organic fertilizer at that point, and with not getting so much rain, it finally stopped. Now some of my blossoms are drying up..oh well. My little yellow cherries are doing wonderful. Been eating those like candy! haha
I just started watching your videos. You've taught me so much about growing tomatoes. I can't wait to see if they change the flavor and yield. I am from the Cleveland Ohio area. There aren't very many people that have ever heard of ground cherries! My boyfriend got them from a co-worker while working in a more rural area (postal worker). I actually bought seeds from Baker Creek! I have turned everyone I know on to them. Almost every friend that has a garden, is now growing ground cherries. Love your videos, sorry about all your troubles. It's been dry as hell here and going to be 90 every day for a week. Oh! I mostly container garden, so I only have 12 to 15 tomato plants, same with peppers, about 5 or 6 different kinds of each, then eggplants, ground cherries, cukes, lettuce, spinach and all my herbs, sooooo many herbs. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!
We have our tomatoes in high tunnels, planted in the ground. We have drip tape on the rows. Must be watered every other day. The blossom end rot you have is from uneven watering. You probably won't get blight in the high tunnel. We have been raising tomatoes in high tunnels since 1988. Currently 3 tunnels with 739 plants. Been harvesting since 2nd week of June. I live in southern MN. We are in a stretch of 90º & 75º humidity.
Very nice, Down here in South GA we have to switch to shade cloth in summer or run the fans and cooling walls even with roll-up sides the plastic has to come off. Would love to chat with you sometime. We bumped it well north of 1k plants this year and would love to hear your solutions for some issues
Thank you! I was at the point today to till the entire garden under because of having so many issues with bugs, fungus, etc. your talking about how you don’t stress if it isn’t perfect really helped me reassess why I’m gardening. I am doing it for fun so I can stop stressing. Again, thank you❤️
Thank you 🙏. You have invested so much of yourself in your gardens and I absolutely love your attitude and perspective - finding peace and enjoyment in what you do and letting go of frustration. . . Thank you for all your goodness🦋
Thank you for doing an in-depth look at the things that can go wrong with tomatoes with your own garden. I've had friends who became discouraged and quit gardening veggies. That is so sad! They compare themselves to someone who has gardened for years!
JESS YOU ARE A WONDER WOMAN AT FUNDRAISING AND TAKING CARE OF FRIENDS...I'M SURE YOU HEARD ABOUT MEG HOLLAR AND HER FAMILY...CAN WE DO SOMETHING TO BLESS THEM???
Loved it! This is what I watch this channel for. Everyone is always going to have some issues along the way and you shedding light on them with showing how to be proactive is what I'm looking for. Thank you!
What a gift you are, to allow your farm to be a teaching tool for all of us. Nothing is learned through pristine & perfect; we learn by the doing & going through things. My garden is about three weeks behind yours due to late planting. For diatomaseous earth - I've only found the granular soil additive. I hope you'll share HOW you treat with it. This time I bless you to find answers and remedies in your usual unstressful way.
(16:20) Yes, almost certainly the heat. If you save the seeds from a couple of your good tomatoes next year's plants may tolerate it better. Pests too.
🎉Very encouraging Jess I'm so glad you're showing us the whole deal that comes with gardening. You're attentive yet laid back attitude is really encouraging. 💖
Just want to say you are so inspiring! Thank you for sharing ! Your optimism and low stress because of your love for gardening when facing challenges with your tomatoes in the high tunnel this season gives others motivation/hope to do the same!
Thank you for showing us examples of damage, telling us what causes each, and telling us what to do before and during growing season. I only have a small container garden, but your advice is very helpful. I appreciate how real and grounded you are. Your wonder of life and gratitude for it is something we have in common. I haven't met too many people like that, so it's great to know they're out there. Good health and happiness to you and yours.
THANK YOU for sharing issues and problems that we all face!! It so helps to show that everyone has issues (hello welcome to gardening) , even our fav UA-camrs :) loves this video - loved your tips and wisdom!!
Jess, Thank you for providing the Cornell Vegetable MD resource links. This will be a wonderful help. Wonderful tips and suggestions for how to trouble shoot and tackle problems. Stay well.
I’ve seen flea beetle damage for the first time in my tomatoes this year, too. Thank you for keeping it real and letting us see that everybody deals with garden problems!
Thank you for sharing Cornell's Site, perfect timing! Thank you for sharing. I do appreciate that you are willing to share the god, bad and ugly. As a beginner, it helps to know and remember that everyone deals with the same issues and this is all just one big experiment.
I have end rot on a few of my tomatoes too! We had a real hot week here in Ottawa and we hand water. We have raised beds and many varieties. Your knowledge and common sense always calms my tomato nerve! Thanks Jess
Thank you! I’m growing a new tomato plant to me, and all the blossoms are drying up, and it is right across from a neighbor’s large tree hedge. A pepper plant that was planted at the same spot last year didnl’t do well at all, like no peppers! My praying for it and talking to it, loving on it, hasn’t helped, so am going to shake the baby! THANK YOU!!
Take into consideration that although the High Tunnel protects from the rain ABOVE, it doesn't protect for the 'flooding' happening UNDERNEATH your raised beds unless your beds are sitting on top of 'concrete'. So maybe inbetween rains trying to 'dry the tunnel out' may help when possible.
tomatoes are definitely sometimes a challenge. This year I'm growing them in our new hoop house because in the PNW rain and tomatoes don't get along. Over the years I've come to terms with the fact that a garden isn't just about the rewards of the food it is also a classroom! And every year the challenges are different but there is no perfect garden! This year I'm having problems with summer squash, GO FIGURE! Too much rain this year ugh! Your garden is awesome and veryyyy beautiful, Jess!
I appreciate your calm approach to dealing with food growing. It's my first year and between trying to grow organically, pests and fungal diseases it's a lot to learn about. It's reassuring to watch you go through each day and point out your achievements, trials and places for growth because I'm quickly learning that changes happen quickly in the garden💗 🌱🍅 Thank you for the Cornell resource!
A few ideas to troubleshoot possible calcium issue. - I believe that in acidic soil calcium is locked up and not plant available. - gypsum adds calcium without changing the soil pH. -Old Alabama Gardener on UA-cam adds liquid calcium to his tomatoes by dissolving eggshells in apple cider vinager and pouring over the root zone. (The vinager is neutralised by the chemical reaction and won't hurt the plant.) Hope that helps! Xx
I’ve had White Flies then Caterpillars & Bottom rote on my Tomatoes this season. Then came the Varmints Possums taking chuncks out of my Tomatoes and Cucumbers. So A Big Thankyou for talking and showing what they are and how to fight back. I’m not giving up taking my Garden back.
Ramibu 2 Neem oil helps. I do neem and add 1 tablespoon per quart of castille soap as well. But one thing you can do in between spraying or instead of spraying is to blast them with a spray nozzle on your hose. That helps a ton with whiteflies and aphids. It kills aphids if the blast is hard enough. It knocks whiteflies off and they perish on the ground. You can do that two or three times a week and keep both of those pests under control.
I'm having a groundhog issue. There's like six of them out there razing me to oblivion. Can't wait for the reaper to ripen. The Habs seem to just add a little spice.
Every time I watch your tomato specific videos I get an incredible urge to go out to my garden. You teach me soooo much! Thanks🥰🍅🤞 Edit....every video you post gives me that feeling but I'm most excited about growing tomatoes
I am going to shake my tomato plants this weekend! We live in a suburb neighborhood with fences, so not much wind in my back yard. Thanks for the tip. Love your family and your channel.
Tomato issues hit North Texas early as well...I hate how pitiful my plants look, almost all have dying leaves and blossoms falling off due to heat. I'm going to get what I can off the plants I have and start another batch in the ground and see how far into Fall/Winter they make it since we have a long growing season.
Wow what an attitude about handling garden issues...You are great! This year I have been hit hard with flea beetles and Tomato Horn Worms Sprayed for the flea beetles and picking off horn worms with the black light (I also use BT), the horn worms hit my horse radish hard this week we had too much rain so I wasn't out in the garden until this afternoon and spotted the damage...time to grab the black light! I'm not getting discouraged, even with the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity Just have to wait for sunset....Keep these videos up!
Over all, this year has given us a really great tomato season in the south. My plants have lasted so much longer than they usually do. I still have about 15 tomato plants and have started my fall round of tomatoes.
Moving from a mild climate for any vegetable to the desert region of the Yakima Valley, WA, I am having blossom end rot issues on my tomatoes from my inability to gage water usage in 2 raised beds and many in pots and a couple wine barrels. It can be 90+ and low 20% humidity and then throw in 15-20mph winds and you have a real challenge. Love your vids!
You are so real and I just love you! I needed this video so much today. My backyard garden is therapy for me. I increased it's size quite a bit this year and my family couldn't wait for me to share from it. I have been plagued with white flies and was about to give up. Thanks for setting me straight and encouraging me to continue figuring things out. Also I won't beat myself up anymore and feeling bad cause there's not enough to share this year. Tomorrow is a new day and maybe I can find a recipe for white fly soup!
Totally agree with you on all counts.....these things will happen....and as much as yes you need to take care of them....one thing I have learned even easier to lessen the blow of loss of plants or produce; whether it be from bugs , animal, weeds or weather is....if you can....just plant more than you need....so when you lose some crop for whatever reason you are still okay! When my kids were little...my gardens were HORRIBLY WEEDY!!! HORRIBLE! But....I still got what I needed....I never tied up one plant....I got what I needed and now that I have more time...I still plant more than I need and love it! :) Thanks Jess!!! Great info!! I enjoyed it!!!
If you think it might be too much water, the tapes/hoses you use are available in different emitter sizes which let you water some things more than other. You might switch to a smaller emitter size. It's pro level stuff having the same time of watering giving different amounts of water to different areas but it's the truth that different things need different amounts of water. The next level after that is just having hoses that you can poke emitters into so that different plants in the same bed can get different amounts of water. That's perfect. To each their need.
Been following you for a while now. Really enjoy your videos. We live in NJ, when ever we go to the shore we bring back some shells, mostly oyster, that we then put in our gardens to add some calcium as they breakdown.
I treat each problem or issue as a learning experience. But that is because I am a new gardener and have a new garden that is less than ideal. Last year I lost all my tomatoes to blight so this year, fingers crossed, that has not been an issue ... yet! High winds and constant rain are my issues just now but that is because I also have health issues that mean I actually can't get into the garden in wet and windy weather. Rain I can deal with to a degree, but the wind is affecting not just me, but also what protections are available. Again, more learning but hey, it's all good. Just not the weather I expected at the moment.
Hi Jess , i just wanted to share with you how I treat my plants with the diatomaceous earth. You mentioned the guy with the Ghostbusters get-up(so funny) and that you needed to find a good way to dust the whole plant, I use an old fashioned flour sifter it holds a good bit and allows you to hold the leaves of your plant back with one hand and gently dust the plant with the other pretty simple. Good luck and God bless those bugs are bad this year!
I put 4 tums for every tomato, pepper and eggplant in my raised bed compost soil. The calcium from tums is immediately available to the plant where lime or bone meal takes several months to become available. I haven't had any problem with blossom end rot since using this method. I garden in central Arkansas as well. Lots of rain this year!!!
Hi Jess. I use a dollar store ketchup/mustard squeeze bottle to dust my plants. It works well. Good luck with those little pests. God bless you. Much love to you.
I see you have tons of comments, so probably wont even see this comment. First I'll say, you are obviously smarter than your average backyard gardener. It's your passion and you have a teaching patient presence about you. I too am an organic gardener, so I appreciate your efforts. I realize different areas have different issues. In hot south Texas our biggest issue in our garden is leaf footed bugs. If you don't get your tomatoes a little early you wont want to eat them. We also get blossom end rot, but we(with our soil) can correct or avoid it with Epsom salt. I water in 2 tablespoons--1/4 cup per plant, either sprinkled and scratched in to the garden soil or dissolved in water and poured around the tomatoes. When we plant the tiny plants we have learned to plant directly on a large handful of organic/natural powdered rock phosphate. You want the roots growing directly through the rock phosphate. It can double your yield. Do not work it into the soil as it can get bound up and be made unavailable to the plants. We also have learned here we have to pick the tomatoes as soon as they start getting a blush. They will complete their ripening in the house, safe from bugs and cloudbursts etc. Also if we remember, I try to spray each plant with a mixture of black strap molasses and liquid seaweed ( approx 2 oz. Of each to about a gallon of water) about once every week or two. This will do many different things for the plants. 1. It toughens the "skin" of the plant and makes it harder for the sucking insects like spider mites, aphids, etc. 2. It causes strong, fast growth in the beginning, and 3. It gives the fruit concentrated flavor. It also can give your plants several degrees farenheit of antifreeze protection for early and late in the garden. The dirt dr, Howard Garret talks about many of these suggestions on his website. Also cornmeal tea/water prevents many fungi for tomatoes and Rose's, squash etc and cinnamon and peroxide for bacterial and fungal infections diseases. Ok, I'll stop🙂
Great job on the video! I've been gardening all my life, but the first time I ever had a bad case of blossom end rot was the first time I experimented with raised beds at my new home in town. I felt devastated! (Hindsight being 2020, I am certain I didn't include enough organic matter in the growing mix to help retain water.) When the rot showed up, most of my tomatoes were good-sized, so after picking them, I researched and found you can cut out the rot and still use the remaining green part. I had more firsts that summer: making green tomato relish and cooking fried green tomatoes. The relish was delish, and I now understand why people love fried green tomatoes. So the rot turned into a win for me! And later in the season, we got ripe tomatoes, too, once I mulched and sprayed with Stop Rot. My plants still get a little rot from time to time, but I do a better job of amending the soil with bone meal and organic matter, plus a more regulated watering schedule. And I keep Stop Rot handy, for a quick fix if one plant has issues.
Jess, when I had blossom end rot issues, I had about a gallon and a half of crushed, dried egg shells that I ran through my blender until they were powdered. I added the powder to the top 1" of soil and watered it in and it made a huge difference. On the DE application, there's a tool that looks like a tube-within-a-tube that you pump and it "puffs" the DE wherever you aim it. I think it was originally developed to apply Sevin, but I used it for DE. Sounds like your beetles have a thing for nightshades!
I love these kind of videos, thank you! Part of the harvest comes in form of lessons. I had blossom end rot coming up last year on all my green tomatoes, added wood ash mixed in water and literally the next day they were all fully healed!
I just recently subscribe to you and I am enjoying every information you're giving out I just started my garden a months like two three love what you Are doing
Yes! This is what I needed to know. Recently had some black spots on the bottom of our tomatoes and this is the video we needed. Thank you! We have a plant with blossom end rot.
I have tomatoes with blossoms that are drying up, too! It's been really hot here (Zone 8b), & you're right, they don't like it!! But this week is going to be in the low 90s with nights of 75, so I just moved them to a shadier position. I'll let you know!!
Agreed.There will always be issues.Expect them and when they present themselves.you have been waiting on them....DE could help with near all the insects including the soft body ones.Excellent Vlog Jess
This is great info. Yes. My tomatoes are done for this season. We have been in three digit hot weather all of July. And I had the end rot on some of my tomatoes too. Thank you so much for all this great information on tomato issues. God bless you. Bertha in TEXAS.
Hi Jess, Thanks for the tip on suckers. I have 3 indeterminates' and 5 determinates' I pulled the sucker off the Cherokee Purple plant and it was a good size to replant and it is doing well, when the sun comes out I grab a paper bag and shade the young plant, it is doing well.I need to clip all the bottom branches. They look yellow and sickly, they are putting out a lot of fruit still no blushing like yours. I'm in southeast Tennessee so I do share the humidity. Did you grow any banana cantaloupes? I watch you every day and love your garden tours! I am so happy for your new kitchen!
I had blossom end rot last year... broke my heart! I put a lot of bone-meal in the soil this year before planting them. And tried the egg trick too. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates.
Great video and glad you shared that it’s not all rainbows and perfect harvest. I look at it as a labor of love. A little time each morning and evening and it helps guide the garden vs control it. Corralling it in the right direction. Waiting to eat our maters soon.
I have a mixture of diatomaceous earth, need powder and powdered yarrow. I’ve sprinkled it around the mulch at the very base of my tomatoes and squash when I planted them and again a few weeks later. Nothing has bothered them yet. It’s a mixture I made to sprinkle in my dogs fir, because we have tick issues and Lyme disease because of it. So far so good
Thanks for your comments regarding blossom end rot. I hadn’t favored pulling the fruit as most of mine are viable for processing, but my thinking has shifted to picking all but the most minor cases as it will benefit the plant. Funny how I pick weak fruit from my cucumbers and Peppers, but wasn’t totally looking at my tomatoes in the same way. I know you have a magnitude more tomato plants that I do, I have around 70, but this year have become a true believer in the toothbrush method for pollinating tomatoes. I have clusters with 36 tomatoes with 100% fruiting which is incredible. I’ve only lost a few fruit this year and all of those died off before fully formed flowers developed. This is my first time trying it and the quantity of fruit on my plants is shocking. I have hundreds of fruit on my 70 or so plants and virtually no empty spaces. It would be almost impossible to use a toothbrush on the quantity of plants you have, but I guarantee that if you do a production test next year between 50 plants with the toothbrush and 50 without, you will get double the volume and weight, or close to it from the toothbrush plants. That translates into many, many more tomatoes in less space and perhaps a cash crop of more peppers or something, but certainly a more efficient use of the beds you have.
Gardening is therapy. The Grow Family Network had a video on squash problems and they use a garlic salt shaker full of DE. Ok, good, you're putting up fans. I've had luck using calcium tabs and epsom salt in the water for blossom end rot in squash, but not with tomatoes. I've found that different varieties of tomatoes have a susceptibility to it and some never get any problems no matter how bad I treat them. Oh, my soil is Nutrient-Free Clay according to the OTC soil test. Remember that moths pollinate your gourds while your pulling caterpillars. When my cousin came to visit I purposefully left a few dead and diseased plants in my garden because she kept referring to it as an immaculate garden and she's just getting into gardening. I did that to show her that gardens have problems and showed her how to deal with some plant problems and taught her how to prune things. I guess I learned that from watching you :) thank you!
I used Gypsum on my tomato plants for BER as a preventative to some and on one..Good to know it could just be a thing that comes and goes...Thanks so much for your kind wise words today...Thank you for the sight I’m battling some black spots and black edges of the leaves and yellowing an d dying back..Will definitely check this site out and save it!! So helpful thanks Jess 🙏🏻🤗🦋
Started my second round of tomatoes about a month ago. I dealt with alot if blossom end rot on my first round, but this is my first year gardening. I container garden and I live in Las Vegas. I think the dry hot weather and knowing that containers dry out faster than the ground, and me wanting to love my plants to death may have caused me to over water a bit. I bought a moisture meter and I think when this round finally goes outside, I am going to try to squash the urge to water every day and really just pay attention to what my plants are telling me
Thanks so much for the helpful references. Also, I've been fighting flea beetles for several years now. This year I started vacuuming them off the leaves with a small dust buster vacuum to get them under control. It's a big pain, but I tried to do it a couple times a day at the beginning of the season when they are really bad and the plants are most susceptible. I have 37 tomato plants this year. I trellis them like you do with the cattle panels, which makes it possible to find most of the bugs to vacuum them when they're still fairly small. (I even got pretty good at turning the vacuum and sticking it through the holes in the cattle panel to get bugs on the other side.) I also spray the stem and around the base of the plant with insecticidal soap and sometimes neem oil (but I couldn't get neem early this year because of Covid). The babies (not sure what to call them) feed on the roots of the plant, so I'm trying to kill them with the spray before they become adults or as they come up the stem to start feeding on the leaves. Next year I'm going to try trap crops also. As soon as my potatoes came up, it seemed like a lot of the bugs went there, and I'd much rather have damage to potato plants than tomato plants. A lot of people recommend radishes for a trap crop. However, there are many varieties of flea beetles that prefer different families of plants, and I'm not sure if the ones that like tomatoes/potatoes will like radishes, but it's sure worth a try. Thanks again for your help. I don't have time to watch many of your videos, but I sure enjoy the ones I do.
Tshirt idea: a shy looking face tomato with rosey cheeks and cursive words "blushing tomato". That's my new favorite term that I learned from you!
I just wanted to say thank you so much for showing issues and problems in the garden!! It’s sometimes disheartening to see all the good in others gardens and then have bad things happening to my own. Everyone has their struggles, but it’s so great to see someone sharing theirs!
Jess I just watched your chicken way video, and don't think it's silly at all! I was just last night feeling lonely because none of my siblings (I'm only 14) get how I Love and am thrilled with gardening! I said that one of the reasons I love watching you is because I feel like I others get me, and I'm not crazy because I scream when a sunflower opens! You are part of my chicken way!
Joanna wow its so great that you already get a thrill out of gardening! Never quit. Its a joy day in and day out! Keep sharing your joy. You might enjoy a community gardening experience to meet older snd younger gardeners. There is also a master gardener program!
I scream too! You are so not alone!
Joanna Mericle , you are a precious person and I’m glad you commented. You found the right group for people to understand how you feel, continue to be yourself!
Gardening is so fun and so crazy. I’m glad you get a thrill out of it all. We all do! It’s kind of like a roller coaster. But honestly the good far out ways the bad. Do your best and pray. God hears and loves us so much. Enjoy the ride. 😍
Joanna if you like watching chicken videos you should watch KyleTheRooster. It is just one of the most joyous & funniest channels I have ever found. Who woulda thunk that I would've got addicted to needing my daily fix of watching JD (Jason) feed & talk to his chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks & geese!😅 It is just so hilarious but oddly relaxing at the same time!
Great great great video....I love how you not only show us the ups of gardening but the downs also with lots of solutions and advice that helps us all through it all. You make facing our challenges much much easier....thanks from all of us....
When you grow a garden.......you find out you are not in control. Mother nature is. You can try, but really you are along for the ride. 🙃🎢
The deer and the weeds are in charge of mine. I two beautiful eggplant blossoms and the deer just chomped them offf.
Thank you for sharing the good the bad the ugly
Thank you. As a new gardener it's so easy to panic! I went on the hornworm hunt with a blacklight flashlight 2 nights ago and caught 3. Going out again tonight. Happy hunting!
Jess I got a black light flashlight. What are the tiny things that look like one burning ember? One little tiny red ember looking thing??
@@racheljames7323 hi, I see the florescent orange and florescent green on my tomatoes and thought they were both hornworms. I mush both types!
Thank you for reminding me that I don't need to get upset or worry when my garden doesn't look pristine any more. The heat and humidity has it us as well here in East TN, but I'm going to try and not stress over what I can't fix or keep up with. Thank you for your dedication to gardening. God Bless.
I spend a couple of months collecting our egg shells, just rinse and allow to dry. Just before tomato transplanting, I throw the shells into the blender and grind to a powder. A couple tablespoons go into each hole.
eggshells (and calcium carbonate) will only decompose in acidic soil, just be aware.
Thank you for sharing all parts of gardening and not just the good days. I love how you are transparent about your process and encouraging in your videos. You have help me a ton over the last few weeks!
I use a bucket for the DE and a feather duster and I load the duster pretty heavy then just swish it all over trying to avoid the flowers.
Good luck
Thank you! I learn so much more from these sorts of videos, rather than looking at pristine plants! Thank you for sharing the downs and ups with us 😊
Just a thought that might help with water rot issue. Rotate where you Start to water and add a fan to circulate the flow of moisture to reduce stagnation of droplets. Also 2 or 3 mildly rusty nails in 1 gallon of water, spraying w water bottle around main stalk can help w the green issue and cut Banana peels pieces boost potassium and last thought is take a few of those peppers that are ripe (that the bugs Have Not touched) put in a blender and then put in a fertilizer spray bin that attaches to a hose to spray all over the tomato plants while you are watering to get rid of bugs Naturally. My grandmother with a Green Thumb shared these old hints. Also any salon or barber will give you hair clippings free to put around your greenhouse keeps bigger pests away too. Just offer a few goodies from your garden when harvest is plentiful or something Jared or a basil plant for their home etc... which ever you choose.
Happy 4th and God Bless
The beautiful thing about gardening is that it teaches us patients, it teaches us to problem solve, and it teaches us coping skills. Even when you have been gardening for years and years, you are always learning and growing.
Patients are what Dr.’s have. Patience is a virtue and what we strive for. Don’t trust autocorrect it will fail you. ♥️
You probably know this, Jess, but it's important to wear a mask to protect your lungs when applying diatomaceous earth, especially inside the high tunnel. Good luck! Hope you win the flea beetle battle. Love your chill attitude. Gardening is best when it's fun. :)
I'm so intrigued how you stay aware of all the concerns of beginning gardeners.
I am soooooooo grateful I found you on UA-cam!!!! I've been watching since quarantine. You teach me things in a way I understand and your enthusiasm is so contagious.
Your so authentic and I appreciate realness:)
Sometimes I watch a video over and over taking notes!!
I stress about my garden which is not the reason I do it. Thank you again for that reminder.
Blessings from hot & humid TX:)
With tomatoes there is always SOMETHING! Thank you for making me feel better about my growing. I'm sorry you are having these issues. I guess I thought that you would not have any problems in your high tunnel! I researched why my tomatoes were getting blossom end rot early on and I finally decided that it was just too much rain. I did add some balanced organic fertilizer at that point, and with not getting so much rain, it finally stopped. Now some of my blossoms are drying up..oh well. My little yellow cherries are doing wonderful. Been eating those like candy! haha
I just started watching your videos. You've taught me so much about growing tomatoes. I can't wait to see if they change the flavor and yield. I am from the Cleveland Ohio area. There aren't very many people that have ever heard of ground cherries! My boyfriend got them from a co-worker while working in a more rural area (postal worker). I actually bought seeds from Baker Creek! I have turned everyone I know on to them. Almost every friend that has a garden, is now growing ground cherries. Love your videos, sorry about all your troubles. It's been dry as hell here and going to be 90 every day for a week. Oh! I mostly container garden, so I only have 12 to 15 tomato plants, same with peppers, about 5 or 6 different kinds of each, then eggplants, ground cherries, cukes, lettuce, spinach and all my herbs, sooooo many herbs. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!
We have our tomatoes in high tunnels, planted in the ground. We have drip tape on the rows. Must be watered every other day. The blossom end rot you have is from uneven watering. You probably won't get blight in the high tunnel. We have been raising tomatoes in high tunnels since 1988. Currently 3 tunnels with 739 plants. Been harvesting since 2nd week of June. I live in southern MN. We are in a stretch of 90º & 75º humidity.
Bernard Kleinschmidt Thats a lot of plants sir. What do you do with all your harvest? Do you have a big family? Sell at farmers market?
Very nice, Down here in South GA we have to switch to shade cloth in summer or run the fans and cooling walls even with roll-up sides the plastic has to come off. Would love to chat with you sometime. We bumped it well north of 1k plants this year and would love to hear your solutions for some issues
Thank you! I was at the point today to till the entire garden under because of having so many issues with bugs, fungus, etc. your talking about how you don’t stress if it isn’t perfect really helped me reassess why I’m gardening. I am doing it for fun so I can stop stressing. Again, thank you❤️
Thank you 🙏. You have invested so much of yourself in your gardens and I absolutely love your attitude and perspective - finding peace and enjoyment in what you do and letting go of frustration. . . Thank you for all your goodness🦋
Thank you for doing an in-depth look at the things that can go wrong with tomatoes with your own garden. I've had friends who became discouraged and quit gardening veggies. That is so sad! They compare themselves to someone who has gardened for years!
JESS YOU ARE A WONDER WOMAN AT FUNDRAISING AND TAKING CARE OF FRIENDS...I'M SURE YOU HEARD ABOUT MEG HOLLAR AND HER FAMILY...CAN WE DO SOMETHING TO BLESS THEM???
Loved it! This is what I watch this channel for. Everyone is always going to have some issues along the way and you shedding light on them with showing how to be proactive is what I'm looking for. Thank you!
Hi Jess, today is my 25th birthday and it is the day that I sowed my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, it's always a great winter day for me 💕
Lu Ferrari happy birthday!
@@tiffanyx8577 aw thank you💕
Happy Birthday! My birthday as well!
Best wishes have a great day!🎂🎂
@@jenniferhenderson4674 best wishes for u too! Have a great day!🎂🎂
What a gift you are, to allow your farm to be a teaching tool for all of us. Nothing is learned through pristine & perfect; we learn by the doing & going through things. My garden is about three weeks behind yours due to late planting. For diatomaseous earth - I've only found the granular soil additive. I hope you'll share HOW you treat with it. This time I bless you to find answers and remedies in your usual unstressful way.
(16:20) Yes, almost certainly the heat. If you save the seeds from a couple of your good tomatoes next year's plants may tolerate it better. Pests too.
Helpful. Thanks. Learned a lot. This is like visiting with a good neighbor!
🎉Very encouraging Jess I'm so glad you're showing us the whole deal that comes with gardening. You're attentive yet laid back attitude is really encouraging. 💖
Just want to say you are so inspiring! Thank you for sharing ! Your optimism and low stress because of your love for gardening when facing challenges with your tomatoes in the high tunnel this season gives others motivation/hope to do the same!
Thank you for being so authentic. You are fabulous!!
Thank you for showing us examples of damage, telling us what causes each, and telling us what to do before and during growing season. I only have a small container garden, but your advice is very helpful. I appreciate how real and grounded you are. Your wonder of life and gratitude for it is something we have in common. I haven't met too many people like that, so it's great to know they're out there. Good health and happiness to you and yours.
THANK YOU for sharing issues and problems that we all face!! It so helps to show that everyone has issues (hello welcome to gardening) , even our fav UA-camrs :) loves this video - loved your tips and wisdom!!
Jess, Thank you for providing the Cornell Vegetable MD resource links. This will be a wonderful help. Wonderful tips and suggestions for how to trouble shoot and tackle problems. Stay well.
I’ve seen flea beetle damage for the first time in my tomatoes this year, too. Thank you for keeping it real and letting us see that everybody deals with garden problems!
IMHO, this is one of your best videos. Thank you, Jess. 💖
Thank you for sharing Cornell's Site, perfect timing! Thank you for sharing. I do appreciate that you are willing to share the god, bad and ugly. As a beginner, it helps to know and remember that everyone deals with the same issues and this is all just one big experiment.
I have end rot on a few of my tomatoes too! We had a real hot week here in Ottawa and we hand water. We have raised beds and many varieties. Your knowledge and common sense always calms my tomato nerve! Thanks Jess
Thank you! I’m growing a new tomato plant to me, and all the blossoms are drying up, and it is right across from a neighbor’s large tree hedge. A pepper plant that was planted at the same spot last year didnl’t do well at all, like no peppers! My praying for it and talking to it, loving on it, hasn’t helped, so am going to shake the baby! THANK YOU!!
Take into consideration that although the High Tunnel protects from the rain ABOVE, it doesn't protect for the 'flooding' happening UNDERNEATH your raised beds unless your beds are sitting on top of 'concrete'. So maybe inbetween rains trying to 'dry the tunnel out' may help when possible.
I used a hand-held flour sifter to dust my plants with diatomaceous earth and powdered sulfur on a couple of occasion. Good luck!!
tomatoes are definitely sometimes a challenge. This year I'm growing them in our new hoop house because in the PNW rain and tomatoes don't get along. Over the years I've come to terms with the fact that a garden isn't just about the rewards of the food it is also a classroom! And every year the challenges are different but there is no perfect garden! This year I'm having problems with summer squash, GO FIGURE! Too much rain this year ugh! Your garden is awesome and veryyyy beautiful, Jess!
I love how realistic you are! I also garden for an escape, and therapy. I try to not take things too seriously and roll with it. 💚🌱🍅
You are one smart cookie!! I am learning so MUCH from you, your gardening and your beautiful ❤️..... Blessings to you and yours 😇
I appreciate your calm approach to dealing with food growing. It's my first year and between trying to grow organically, pests and fungal diseases it's a lot to learn about. It's reassuring to watch you go through each day and point out your achievements, trials and places for growth because I'm quickly learning that changes happen quickly in the garden💗 🌱🍅 Thank you for the Cornell resource!
Such a good attitude Jess! Deal with what you can deal with, hand the rest to the Lord!
You are such a joy to watch. I love the advice you give and your energy. Thank you!
A few ideas to troubleshoot possible calcium issue.
- I believe that in acidic soil calcium is locked up and not plant available.
- gypsum adds calcium without changing the soil pH.
-Old Alabama Gardener on UA-cam adds liquid calcium to his tomatoes by dissolving eggshells in apple cider vinager and pouring over the root zone. (The vinager is neutralised by the chemical reaction and won't hurt the plant.)
Hope that helps! Xx
I’ve had White Flies then Caterpillars & Bottom rote on my Tomatoes this season. Then came the Varmints Possums taking chuncks out of my Tomatoes and Cucumbers. So A Big Thankyou for talking and showing what they are and how to fight back. I’m not giving up taking my Garden back.
Loretta whatley how did you deal with your white flies. I believe we have some. Neem oil?
Yes! I am having a huge issue w/ them this year. Any advice would be good to know!!!
Ramibu 2 Neem oil helps. I do neem and add 1 tablespoon per quart of castille soap as well. But one thing you can do in between spraying or instead of spraying is to blast them with a spray nozzle on your hose. That helps a ton with whiteflies and aphids. It kills aphids if the blast is hard enough. It knocks whiteflies off and they perish on the ground. You can do that two or three times a week and keep both of those pests under control.
I'm having a groundhog issue. There's like six of them out there razing me to oblivion. Can't wait for the reaper to ripen. The Habs seem to just add a little spice.
Rick Silsby I used Neem Oil Spray. It took lots of spraying.
Thank you for the calm, common sense advice. I find the more I garden, the more I take things in my stride and there is always next year :-D.
Every time I watch your tomato specific videos I get an incredible urge to go out to my garden. You teach me soooo much! Thanks🥰🍅🤞
Edit....every video you post gives me that feeling but I'm most excited about growing tomatoes
I am going to shake my tomato plants this weekend! We live in a suburb neighborhood with fences, so not much wind in my back yard. Thanks for the tip. Love your family and your channel.
I love you! You Are So real and I appreciate that a lot!
Your videos are full of great information and have helped me bunches...so thank you!
can you show when you put diatomaceous earth on the plants? would love to see that process
Tomato issues hit North Texas early as well...I hate how pitiful my plants look, almost all have dying leaves and blossoms falling off due to heat. I'm going to get what I can off the plants I have and start another batch in the ground and see how far into Fall/Winter they make it since we have a long growing season.
Wow what an attitude about handling garden issues...You are great! This year I have been hit hard with flea beetles and Tomato Horn Worms Sprayed for the flea beetles and picking off horn worms with the black light (I also use BT), the horn worms hit my horse radish hard this week we had too much rain so I wasn't out in the garden until this afternoon and spotted the damage...time to grab the black light! I'm not getting discouraged, even with the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity Just have to wait for sunset....Keep these videos up!
Thank You for sharing such Great information and Advise! God Bless and Peace Be With You All
Over all, this year has given us a really great tomato season in the south. My plants have lasted so much longer than they usually do. I still have about 15 tomato plants and have started my fall round of tomatoes.
I hope you enjoy the boots... You'll be getting them by July 9th... I just watched the replay of your live... Thank you for all of your input...
You are so kind!
Moving from a mild climate for any vegetable to the desert region of the Yakima Valley, WA, I am having blossom end rot issues on my tomatoes from my inability to gage water usage in 2 raised beds and many in pots and a couple wine barrels. It can be 90+ and low 20% humidity and then throw in 15-20mph winds and you have a real challenge. Love your vids!
I used Gary's lime slurry for my tomatoes this year and it definitely stopped my blossom end rot. Try it!
What is Gary’s line slurry???
I've used it too.😊
Do you have a link or recipe for that?
You are so real and I just love you! I needed this video so much today. My backyard garden is therapy for me. I increased it's size quite a bit this year and my family couldn't wait for me to share from it. I have been plagued with white flies and was about to give up. Thanks for setting me straight and encouraging me to continue figuring things out. Also I won't beat myself up anymore and feeling bad cause there's not enough to share this year. Tomorrow is a new day and maybe I can find a recipe for white fly soup!
Totally agree with you on all counts.....these things will happen....and as much as yes you need to take care of them....one thing I have learned even easier to lessen the blow of loss of plants or produce; whether it be from bugs , animal, weeds or weather is....if you can....just plant more than you need....so when you lose some crop for whatever reason you are still okay! When my kids were little...my gardens were HORRIBLY WEEDY!!! HORRIBLE! But....I still got what I needed....I never tied up one plant....I got what I needed and now that I have more time...I still plant more than I need and love it! :) Thanks Jess!!! Great info!! I enjoyed it!!!
If you think it might be too much water, the tapes/hoses you use are available in different emitter sizes which let you water some things more than other. You might switch to a smaller emitter size. It's pro level stuff having the same time of watering giving different amounts of water to different areas but it's the truth that different things need different amounts of water. The next level after that is just having hoses that you can poke emitters into so that different plants in the same bed can get different amounts of water. That's perfect. To each their need.
Been following you for a while now. Really enjoy your videos. We live in NJ, when ever we go to the shore we bring back some shells, mostly oyster, that we then put in our gardens to add some calcium as they breakdown.
I treat each problem or issue as a learning experience. But that is because I am a new gardener and have a new garden that is less than ideal. Last year I lost all my tomatoes to blight so this year, fingers crossed, that has not been an issue ... yet! High winds and constant rain are my issues just now but that is because I also have health issues that mean I actually can't get into the garden in wet and windy weather. Rain I can deal with to a degree, but the wind is affecting not just me, but also what protections are available. Again, more learning but hey, it's all good. Just not the weather I expected at the moment.
Good to know others have the "usual" tomato plant issues like me 😫 Living in a humid climate is tough for gardening
Hi Jess , i just wanted to share with you how I treat my plants with the diatomaceous earth. You mentioned the guy with the Ghostbusters get-up(so funny) and that you needed to find a good way to dust the whole plant, I use an old fashioned flour sifter it holds a good bit and allows you to hold the leaves of your plant back with one hand and gently dust the plant with the other pretty simple. Good luck and God bless those bugs are bad this year!
Thanks for sharing that you too have issues with your plants!
I put 4 tums for every tomato, pepper and eggplant in my raised bed compost soil. The calcium from tums is immediately available to the plant where lime or bone meal takes several months to become available. I haven't had any problem with blossom end rot since using this method. I garden in central Arkansas as well. Lots of rain this year!!!
Hi Jess. I use a dollar store ketchup/mustard squeeze bottle to dust my plants. It works well. Good luck with those little pests. God bless you. Much love to you.
Thank you Jess! My half my tomatoes look amazing the the other half just look sad and diseased! This helps put things in perspective!
I see you have tons of comments, so probably wont even see this comment. First I'll say, you are obviously smarter than your average backyard gardener. It's your passion and you have a teaching patient presence about you. I too am an organic gardener, so I appreciate your efforts. I realize different areas have different issues. In hot south Texas our biggest issue in our garden is leaf footed bugs. If you don't get your tomatoes a little early you wont want to eat them. We also get blossom end rot, but we(with our soil) can correct or avoid it with Epsom salt. I water in 2 tablespoons--1/4 cup per plant, either sprinkled and scratched in to the garden soil or dissolved in water and poured around the tomatoes. When we plant the tiny plants we have learned to plant directly on a large handful of organic/natural powdered rock phosphate. You want the roots growing directly through the rock phosphate. It can double your yield. Do not work it into the soil as it can get bound up and be made unavailable to the plants. We also have learned here we have to pick the tomatoes as soon as they start getting a blush. They will complete their ripening in the house, safe from bugs and cloudbursts etc.
Also if we remember, I try to spray each plant with a mixture of black strap molasses and liquid seaweed ( approx 2 oz. Of each to about a gallon of water) about once every week or two. This will do many different things for the plants. 1. It toughens the "skin" of the plant and makes it harder for the sucking insects like spider mites, aphids, etc. 2. It causes strong, fast growth in the beginning, and 3. It gives the fruit concentrated flavor. It also can give your plants several degrees farenheit of antifreeze protection for early and late in the garden. The dirt dr, Howard Garret talks about many of these suggestions on his website. Also cornmeal tea/water prevents many fungi for tomatoes and Rose's, squash etc and cinnamon and peroxide for bacterial and fungal infections diseases. Ok, I'll stop🙂
Great job on the video!
I've been gardening all my life, but the first time I ever had a bad case of blossom end rot was the first time I experimented with raised beds at my new home in town. I felt devastated!
(Hindsight being 2020, I am certain I didn't include enough organic matter in the growing mix to help retain water.) When the rot showed up, most of my tomatoes were good-sized, so after picking them, I researched and found you can cut out the rot and still use the remaining green part.
I had more firsts that summer: making green tomato relish and cooking fried green tomatoes. The relish was delish, and I now understand why people love fried green tomatoes. So the rot turned into a win for me! And later in the season, we got ripe tomatoes, too, once I mulched and sprayed with Stop Rot.
My plants still get a little rot from time to time, but I do a better job of amending the soil with bone meal and organic matter, plus a more regulated watering schedule. And I keep Stop Rot handy, for a quick fix if one plant has issues.
My blossoms have been dropping the last 2-3 days with the weather being so hot though I do see some baby tomatoes. 👏
Jess, when I had blossom end rot issues, I had about a gallon and a half of crushed, dried egg shells that I ran through my blender until they were powdered. I added the powder to the top 1" of soil and watered it in and it made a huge difference. On the DE application, there's a tool that looks like a tube-within-a-tube that you pump and it "puffs" the DE wherever you aim it. I think it was originally developed to apply Sevin, but I used it for DE. Sounds like your beetles have a thing for nightshades!
I love these kind of videos, thank you! Part of the harvest comes in form of lessons. I had blossom end rot coming up last year on all my green tomatoes, added wood ash mixed in water and literally the next day they were all fully healed!
I just recently subscribe to you and I am enjoying every information you're giving out I just started my garden a months like two three love what you Are doing
Yes! This is what I needed to know. Recently had some black spots on the bottom of our tomatoes and this is the video we needed. Thank you! We have a plant with blossom end rot.
Super helpful! Thanks for sharing the good, the bad, and the beautiful tomatoes! ❤️🌱🍅
I have tomatoes with blossoms that are drying up, too! It's been really hot here (Zone 8b), & you're right, they don't like it!! But this week is going to be in the low 90s with nights of 75, so I just moved them to a shadier position. I'll let you know!!
Agreed.There will always be issues.Expect them and when they present themselves.you have been waiting on them....DE could help with near all the insects including the soft body ones.Excellent Vlog Jess
This is great info. Yes. My tomatoes are done for this season. We have been in three digit hot weather all of July. And I had the end rot on some of my tomatoes too. Thank you so much for all this great information on tomato issues. God bless you. Bertha in TEXAS.
Hi Jess, Thanks for the tip on suckers. I have 3 indeterminates' and 5 determinates' I pulled the sucker off the Cherokee Purple plant and it was a good size to replant and it is doing well, when the sun comes out I grab a paper bag and shade the young plant, it is doing well.I need to clip all the bottom branches. They look yellow and sickly, they are putting out a lot of fruit still no blushing like yours. I'm in southeast Tennessee so I do share the humidity. Did you grow any banana cantaloupes? I watch you every day and love your garden tours! I am so happy for your new kitchen!
I had blossom end rot last year... broke my heart! I put a lot of bone-meal in the soil this year before planting them. And tried the egg trick too. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates.
I think you are right with the industrial fans. It will help move the air and humidity.
Thanks for always sharing your knowledge! It is so appreciated!
I use Blossom Set spray on all my flowers on the tomatoes, peppers and any squash plants. Have had great success.
Hi Jess! For your bugs problem, you might use the peppermint spray that recommended Gary at the rusted garden... it might really help you! 😉
You are right. It’s all part of the process. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Great video and glad you shared that it’s not all rainbows and perfect harvest. I look at it as a labor of love. A little time each morning and evening and it helps guide the garden vs control it. Corralling it in the right direction. Waiting to eat our maters soon.
I have a mixture of diatomaceous earth, need powder and powdered yarrow. I’ve sprinkled it around the mulch at the very base of my tomatoes and squash when I planted them and again a few weeks later. Nothing has bothered them yet. It’s a mixture I made to sprinkle in my dogs fir, because we have tick issues and Lyme disease because of it. So far so good
Thanks for your comments regarding blossom end rot. I hadn’t favored pulling the fruit as most of mine are viable for processing, but my thinking has shifted to picking all but the most minor cases as it will benefit the plant. Funny how I pick weak fruit from my cucumbers and
Peppers, but wasn’t totally looking at my tomatoes in the same way.
I know you have a magnitude more tomato plants that I do, I have around 70, but this year have become a true believer in the toothbrush method for pollinating tomatoes. I have clusters with 36 tomatoes with 100% fruiting which is incredible. I’ve only lost a few fruit this year and all of those died off before fully formed flowers developed. This is my first time trying it and the quantity of fruit on my plants is shocking. I have hundreds of fruit on my 70 or so plants and virtually no empty spaces. It would be almost impossible to use a toothbrush on the quantity of plants you have, but I guarantee that if you do a production test next year between 50 plants with the toothbrush and 50 without, you will get double the volume and weight, or close to it from the toothbrush plants. That translates into many, many more tomatoes in less space and perhaps a cash crop of more peppers or something, but certainly a more efficient use of the beds you have.
Gardening is therapy. The Grow Family Network had a video on squash problems and they use a garlic salt shaker full of DE. Ok, good, you're putting up fans. I've had luck using calcium tabs and epsom salt in the water for blossom end rot in squash, but not with tomatoes. I've found that different varieties of tomatoes have a susceptibility to it and some never get any problems no matter how bad I treat them. Oh, my soil is Nutrient-Free Clay according to the OTC soil test. Remember that moths pollinate your gourds while your pulling caterpillars. When my cousin came to visit I purposefully left a few dead and diseased plants in my garden because she kept referring to it as an immaculate garden and she's just getting into gardening. I did that to show her that gardens have problems and showed her how to deal with some plant problems and taught her how to prune things. I guess I learned that from watching you :) thank you!
I used Gypsum on my tomato plants for BER as a preventative to some and on one..Good to know it could just be a thing that comes and goes...Thanks so much for your kind wise words today...Thank you for the sight I’m battling some black spots and black edges of the leaves and yellowing an d dying back..Will definitely check this site out and save it!! So helpful thanks Jess 🙏🏻🤗🦋
This is such a reassuring video. Went out and picked off the ones with blossom end rot. Thanks.
Started my second round of tomatoes about a month ago. I dealt with alot if blossom end rot on my first round, but this is my first year gardening. I container garden and I live in Las Vegas. I think the dry hot weather and knowing that containers dry out faster than the ground, and me wanting to love my plants to death may have caused me to over water a bit. I bought a moisture meter and I think when this round finally goes outside, I am going to try to squash the urge to water every day and really just pay attention to what my plants are telling me
Thanks so much for the helpful references. Also, I've been fighting flea beetles for several years now. This year I started vacuuming them off the leaves with a small dust buster vacuum to get them under control. It's a big pain, but I tried to do it a couple times a day at the beginning of the season when they are really bad and the plants are most susceptible. I have 37 tomato plants this year. I trellis them like you do with the cattle panels, which makes it possible to find most of the bugs to vacuum them when they're still fairly small. (I even got pretty good at turning the vacuum and sticking it through the holes in the cattle panel to get bugs on the other side.) I also spray the stem and around the base of the plant with insecticidal soap and sometimes neem oil (but I couldn't get neem early this year because of Covid). The babies (not sure what to call them) feed on the roots of the plant, so I'm trying to kill them with the spray before they become adults or as they come up the stem to start feeding on the leaves. Next year I'm going to try trap crops also. As soon as my potatoes came up, it seemed like a lot of the bugs went there, and I'd much rather have damage to potato plants than tomato plants. A lot of people recommend radishes for a trap crop. However, there are many varieties of flea beetles that prefer different families of plants, and I'm not sure if the ones that like tomatoes/potatoes will like radishes, but it's sure worth a try. Thanks again for your help. I don't have time to watch many of your videos, but I sure enjoy the ones I do.
This was a wonderful video! I loved that you walked us through and showed us examples. Thank you