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Showing 781 - 810 of 13845 comments
Parsnip 05 Feb, Carolyn (Australia - temperate climate)
I know parsnip seed should be fresh and have successfully grown parsnip from my own seed . I have let some parsnip go to seed for bees and seed this year but next to them is the fennel which also went to seed . Does anyone know if they cross pollinate? I don't want to waste space if this is so.
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Parsnip 07 Feb, John Mauger (Australia - temperate climate)
fennel is in the Apiacea family. parsnip is from the Pastinaca family. There isn't any evidence that they can cross pollinate even though they are Umbelliferous plants. (flowers in umbels, like an umbrella). Trust this helps.
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Parsnip 23 Feb, Carolyn Dixen (Australia - temperate climate)
Thankyou, I will try my seed and hope the parsnips don't taste like fennel.
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Lettuce 25 Jan, (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, when you say lettuce needs sunlight, does that have to be direct sunlight or can it be under a patio shelter that has a clear plastic roof? My veggie patch is in full sun, a very hot spot and they always bolt quickly, so I would like to try them out of direct sun, but in a bright area and easy access for keeping on top of the watering. Do you think this would still work? Thanks.
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Lettuce 09 Jan, John Doe (Australia - arid climate)
Yes, lettuce can grow well in indirect sunlight under a patio shelter. Ensure the area is bright and evenly watered.
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Lettuce 28 Feb, Rob (Australia - temperate climate)
Get some short garden stakes and peg some thick shade cloth to them. On really hot days, this saved ALL of my lettuce and only cost a few dollars.
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Lettuce 04 Feb, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
Most clear plastic is considered direct sunlight - unless there are special filters in the plastic. That is to say, if the only thing between your lettuce and the sun is regular clear plastic, you should be fine. As and FYI there are multiple categories: 1. Direct sunlight - some plants require direct sunlight on their leaves 2. BRIGHT shade; for example when I lived in a Condo, my balcony had no direct sunlight, but because the buildings beside my building had huge glass windows I had VERY bright shade and could grow most full sun potted plants. This also applies to living near the water, where the sun gets reflected-- MOST full sun plants are fine with REFLECTED light but not all. This could also be a a very sunny field, with shade cast from one building, chances are good that would be very bright shade 3. Sun/Shade with all its variations 4. Light shade and 5. Deep shade like the middle of a dense forest. I see no reason why you could not grow SOME of your veggies in the bright shade. I find that many plants labelled full sun, are not. For example: strawberries are generally labelled full sun. However, strawberries TEND to grow naturally in the shade of other plants: woodland or forest floor, in meadows shaded by other plants. I've noticed that any of my strawberries that get full sun tend to have burnt leaves, and the best yielding strawberry plants are in a cool predominately shady areas. I suspect that planting your plants that tend to bolt in a cooler shadier area would be very helpful. I've even grown cherry tomatoes in very bright shade with great success.
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Lettuce 28 Jan, Anonymous of Bundaberg (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Without sunlight plants become thin weak and spindly. There are varieties to grow in summer and others to grow in Autumn Winter. I generally don't grow things from end of Nov to end of Feb because of the heat and summer conditions - heavy rain and wind.
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Lettuce 04 Feb, Smithy (Australia - tropical climate)
Lettuce struggles in heat. Finding the balance is not easy but all plants need sun
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Lettuce 02 Feb, John Mauger (Australia - temperate climate)
Lettuce grows best in cooler conditions. Varieties of lettuce that are grown in the summer (Great Lakes, etc) tend to be coarser textured and not quite as sweet as varieties grown in cooler weather. Because they are a leaf vegetable and not a 'fruit' vegetable they will tolerate less light. Morning sun up until late morning would be fine. Too much shade will make them weak and spindly. Trust this helps.
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Lettuce 04 Feb, Smithy (Australia - tropical climate)
Shadecloth covers assist in growing. Keep up the water.
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Ginger 24 Jan, Mssashi Ura (Australia - tropical climate)
I just discovered lots of curl grubs in ginger roots when I replanted them because they are not going well. Is there any method to prevent curl grubs? Neem oil works but is not suitable for edible plants.
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Ginger 03 May, Jody Essenhigh (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Neem can definitely be used on edibles and is widely used in organic farming. You can get eco neem as well.
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Ginger 04 Feb, Smithy (Australia - tropical climate)
Neem oil should help. They don't like water, keep garden or lawns moist.
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Ginger 27 Jan, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Use Condy's crystals. Something like tea spoon in 1-2l of water.
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Ginger 20 Jan, Mosushi (Australia - tropical climate)
I have been growing ginger in rectangular pot (20cm deep, 20cm X20cm width). It has been growing but lately some of leaves turned yellow and the plan is not growing well. I moved the pot to an area with more shade because I thought it was getting too much sun but leaves are still turning yellow. The soil is almost always moist or wet so I don't think there is shortage of water. I just want to know what is the reason of poor growth. The pot was initially filled with good potting mix which should last 6 months. Do I need to give liquid fertilizer or something? If so, how much should I give?
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Ginger 24 Jan, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
If in pots they need more regular fertilising, Go by the label.
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Radish 19 Jan, Warren (Australia - temperate climate)
I always grow radish but often let them get too fibrey. I let some go to seed, amd found my sugarbag bees loved them. I then let them go to seed and found the young, tender seed pods are tastier than the radish itself, and you get far more output as they seed like crazy. Pickling the pods also works well, so now I grow them for the seed pods, and the bees. I recommend trying it
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Radish 20 Jan, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Pick your radish when they have grown to the right size and put them down in the veggie section of fridge - they will keep for weeks. They are more a late autumn winter early spring crop in sub tropics.
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Radish 20 Jan, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
What kind of radishes are you growing?
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 10 Jan, Keith (Australia - temperate climate)
I am currently growing Carolina reaper plants. I also have ordered Scotch bonnet Ghost and chili x seeds. I live in warmer climes most of the year in Queensland.
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Cucumber 09 Jan, Trina Richmond (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I live on the Gold Coast, and have been growing mad hatter capsicum successfully for about three years now, and grape/cherry tomatoes about the same but not very much fruit. This year I planted continental cucumbers. The plant grew very large in about two weeks, (5 foot+), and the leaves are huge, but I have only had 4 fruits and the leaves are being eaten so badly that they look like a very thin, worn out, see through piece of material. This past month for some reason every capsicum, yellow, green and mad hatter, all produced rotten fruit, and I ripped out the plants, except the cucumber. What has caused this? I may have over fertilised.. Also all plants are producing a lot of yellow leaves, especially the tomatoes.
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Cucumber 12 Jan, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
I forgot to mention: as part of my previous reply; that the insects are eating your plant because it is stressed. That is, insects USUALLY attack/eat plants that are NOT healthy..... plants that are deteriorating are easily digestible. It's part of the natural process; the insects help breakdown a plant that is dying, rather than the insects killing the plant. So focusing on the insects may again, be misleading. Clearly, if you're trying to save the plant, you will need to get rid of the insects....but in MOST cases the insects are not the root cause of your issue.
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Cucumber 17 Jan, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I generally have very healthy plants and I can tell you the insects don't wait until they are stressed. Recently very healthy egg plant and now the leaves have been decimated by something eating the leaves.
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Cucumber 14 Feb, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
I did say USUALLY -- that is to say: rabbits will go for your greenest crispiest leaves -- caterpillars tend to pick the best of the lot as well -- aphids are PLACED on healthy fava beans by ANTS (as a form of enslavement/hostage situation) to suck the sap and excrete honeydew ... and so on for many insects --- BUT what we have IN THIS situation is clearly STRESSED PLANTS -- and stressed plants will bring in the decomposers -- that is the natural cycle- so focusing on which decomposers you have is really not going to solve the problem here.......... this is my best guess -- the plants where stressed and failed to perform first, and then the decomposers came in.... judging by the description of the problem.
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Cucumber 12 Jan, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
Have you had a lot of humidity (higher than usual) lately ? If so, your plants may be having a hard time transpiring. Transpiration is the process of releasing moisture (like sweating and evaporation rolled into one). Plants suck up water through their roots and move the water up through their stems and into their leaves, where they release the water (transpiration). Only about 5-10% of the water they intake is used for growth - the rest is released into the environment. The movement of water facilitates the movement of nutrients. So if the movement of water is SLOWED due to really high humidity (and this mostly happens in greenhouses when they are not properly ventilated) plants start to show signs of nutrient deficiencies of all kinds (maybe blossom end rot in tomatoes despite having plenty of bio-available calcium in the soil). That is to say; you could have a lot of misleading signs like: blossom end rot, or nitrogen deficiency (honestly I'm not sure which nutrients need the most water to be moved).....but the take away is the signs could be really confusing, and appear totally illogical. This only happens in high humidity situations; again like an improperly vented greenhouse, or if somehow you have managed to trap the humidity in your space...... this is a long shot.....but I lived on the Gold Coast (Broad Beach area) 30+ years ago...... and I still remember how humid it could get... especially further North. Clearly, some plants are better at moving the water in high humidity situations....tomatoes tend to have difficulty in very high humidity. Ensuring proper air flow may be helpful.
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Cucumber 04 Feb, Smithy (Australia - tropical climate)
Is there a way to counteract high humidity? Hydroponics might flourish in greenhouses but they are pumped up with water and chemicals. They look good but are not palatable.
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Cucumber 16 Feb, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
If you have TRUE high humidity: humidex above 95% consistently -- then you have a real issue. If you have a "created" high humidity situation: like a poorly ventilated greenhouse; then correcting the ventilation will fix things. You can create an updraft by placing a screened window/door very close to ground level (or the lowest level that opens to fresh air) and then furthest and highest away from this point another screened window (on the ceiling/roof, or very high on the wall). So if you have a door on the North/East Bottom. the window goes on the South/West Top. When both of the windows are open, you should get a nice updraft that will whisk away all your humidity. It is best to situate the ground level door/window in a shady spot -- because this will be cooler air, and as this comes in it will force the hot/humid air up and out. There are also green house fans that can be installed (but if you do your updraft correctly you will probably not need one) ; and if you are fully indoors even a dehumidifier might work. If you are in a garden setting like the situation above; I think perhaps the cucumber created a roof that was helping hold in the moisture. In this case prune the cucumber to increase airflow. Things like fences can hold moisture; for example if you have a garden between two houses and there is a wood picket fence; this could impede the flow of air, and cause humidity to build up. The answer will ALMOST always be to increase air flow. If this is a true climate issue then you should select what you are growing with care, choosing plants that can tolerate high humidity; and still trying to situate your plants/garden in such a way that air flows freely. I have an allotment, that has "dense" fencing on two sides (I am in the back corner) and I can feel that I have an extra humid situation. I have found that runner beans do well; once they climb higher than fence level, they get a lot of air flow and do nicely. As far a hydroponics; I am not well versed enough to even begin guessing at the issues that may exist in these environments. Just remember that even when the humidex is NOT high, plants still need the airflow to move what they have transpired away from their leaves.
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Cucumber 11 Jan, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
It is very hard to grow things during summer along the coast in Qld with all the rain and heat. Generally start planting seeds etc late Feb/Mar. Rain brings on the breeding cycle of a lot of insects etc. If plants are growing fast and too big - too much nitrogen. Yellow leaves - with lots of rain the fertiliser is leached through the soil. Also yellow leaves can be from a trace element deficiency. Use a fert that has trace elements. Here is my tips - during summer try and improve your soil with compost manures etc. Put grass clippings and leaves etc on you garden bed and dig in and turn over a couple of times during summer. Soil has to be watered to help break down the leaves etc. You should then only need a very light feritising.before planting in March. Plant cabbage broccoli etc in early May.
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Cucumber 07 Feb, Smithy (Australia - tropical climate)
Thank you.
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Showing 781 - 810 of 13845 comments
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