by Ray Bodrey | May 27, 2020
Whether it’s the warm or cool season of the year, vegetable gardening is as popular activity as any. In writing articles, I usually discuss best management practices on a backyard garden scale. But, what if you don’t have much of a backyard?
Many Floridians live in apartments, condominiums, mobile home parks, or simply homes built on small parcel lots with little open gardening space. This doesn’t mean you can’t grow vegetables. You just have to be a bit creative and that’s when the fun starts. In addition to being an enjoyable activity, mini vegetable gardening can be practical and ornamental. Containers can fit almost anywhere in the landscape, such as porches, balconies, roof tops and that spot on your property where nothing seems to fit.
Tomato Bucket Gardening. Photo courtesy UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions.
There’s practically no limit to the kinds of containers one can use for mini vegetable gardening. Some examples are pots and pans, milk jugs, hollow concrete blocks, bushel baskets, trash cans, barrels, buckets and even plastics bags and “to go” food containers. As long as the container will hold soil and let excess water drain, you’re good to garden.
So, what can I use as a growing medium? Traditional garden soil will work fine. Mixing garden soil 1:1 with mushroom compost is also acceptable. Adding lightweight components to the soil mixture such as perlite or vermiculite will make it easier if you need move the container from time to time. This will also help with drainage. Sprinkling a handful of 6-6-6 or 8-8-8 fertilizer and gardening lime into the mixture will give plants much needed nutrients for development.
This growing medium will not require fertilizer applications very often. A small amount every two to three weeks should be adequate for most vegetable plants. Whether the fertilizer you choose is solution or dry form, be sure to use small amounts and water the product thoroughly into the root zone. A heavy application of fertilizer may cause plant burn.
So what vegetable crops grow best in containers? Most any crop will do well in containers. Some examples are tomato, pepper, eggplant, collard, cabbage, turnip, mustard, strawberry, broccoli, cauliflower and many herbs. Container gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby. You’ll enjoy both the activity and the delicious produce you’ve grown.
For more information contact your local county extension office.
Supporting information for this article was provided by Extension’s Emeritus Vegetable Specialist Jim Stephens of UF/IFAS Extension. More information can be found at this website: http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/growing-vegetables-in-containers.html
UF/IFAS Extension is an Equal Opportunity Institution.
by Matthew Orwat | May 21, 2020
During these unusual times, the Gardening in the Panhandle Team has been working to bring you quality remote content through this online newsletter. In that vein, we have developed some new educational programming for our loyal readers.
We are providing one hour “Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE!” sessions on Zoom. These will occur during lunch hour, from 12:00 to 1:00 CDT. They will also be hosted on the Gardening in the Panhandle Facebook page and recorded if you can’t participate live. So, whether you are at home or work, bring your lunch up to your desk (or smart device) and enjoy Gardening in the Panhandle Live!
Click on the topic below to pre-register and submit your questions one week in advance.
Archived videos with closed captioning are linked to topics about one week after event airs.
The schedule follows below:
| Date |
Topic |
Panelists |
12-1pm CDT |
| May 28 |
Vegetables Gardening |
Matt Lollar, Evan Anderson, Matt Orwat |
|
| June 11 |
Lawn and Turfgrass |
Larry Williams, Daniel Leonard, Beth Bolles, Daniel Leonard |
|
| June 25 |
Ornamental & Landscape |
Sheila Dunning, Matt Lollar, Stephen Greer, Matt Orwat |
|
| July 9 |
Butterfly Gardening |
Mary Salinas, Julie McConnell, Beth Bolles |
|
| July 23 |
Prepping for the Fall Garden |
Matt Lollar, Danielle Sprague, Molly Jameson |
|
| August 6 |
Open Ended Q&A |
Mary Salinas, Evan Anderson, Beth Bolles, Matt Orwat |
|
| August 20 |
Gardening for Pollinators |
Dr. Gary Knox, Mark Tancig, Mary Salinas, Heather Kalaman |
|
| September 10 |
Fruiting Trees and Shrubs |
Dr. Xavier Martini, Danielle Sprague, Trevor Hylton |
|
| September 24 |
Gardening in Florida Soils |
Ray Bodrey, Matt Lollar, Pat Williams, Mark Tancig |
|
| October 1 |
Planting Trees and Shrubs |
Larry Williams, Ray Bodrey, Beth Bolles, Stephen Greer |
|
| October 15 |
Cool Season Gardening/Cold Protection |
Mary Salinas, Matt Lollar, Larry Williams |
|
| October 29 |
Landscape Pests (insect & disease) |
Danielle Sprague, Matt Orwat, Evan Anderson, Dr. Adam Dale |
|
| November 12 |
Selection and Care of Holiday Plants |
Matt Orwat, Larry Williams, Sheila Dunning, Stephen Greer |
|
by Julie McConnell | May 13, 2020
Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar on fennel. Photo: J_McConnell, UFIFAS
Working from home has given me the opportunity to take more notice of my landscape and allow more time for insect scouting. While looking for turfgrass pests a few weeks ago, I noticed a caterpillar I didn’t recognize feeding on a broadleaf weed in my lawn. Since it didn’t appear to be a typical turfgrass pest, I decided to collect a few and try to figure out what they were. I’m glad I did because it turned out they were Buckeye Butterfly larvae! This random find has led me to some experimentation with raising butterflies and I thought I’d share some tips in case others might like to try it.
**Before collecting be sure to consult the U.S. Fish and Wildlife list of endangered and threatened species in Florida and never collect from Florida State Parks or other dedicated conservation areas. Never release species not native to our ecosystem. **
Lining the bottom of your enclosure with paper makes cleanup easier. Photo: J_McConnell, UFIFAS
You will need an adequate enclosure to keep caterpillars, chrysalises, and newly emerged butterflies/moths. I am fortunate to have a beautiful handmade cage constructed by a Master Gardener Volunteer at my disposal. It has a wooden frame and floor, screened walls, and the door latches. There are many options available for online purchase, but I would recommend getting one listed as “tall” or having a minimum height of 24 inches. Also, be sure you will be able to clean it easily – growing caterpillars create a lot of frass (excrement) that needs to be cleaned daily. I line the bottom of my enclosure with paper for quick cleanup.
Be sure you can offer fresh food for caterpillars and butterflies. Caterpillars usually have a limited menu of what they can eat depending on species. If you find them actively feeding on a plant, that is a pretty good sign that it is a good larval food source. Once you identify the caterpillar you can look up alternate larval host plants that the species eats.
Provide a variety of fresh flowers when butterfly emerge
Collecting foliage and keeping it hydrated can be a challenge. I use small floral water tubes. They have rubber lids that pop on and off with slits where I can insert small stems, but the insects do not get in and drown. I usually set these in another container to keep them upright. I can easily add fresh flowers when I expect a butterfly to emerge so that nectar is available. If your enclosure is large enough you may be able to keep small potted plants inside, just remember to keep them watered.
Where do the caterpillars come from? I intentionally plant several plants that are larval butterfly (caterpillar) hosts such as parsley, fennel, and passionflower vine. I check these plants for caterpillars that I can collect along with foliage. After the butterflies emerge, I release them into my yard so they can find a mate and keep the cycle going.
For more information on attracting butterflies to your landscape see Butterfly Gardening in Florida.
by Daniel J. Leonard | May 13, 2020
It’s been a challenging spring in this guy’s garden! Despite getting the normal early start required for successful gardening in Florida, I’ve been affected by Bacterial Leaf Spot stunting my tomatoes, cutworms that reduced my watermelon plantings by half, and an eternal test of my patience in the form of a dog that seems to think my raised beds are merely a shortcut to a destination further out in the yard. My latest adversary is the most potentially destructive yet, an outbreak of Southern Armyworm (Spodoptera eridania).
Early Southern Armyworm damage on Okra seedlings. Photo courtesy of the author.
Unlike some serious garden pests that wait until the heat of summer to emerge, Southern Armyworms begin appearing in spring gardens around the end of April. Adult moths can survive mildly cold weather and venture into the Panhandle as soon as warmer spring weather arrives. Once the adult moths arrive, egg masses are then laid on the undersides of leaves and hatch in a little under a week. Once loosed upon the world, Southern Armyworm larvae (caterpillars) become indiscriminate, voracious feeders and congregate in extremely large numbers, allowing them to destroy small, developing garden vegetable plants in a manner of days. Young larvae feed on the undersides of leaves and leave little but a skeleton. As larvae grow larger, they become solitary and begin to bore into fruit. Once they’ve eaten the good stuff (leaves and fruit), large larvae turn to branches and even plant stems!
Southern Armyworm larvae feeding on Okra leaves. Photo courtesy of the author.
The good news for gardeners is that Southern Armyworm, and most other caterpillar pests, are easily controlled if outbreaks are caught early. Scouting is critical for early detection and good control. Armyworm damage generally appears from above as brownish-gray sections of affected leaves with a yellowish ring surrounding these sections, this ring indicates the current feeding zone. Affected areas will appear transparent and “lacy” due to the skeletonizing effects of larval feeding. If you see leaves that look “off” in the manner just described, check underneath for the presence of a horde of tiny greenish worms.
If found in this early stage, an application of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a biological pesticide utilizing a bacterium destructive to caterpillars, is extremely effective. Bt has to be ingested by caterpillars with leaf tissue to work; thorough coverage of leaf surfaces is critical for maximum control. I generally follow up with a sequential application of Bt a day later to ensure that I achieved good coverage of the plant surfaces and, therefore, good control. Unfortunately, Bt is much less effective on older larvae. Infestations not caught early require harsher chemistries like carbamates, pyrethroids and organophosphates for adequate control.
Don’t let armyworms or other caterpillar pests destroy your garden, get out there daily and scout! You have a short window for easy caterpillar control with a harmless to people, natural product, Bt. Don’t waste it!
For more information about Southern Armyworm, other caterpillar pests, Bt, or any other horticultural topic, please consult your local UF/IFAS Extension Agent. Happy Gardening!
by Daniel J. Leonard | May 7, 2020
Early BLS symptoms appear on lower leaves. Photo courtesy of the author.
Tomatoes are among the most notoriously difficult vegetable species to grow in Florida. Even when you do everything right (choose disease resistant varieties, buy clean seed/healthy transplants, plant early, rotate crops, scout for insects, prune and support vines, etc), things can go wrong in a hurry. Bacterial Leaf Spot (BLS) caused by the pathogen Xanthomomas perforans, is one of those things. BLS often hitches a ride into gardens undetected on seed and transplants and presents itself as warm and humid weather arrives in late April/early May. Outbreaks typically happen in concurrence with the frequent heavy rainstorms that accompany these months and quickly wreak havoc on tomato plants.
BLS occurrence, much worse in some springs than others, has exploded this year in home gardens. First noticed on the plant’s lower leaves, BLS pathogens enter through natural openings in leaves called stomata, manifest as small, “water-soaked” leaf lesions and then develop within days into dark circular spots, sometimes surrounded by a yellow halo. As conditions worsen, all these individual infections cause a general yellowing or “blighting” of entire leaves. Though the issue begins on tomato leaves, BLS can affect all parts of the plant, including stems, flowers and fruit too! It’s at this point, when blighted leaves become obvious and lesion developing on flower stalks cause both flowers and small fruit to drop, that most home gardeners notice that something is up.
Advancing progression of BLS with “blighted” leaves. Photo courtesy of the author.
Unlike with many other pathogens, gardeners don’t have an abundance of options to control BLS. However, taking the following preventative measures can reduce the pathogen’s impact and stave off disease progression until ripe fruit can be harvested.
- Don’t irrigate overhead. Utilize drip/microirrigation or hand water beds and containers at soil level. This prevents the leaves from becoming wet; wet leaves become a perfect host for BLS.
- Never work tomato plants when leaves are wet. No staking, pruning, tying, or anything else until plant tissue is dry. Working wet tomato plants is an excellent way to spread bacteria!
- Sanitize pruning tools often and wash hands after working infected plants.
- Maintain airflow in plants by planting at correct spacing and thinning interior leaves as necessary to facilitate quicker drying of the plant.
- Prune lower leaves to at least 12” from the soil’s surface to prevent disease transmission from soil to leaves through splashing water.
- Remove infected leaves (when plants are dry!) to slow disease progression.
- Rotate crops and destroy infected plants to prevent buildup of BLS organisms in soil.
BLS lesions on tomato flowers. Photo courtesy of the author.
- Preventative measures are best, but if your garden has a history of BLS and local weather forecasts call for warm/wet/humid weather, it is best to spray fungicides proactively to protect your crop. A weekly spray with a tank mixture of copper and mancozeb is effective at keeping BLS at bay. This is the only chemical spray combination proven to be effective in controlling BLS.
- Unlike many common tomato pathogens that can be reliably avoided through planting resistant cultivars like ‘Big Beef’, ‘Celebrity’ and others, no varieties are resistant to BLS.
While BLS is an extremely destructive pathogen of both home and commercially grown tomatoes, growers can lessen the disease’s effects by following the preventative measures outlined above and spraying with a copper/mancozeb mix if necessary. Growing tomatoes this year hasn’t been easy, but it’s worth it to fight back and realize a harvest despite difficulties like BLS!
If bacteria have given you the blues or other garden issues are bringing you down, give your local UF/IFAS County Extension Agent a call! We’re here to help you be successful in all your horticultural endeavors. Happy gardening!
