Anyone care to help a new gardener?

GardenForums.com a friendly and growing community of gardeners. We feature a Garden Discussion Forum and Garden Photo Gallery. It's a fun and friendly place to talk with other gardeners, ask questions, share you knowledge, view and post photos and more! Whether you're a master gardener, or brand new to the hobby, you'll find something of interest here.



Dee

New Member
I recently moved into a new house and decided to give gardening a go this year. The property had an old garden plot that we cleaned up & tilled. We put up a mesh fence to keep animals out and worked in some weed & feed before planting, besides that I did nothing special to the dirt. I just wanted to use this year as a trial & error & learn from it. We have clay soil. When tested, we have good PH & medium N & P levels, K was hardly present though. I noticed a lot of my plants have pale white spots on the leaves as pictured, any idea what it could be? Not sure if it's something to worry about or not.
 

Attachments

  • White  spots on tomato.jpg
    White spots on tomato.jpg
    87 KB · Views: 297

Dor

Active Member
Welcome Dee, so glad that you decided to join us. I am sure someone will be able to help you with your questions. The only thing I have to comment on is the Weed and Feed you used in your garden. How long was it before your planted your veggies after you used it. I would not use a chemical on your food source such as that. I realize you probably had a lot of weeds but use a weed block fabric and/or wet news print and then cover with your soil. That will kill the majority of your weeds. You will only need to pull up the new ones that come up.
 

farmerlon

New Member
...The only thing I have to comment on is the Weed and Feed you used in your garden. ....

ditto ... don't use any type of Herbicide in (or near) the garden.
Personally, I also don't use chemical pesticides in the garden (but, that's not the approach that everyone takes).
 

Dee

New Member
These spots are flat, like a discoloration of the leave, not raised or "powdery" or fuzzy. Can powdery mildew not necessarily be powdery?
 

Dee

New Member
Oh and thanx for welcoming me! I dont remember exactly how long it was between applying the weed & feed & planting my seeds, but I would say at least 24-48 hours. I know i didnt plant or sow right away. I've been researching & reading so much about gardening lately that my head's spinning & I'm losing track of things! I do regret using it now though because I really do want to try being totally organic & not use anything like that, but at the time I thought it was ok. I was a little deterred in my efforts to stick with homemade remedies recently though...I made a spray of hot pepper sauce, vegetable oil, dishwashing soap, baking soda & diluted it with water, sprayed it on early in the morning only to watch it burn my bean leaves progressively throughout the day. Luckily it seems like only the leaves that were damaged are falling off & the plant is still producing new leaves & buds. The spray did more damage than the bugs!
 

Dor

Active Member
ditto ... don't use any type of Herbicide in (or near) the garden.
Personally, I also don't use chemical pesticides in the garden (but, that's not the approach that everyone takes).

I don't use Herbicides either. I just don't want to take a chance. I use organic only. In fact I have some ants in my cucumber and bush green beans raised beds. I used corn meal that got rid of one but now I have another bed. I am going to HD to find something better but organic.
 
Last edited:

Dor

Active Member
Oh and thanx for welcoming me! I dont remember exactly how long it was between applying the weed & feed & planting my seeds, but I would say at least 24-48 hours. I know i didnt plant or sow right away. I've been researching & reading so much about gardening lately that my head's spinning & I'm losing track of things! I do regret using it now though because I really do want to try being totally organic & not use anything like that, but at the time I thought it was ok. I was a little deterred in my efforts to stick with homemade remedies recently though...I made a spray of hot pepper sauce, vegetable oil, dishwashing soap, baking soda & diluted it with water, sprayed it on early in the morning only to watch it burn my bean leaves progressively throughout the day. Luckily it seems like only the leaves that were damaged are falling off & the plant is still producing new leaves & buds. The spray did more damage than the bugs!

I did the same Dee, I think the vegetable oil is what burned the leaves. Try it without the oil.
 

Trax

Active Member
Definitely avoid herbicides! Even Roundup didn't prove itself to be non-toxic. It's much better just to spend a little time pulling weeds. :) Btw, one method I use is leaving a bar of ivory soap in a bowl of warm water overnight. I then add Canola oil to the soapy water and put it in a spray bottle. The oil suffocates bugs but has to be done more than once since there might be eggs. I just leave it on for 1-2 hours in the morning then spray it off with water.
 

Dee

New Member
I think I may just try the soap on its own or the pepper sauce on its own & see the effects & narrow down what works best for me. I've been finding aphids here & there on the underside of some tomato leaves & just clipping those leaves & throwing them out. plus we've been getting a lot of rain so I think that helps wash off the youngsters that cant fly yet. Not to mention the tons of other critters out there! But that's for another post when I get home & can post pics of them (At work now). It doesn't seem that bad now, but I'd like to try to control them while they're still a small problem before they turn into an infestation & cause bigger problems.
 

Crabbergirl

Super Moderator
Staff member
What I use to kill weeds and unwanted plants and grass is 1 Lb salt to 1 gal vinegar. DO NOT get it on anything you don't want to kill. Plants that have shallow roots you SHOULD NOT use this around as it will kill them. I try just to spray the tops of the offensive plant , if it has a thick stem you will need to spray the stem too. Once dead it is easy to remove the plant. I use this as a spray around the edge of my organic veggies garden to keep a nice clean border.
 

Dee

New Member
What I use to kill weeds and unwanted plants and grass is 1 Lb salt to 1 gal vinegar. DO NOT get it on anything you don't want to kill. Plants that have shallow roots you SHOULD NOT use this around as it will kill them. I try just to spray the tops of the offensive plant , if it has a thick stem you will need to spray the stem too. Once dead it is easy to remove the plant. I use this as a spray around the edge of my organic veggies garden to keep a nice clean border.

thanks for the tip,I'll have to try it.;)
 

Trax

Active Member
Thanks Crabbergirl! I wrote that salt/vinegar recipee down cause I definitely have problems keeping a clean garden edge!
 

Crabbergirl

Super Moderator
Staff member
Just be very careful because it will kill most of what it touches. But it makes a nice clean edge. Some really tough weeds you will need to treat twice;) I try to keep it as far from keeper plants as possible.
 


Gardenforums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Top