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I have been growing these California Wonders, Okra, Cucumber, Squash, and a few different types of Tomatoes since the end of winter. I water them by soaker hose every other day or as needed depending on the weather. ( I'm in Central Florida btw...) I fertilize with Maxsea organic seaweed plant food about every 3rd or 4th watering.
Everything is looking good....except now after a few rainy days I have noticed these white spikes forming on the stalk of 2 pepper plants and one of my tomato plants. I have never seen this before and was curious if one of you may know what this is.
I am in a battle to the death with Crazy Ants.... I have been tracking down their colonies and digging them up to pour boiling water in, hoping to kill the queens. But, they have many queens and this has proven to be no easy task. They are also protecting the Aphids who are trying to make a home of my grape bushes as well, So I have been soaking those in soapy water. So far the Aphids are not in my veggy garden .
Hope this is nothing to worry about though, any help is appreciated.
hello and welcome...although I have never seen them....I am wondering if it is stalk borer.....stalk borers tunnel in almost any large.... stemmed plant...
here is a link that may give you more information http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/corn_sorghum/stalk_borer.html
It could be caused by a disease known as '' Tomato Pith Necrosis '', which is caused by rapid growth, high nitrogen, plastic mulch, low air temps at night, and high humidity. This may explain why I have not seen this till it rained heavy for a few days ( Plus I mixed a few bags of organic MG soil to the plot, this may have contributed to high nitrogen levels ). I will cut back on all fertilizers and watering, although it says the plant will usually outgrow the disease. But this is also happening on my bell pepper plants....will do more research. Thanks a bunch guys.
I have seen it many times before but was never concerned by it and never lost a plant due to them. I think that they will be alright. Lots of times if the plants are staked the plant will send out roots like that at the point where they touch the soil. They always tell you to plant leggy tomato plants deep and they will root out of the stems. I would be much more concerned if you are seeing it on your peppers though.
Good luck!
Rooting along the tomato and pepper stalks is normal plant behaviour, especially after a lot of rainfalls!
There is no need to be concerned!
I plant my tomato plants deep so they can root out along the lower portion of the stalk!
I do/did the same thing with my peppers (though it has been quite a few years since I did any serious veggie gardening)!
Plant them in a trough and hill the the soil up as they grow! Makes for better, healthier plants!
Pepper do do that!
At least the ones I've grown, though not all varieties will do this! Bell peppers will if planted to close to one another!
If they flop over they will even root where the stems are in contact with the soil!
Have to remember that peppers and tomatoes are close cousins!
Hey River Dog!
I am also a Florida gardener, a little southwest of St. Augustine. Glad Jade helped you out there. I do have a usggestion for you on the ants , yes they are a real problem here in Fl. From your statments I gather you are an organic gardener. Have you tried Pyola?? It works as a contact treatment. I suppose if you add it to your boiling ater it may help. I also find if you can let watter saturate the area the ants will leave , won't die but will at least move
Thanks guys. I went from having around 2,000 to only having about 200 crazy ants around the garden. I think with alittle more persistence I can win this war. I got the aphids under control at the same time with getting rid of the ants, now the ladybugs are doing the rest for me. Gotta love those little guys.
I think I'm ok as far disease goes, cause they don't have black streaks around the base. Maybe next year I dig the garden out alittle deeper, possibly they are hitting a layer of clay, or just some solid ground under there. Could this maybe cause them to form external roots?
I have always had the roots on the stems, I think, in my pea sized mind, that this happens because of the natural tendency for tomatoes to lie on the ground and travel. If they are not staked, they will lie down and drop roots evenywhere the stem hits the ground. I have in the past when I was in danger of my toms dying from too much rain, cut and rooted those very type stems. Works great. Some varities are more apt to this condition more than others. I really don't think it is anything to worry about. However if you feel you need to control this, I would think you could trim them off without doing harm to the plant. Just do not break the skin of the stem.
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I have been tracking down their colonies and digging them up to pour boiling water in, hoping to kill the queens. But, they have many queens and this has proven to be no easy task. They are also protecting the Aphids who are trying to make a home of my grape bushes as well, So I have been soaking those in soapy water. So far the Aphids are not in my veggy garden 
.
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