One of them is a giant. It has now outgrown its meter (3.3 ft) long pole by almost a foot. It is showing no signs of slowing down, and at moment I'm wondering whether to replace the pole by one of the wooden sticks from an unused mop (those are 1.5 times the height) or just let trail back down. It's got a good 16 flowers/flower buds, and 3 of these have dried up and wilted already. They say that flower to ripe fruit takes about 45-60 days and it's been 2 weeks. So another month perhaps.
My second tomato plant is also healthy, but it's a bit dwarfish. It's in a cage, but refuses to grow as tall or as fast, remaining only about a foot tall. It's got about half a dozen blooms on it, so it's fine.
Then comes the third one. It's caught something and now it's sick. I'm not sure what it is. It could be viral or bacterial, in which case it's a hopeless case. Or, it could be fungal, and in that case I'm hoping the organic garlic and cayenne pepper fungicide I've cooked up (smells hideous) will help it. It's got a dozen blooms and still growing but the leaves are wilting badly, getting yellow spots on top, and a grey something on the undersides. I moved it to the side, and now I've accepted the fact that it might not make it. I'll just hope for a few tomatoes if it lives, and pack it up and throw it away afterwards.
That's the thing with natural selection. For next year's crop, depending on the flavor and tastes of the tomatoes, I'll be saving seeds from the best fruits of my best plant, to get a more resilient crop.
Mean while, since I've found tomatoes are super easy to grow, I've planted a new set of tomato seeds from some small 1 in. diameter tomatoes we bought that were really good. I figured that if I stagger the sowing and planting, I can get a steady supply of veggies, rather than have a ton of tomatoes all at once. A week and a half later and these are just starting to peek out of the ground. It's curious that they have a purplish tinge to them, since the ones that I have now, didn't and were only green when they sprouted.
I'm also excited that my tangerine tree has sprouted. It looks very sturdy and cute, and is growing really fast too. Of course, here along the coast of Lebanon is citrus land, so it is an ideal climate and weather for them. I'm also excited that the first of my radishes and beets have peeked out of the ground displaying some surprisingly deep red ends of their roots! No picture here, since I want a nice picture of an entire row of radish and beet seedlings, which will hopefully be really soon.
In what is really ironic, I collected from a previous dried up basil plant on our window sill dozens and dozens of seeds. I cracked open little pods, filled little germination cups with soil, watered them, and covered them. After much care and effort, not one single one sprouted. One the other hand, the seeds that had randomly fallen and tossed on the soil outside when I was removing the dried up basil plant to make room, sprouted and shot up in a single rainy weekend all by themselves. Oh well, as long as I have plenty of fresh basil in the end (that's marjoram on the side). Pesto, here I come :D
Fun experiment next time you eat an avocado:
Wash the avocado seed and if you want, peel off the outer layer of the seed.
Place the seed, pointy side up, half submerged in water by sticking it (not too deeply) with 3 toothpicks to hold it at the top of a long glass cup or jar filled almost to the rim with water.
Change/add water every few days.
In about a month or a bit more, a young avocado tree will be coming out and roots growing in the water. The sprout is reddish and really weird looking. I'm waiting on some green leaves before I move it into a pot.
About the avocado, we did the exact same thing 3 years ago and that stalk kept growing until it was half a meter. Only then did two tiny leaves start to come out. At first I was excited, but then I just started hating the plant. I had dreams of a nice bushy tree. Instead it was this thin long stalk with only a few leaves at the top. Finally last year, Martin's mom told me I need to cut the top off, so it sprouts more branches. I did and it did. But it still looked flimsy. Particularly since it was using up a large pot. So I just planted a couple of other things in there, they thrived and that "tree" is still hanging on to dear life somewhere in there...
ReplyDeleteReally! Those were not the pictures I saw scattered online. False advertising?
ReplyDeleteThough, making a diagnosis, plants will stretch and be spindly when they're reaching for sunlight, and are stocky and leafy when they get plenty of it. Seeing as Avocado trees are originally native to Mexico, land of sunshine, I'm sure it's struggling to find extra sunlight. Now that we're well into spring and summer is on the way, I'd move it to your warmest sunniest location in the house.
Now that I think on it, It's probably time to move the burgeoning avocado from the dim kitchen balcony where it grows to the sunny one in your old room. Maybe that will encourage it to leaf.
Cool... What do use for fertilizer? The soil quality may explain the difference between the plants growth. Terra's step dad has his own garden and he got a composter for his birthday to create his own organic compost.
ReplyDeleteI bought a bag of organic compost for fruits and vegetables from the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteI also made some compost tea with it. Disgusting stuff, looks and smells like sewers. But, it's supposed to be really good for plants and soil.
Anyway, I've a strong suspicion my sick tomato was attacked by a fungal infection. I went radical today and pruned it. Every last branch carrying a leaf with a grey or yellow spot. There's some new healthy growth, so I'm somewhat hopeful.