Earwigs?

I have had two enquiries this week about controlling earwigs. “Why? They’re predators, they control the other bugs.” However, it appears that they are omnivores so while they will eat bugs they will also munch on garden plants in the right conditions.
My personal preference is to maintain a population of Earwigs to control other critters. There are times however when the Earwig population explodes so first remove their refuges; sheets of metal, timber or bark that provide a cool, moist environment during the day. Then if you need to “manage” the population try trapping, apparently the ideal bait for Earwigs is Tuna. I certainly don’t think chemical controls should be necessary. Anyway if you have any Earwig tips to share, please let me know.

Goin' up the country

Lisa and I travelled to Tylden (near Trentham) to deliver our $500.00 prize pack to Linda Wheeler who entered our Plants Australia Garden Centres ‘Lucky Draw”. Linda was thrilled, we felt great and Glenn & Sandy at Springhill Nursery were pretty pleased too.
My mum & dad visited Springhill earlier this year and immediately asked if I knew this beautiful garden centre. “Not well” was the honest reply and that was my mistake, this little nursery is a real gem. Glenn has long experience in the nursery trade, he loves it and it shows. This may be a nurseryman’s hang up but Glenn’s stock is kept perfectly. No old stuff hanging around that should have been moved on, this is one of those rare retail nurseries that will pot plants on when they get big or shaggy.
They also have award winning display gardens and they welcome bus tours, so if you’re looking for a garden club activity a visit to sunny Tylden is really worth it.

Lettuce Season

Kaye has noticed that we have sold 2 week’s worth of Lettuce just this week. I’m actually not that surprised, despite the hotter than usual weather. Lettuce appears to have a season of it’s own, tucked neatly between Tomatoes and Brassicas.
The Tomato season reminds me of the footy season or the Spring racing carnival; it all builds to a crescendo at cup week end, then fades to nothing almost immediately. It doesn’t have to be this way! I have commercial Tomato orders through until the first week in January.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I really wanted to mention Lettuce. I read an article (long since lost) that suggested Lettuce would go out of favour because it has no nutritional value and needs a lot of water to grow. I am yet to see any sign of this, in fact I think the opposite is happening.
The most popular Lettuces for home gardeners are the loose leaf or open headed types, particularly the mixes ‘Salad mix’, ‘Baby Combo’ and ‘Mignonette mix’. Generally these are much easier to grow than the Iceberg types and impatient gardeners can start picking within a couple of weeks of planting, especially at this time of year when they are growing really quickly.
If you’re wondering Salad mix is a full mix of up to 10 lettuce types including Iceberg and Cos; Baby Combo only has picking Lettuces in the mix, this makes it ideal for growing in containers because the different plants are all matched well for size.
Mignonette is a French term meaning dainty. These Lettuces are somewhat dainty, but I wouldn’t call them small. I note that slugs apparently prefer the green over the brown, bit like my kids really. Brown & red Lettuces tend to be more bitter which I like but it needs to be balanced with other flavours.
Growing quality Iceberg and Cos Lettuce is one of the signs of a skilled and very dedicated gardener. Those tight heads require plenty of fertilizer and water. Of course if you get it right they look and taste fantastic. All Lettuces require a sunny spot with well prepared soil or quality potting mix. I think the only reason loose leafed Lettuces are easier to grow is we clean and open them up as we pick fresh leaves. The heading types become a bit of a target for slugs and fungi particularly as the approach maturity.
If you have any Lettuce growing tips for me, please let me know I’d love to pass them around.
By the way, a good Powdery mildew control?
1 part full cream milk to 8-10 parts water, I’m guessing applied as a spray.
Thanks Jerry and Lorraine.

Pruning Tomatoes

Kerry has about a dozen Tomatoes growing in pots outside the laundry. These are all strays I brought home, no label, overgrown, falling over, last pots out of a tray. A bit of a lucky dip.
Anyway the boss is very proud of her Tomatoes. She does all the things I warn against; recycles potting mix with some soil and chook manure, grows vegies in the narrow, shady strip on the East side of the house, loves growing stuff in cardboard fruit boxes. Best of all she loves showing me how well they’re doing and of course that’s exactly what they are doing right now. Not all straggly as I feared growing in such a shady environment, flowers developing nicely but I did notice one thing…
These are going to be big plants and they are growing in relatively small pots. Actually 12” (300mm) Pots. Now keep in mind, Kerry has put trellis along the fence to support her Tomatoes. Where does all the nutrient and water come from to support this such big plants? Especially once fruit starts to set in high summer we will be watering every day (yes we have tanks) but I’m sure you can see the drawback to growing tomatoes in pots.
So what to do? Prune the plant. Tomatoes grow in a wonderfully rampant fashion. At the axil (the angle where each leaf grows away from the stem) a new shoot develops. Very quickly it’s difficult to tell which is the main stem because each shoot continues to do the same thing and produce more shoots. Very sorcerer’s apprentice! In no time the plant becomes a matted, tangled, dark mess with a massive appetite. (For additional images, please follow this link)

I spent a lazy half hour last weekend just rubbing the emerging shoots out of the Tomatoes and I cut out a few larger ones with a sharp knife. I have left 4-5 stems per plant and will need to go back again this week to give them a quick check. 4-5 stems is manageable and focuses the plant’s energy. While I was pruning I tidied up their “skirts”, the old leaves dragging in the dirt around the soil level. These leaves were turning yellow and scrappy and a couple of plants looked like they had been dusted with flour (powdery mildew). I am hoping that removing these old leaves will control the mildew by allowing light and air in. That will save using any chemicals. If you have any other suggestions for controlling powdery mildew without chemicals please let me know.

Light & Heat = Growth

We haven’t had the best week at Scotsburn. The burst of warm, humid weather last weekend produced a phenomenal growth spurt in all of our plants. Contradictory as it may sound, this is something we just don’t want. Our primary business is growing seedlings and we spend the majority of our effort slowing seedlings down so that they will last longer once we send them off to the garden centres. Anyone that has grown a hanging basket for our Great Victorian Hanging Basket competition will understand just how frustrating it is trying to speed up or slow growth when you are working to a deadline.
How do we manage growth? Primarily with water and food. Just restricting the water – allowing plants to wilt a little between irrigations is a great way to tone them up. The amount and type of fertilizer used is also essential to controlling growth.
A gardener or nurseryman must keep in mind that the water and fertilizer we apply don’t directly feed our plants; they fuel photosynthesis. Photosynthesis produces carbohydrate that actually drives plant growth and there are two essential elements to the process of photosynthesis that I haven’t mentioned yet… light and heat. Please note these are separate items. Fertilizer and water that were only adequate a week or so ago are suddenly more than enough when the photosynthesis process becomes more efficient with additional light and warmth. Boom! Plants are jumping out of their skins. When you want quick growth, it never happens. When you don’t, suddenly you can watch them grow!
Of course we are dealing with growing organisms and at least four variables so the answers are not always so directly obvious. Too much light and heat will shut down photosynthesis so don’t feed plants on hot days. Too little light and warmth – think mid winter - have the same effect, that’s why we have glass houses. Greenhouse owners though don’t necessarily have all the answers; without additional lighting, extra heat and fertilizer are a waste of time.
By the way, the other way to control plant growth is to use PGR’s (Plant Growth Regulators-plant hormones). Our policy is to avoid PGR’s where possible and never to use them on our vegetable crops. Is this entirely logical? Possibly not, but whenever I ask gardeners the response to PGR’s is nearly always strongly negative.
Does any of this affect a home gardener? Not much, just don’t feed your plants in the middle of winter or high summer for that matter. But you might be interested to know why your plants have suddenly gone into overdrive.
Why did I tell you this long, complicated story? Well the growth spurt in Kerry’s Tomatoes at home prompted another idea altogether and that idea needed some background. Then I got carried away, so I’ll talk about pruning Tomatoes later. In the meantime I’d welcome any thoughts or comments.