bad seed?

[Ranger99]

just a couple of weeks ago, i had some
really nice tomato seedlings going in
those little peat doo-dads. had some
nice peppers going too. here a few days
back, the majority of my tomatoes just
seemed to shrivel up and die. i have one
good strong tomato plant left out of the
original planting. i've already replanted the
others. in years past, i've had my squash
look really good, make really nice leaves
and flower out, then make a fruit and
start shriveling and drop off within days.


i suspect it has something to do with the
quality of seed i'm getting. i've always had
good luck with vegetables, except in the droughty
conditions we've had at times. that was because
of having to use city water with chlorine to
keep the plants going.


what say ye? bad seed ? black thumb?

[cjclemens]

It sounds like you have some kind of disease issue going on, which could be seed-borne. Do you save seeds or buy new every year?

[Ranger99]

been buying new yearly, with
the exception of okra- had no
issues with that.
most all of the seeds to be had here
are ferry-morse. i try to get burpee
when i can, never an issue with them.

[longwinters]

The few times i had Ferry Morris seed I was not real impressed.  I go Burpee, Gurneys, Parks and Henry Fields (owned by Gurneys). 
 
Long

[Ranger99]

this will be my last go-round
with ferry-morse anything.
may just have to mail-order
next year. used to buy everything
at a local nursery about a mile
away. after the original owner
passed, it went steadily in
the ground about a year or
two after. never had any problems
with any of their seed or plants.

[Oldshooter]

I understand the drouty thing! if it werent for drout we'd have no weather here. I have had to put in drip irrigation the past two years to keep any thing alive.  I planted a beautiful nectarine tree last spring. It flourished with the drip everyday. The battery went dead in my auto valve while we were gone for 5 days and the leaves fell off and it isnt coming back this year. Drat it!

[Ranger99]

i've lost several hundred dollars
worth of pecan and peach trees
i planted in the country. i gave
up on that notion for now and
started planting acorns and
hickory nuts. out of 10-15 gallons
of acorns planted, i've got 4 or
5 young oaks. hopefully, they'll
make it through this summer.

[cjclemens]

It's just a shot in the dark, but you might look into a fungal disease called "damping off." It's caused by several spcies of fungi and can cause seedlings to fall down and wilt. It's normally soil borne, so it could be living in the peat pellets, your seedling trays(if you reuse them), watering can, water source(if its a cistern or rain barrel), or on the seed (not quite as likely as the other options). Keep in mind this is a blind guess.  Seedling diseases are tough to diagnose, without having any symptoms to look at.

[Ranger99]

may very well be.
i've just about lost my time
for setting out anything, so
i'll probably have to end up buying
started plants for the tomatoes.
probably has something to do
with this crappy water we have now.
i was using rain water until this
west nile business we've had here.
they made everyone get rid of any
buckets or barrels that would hold
water. i pointed out that mine was
covered, but that makes no difference
to an idiot.
oh well. . .we shall see.

[blind ear]

Ranger99, if it is a drought problem you might try a heavy ring of mulch around the tree. Plant it early and keep the hay/grass at least 10-12 inches from the trunk. Have the hay at least a foot deep, packed and a band about 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide. A lot of hay. It will hold a lot of moisture a long time. One or two more pecan trees might be worth a try. ear

[Ranger99]

ok thanks.
i won't be buying any more for a
while until i get over my lack of
funds, but the acorns and hickory
nuts were free except for my time
to pick them up and the time to put
them in the ground. the other trees i had
bought when cost wasn't an issue.
some of the peaches were from the previous
owner who bought them and never set
them out for whatever reason. they
all made it for the first couple of
years until the bad drought hit. also,
future trees bought will have a deer barrier
of some kind put around them.


thanks again for the mulch idea.

[blind ear]

You are bound to have some true seeded Indian pecans in your area. If you can trade for some of those seed they are as easy to grow as Oaks from acorns. Just plant 5-6  in each spot that you want a tree. You can later thin them or transplant some if you don't have them too close together. I have planted trees from trees from trees. That began a while back but you plant trees for the grand-kids and hope you see fruit. If you keep the trees heavily mulched as I suggested before you will have pecans in 6-7 years instead of 15-20. Just keep increasing the width of the mulch ring as they grow. Don't get close to the bark. I dumped my mower clippings around my trees.
-
Any pecan tree that came up from a seed and makes good pecans is true seeded and will produce good pecans if those seed are planted. Persimmons on the other hand might not be true seeded and also might be male but are easily grafted with wood from a good producing female tree. Bitter pecans and fruit trees are easy as pie to graft also. The instructions on a box of grafting wax are almost complete.
-
Plants usually want to live real bad if they aren't manipulated by man too much. Good luck. ear

[Oldshooter]

I cant tell you guys how many pecan and peach trees I have murdered since I bought this place(2004). We have only six to eight inches of top soil here and clay below that. I would dig a hole several feet across, put in good soil and the root ball and they would do fine for a while. A monsoon rain would come and the "bowl" would fill and they would drown, I guess. I now plant on a mound (half below and half above) and drip irrigate until they root below the ground surface. This place was meant for growing cattle and Fireants. 

[blind ear]

Oldshooter, what kind of clay do you have? Most of the pecans that I planted were in the Miss Delta are in "Alligator Clay". Cat-ion transfer of 35. A pure clay with flat particles. Many mature hardwoods here have rotted out hearts from living in standing water so much of the year. I looked for places on the edge of a low spot that would hold water pretty late but not standing in the water. Planting on a high spot does help.
-
Very high nutrient content but wont give it up easily.
-
http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ay/ay-238.html
-
ear

[Ranger99]

o.s. you need to get with someone
that has a good pto post auger and
get them to shoot you some 3'-4' holes
for your trees and fill with a good
grade of potting soil, put your tree
down and backfill the rest with potting
soil. that would get some running
room for the taproot on your young
trees. (maybe a couple of quarts of
pearlite too)
i have the opposite problem.
trade ya some sand for some clay

[charles p]

In NC a soil test is free.  Helps determine what is missing and what is out of ballance.  Can't hurt a thing.  Maybe you are burning your plans with too much of something.

[Oldshooter]

basically live in a pine forrest. I have always figgerd it was an acidic soil because of that and added lime. This year I will get it tested. A&M does it, not free but not expensive either.
 
 
Dont know what kinda clay I have, maybe the testing will tell me that as well.

[blind ear]

R99, back to the OT of trees. Carry a bag of Filberts, almonds and native pecan from fall until summer starts. Everywhere that looks good for a tree, stick some seed in the ground, Just a pointed stick and punch a hole, cover it up step on it and move on. Someone will find "mystery trees" there someday. Russian olive and autum olive olive spread well if you can get a couple started. I will butt out now. ear

[Ranger99]

don't butt out.
it's always good to hear of something
i may not know.
we're getting a good rain right now, and
it'll do nothing but help. i put out another
4 or 5 gallons of acorns this last winter and
maybe a gallon of hickory nuts. i figure to put
some blackberry vines out if i can find the
old-fashioned thorny type here local. most
all i've found are the modern-bred thornless.
i'll likely try some persimmon trees if it isn't
too droughty this summer.
i've been using your poke a hole method these
last couple of years, except with a billdookie,
using it one-handed and just poking a hole
and packing it down with my foot. makes
for a fast planting session instead of how
i was doing it.

[blind ear]

I brazed together some 1 1/2" exhaust pipe,  T handle on top and about 4" from the closed wedge shaped bottom end I brazed a foot peg out each side. It was lighter and tougher than any stick that I had tried. Had the bottom offset with a second pipe so I could drop acorns through the handle but it was easier to just drop the acorn on the ground and push it in the hole with my toe.Worked ok as a walking stick also. It was about as tall as my hand when my arm was bent at a 90 degree angle.  ear

[Ranger99]

well some of the ferry-morse tomato
seedlings actually made it, and are
12-15 inches tall with numerous blossoms.
the burpee tomato seedlings i started
are about 9 inches tall and looks like they'll
outpace the f-m's. i'll have to say in my
amateur judgement that the ferry-morse seeds
were just crap, and i'll not buy anymore.
the f-m peppers also puked, and i bought
burpee to replace them with.


we'll see. . . . .


and thanks again for all the tips

[Ranger99]

musta been the seeds.
all the burpee seeded plants are
doing great and growing fast. the
burpee seed tomatoes outgrew the
ferry-morse and have loads of blossoms.
in the future, i'll just have to stay away
from the ferry-morse and either hold out
for burpee or gurney or mail order some.


thanks to all for the tips

[geezerbiker]

Normally I have very good luck with Burpee seeds but I bought a pack some where around here (I can't remember where) last month and when I planted them less than 20% came up.  So I put a handful in a pie tin a in an effort sprout them and again only about 20% sprouted.  I planted the best looking ones and I'm still waiting for those to come up. 

I don't expect to get much corn this year, it's only an experiment in 3 planters to see how well it grows here and if the deer will eat it all or leave some for me...

Tony

[Ranger99]

burpee seed tomato plants
about 4 ' tall now and covered
with blossoms and little end-of-thumb
sized maters. ferry-morse plants ok, but
not near as tall and fewer blossoms and
fruits.


definitely the seeds at fault. all seeds
started in the little expandable peat doo-dads
in the same tray.


wishing all you snowmen a ray of warm sunshine
for your gardens.