Q. I’m getting a late start to plowing my garden. We had heavy rains in the spring and I was unable to finish plowing as the garden is in a low area. I realize that it is to late for most crops, however I’m wanting to plant greens for the fall which I [...]
Q. My banana pepper plants are dropping there flowers and then the buds turn yellow and fall off. Also the plants do not seem to be growing anymore. Last year same thing happened for a couple weeks, but the plants grew amazingly tall and lots of peppers, any clue why their dropping the buds?
Waukesha, Wisconsin
A. [...]
Q. Zucchini: Once the male blossom does its job of pollinizing, and fruit is set on female, can the male blossom be removed? Can too many males foil the maturing of the fruit of the female?
Cave Junction, Oregon
A. Leaving the male flowers on your zucchini will have no effect either way. Since they are a [...]
Q. Is it harmful to cut the leaves off my zucchini plant once it starts producing? My husband does this every year and it seems to slow down the production of zucchini. He also does this to my tomato plants and they stop blooming.
Allentown, Pennsylvania
A. Your husband should stop removing leaves from your vegetable plants. [...]
Q. We have a home on Cape Cod and I have tried, in vein, to grow zucchini and pumpkins for the last few years. I get wonderful leaves and flowers, but before the fruit starts, the flowere wither and die. I have asked garden shops and they tell me I have some sort of bug [...]
Q. I have three Topsy turvy tomato plants. I was wondering how to pollinate them? I have them in a screened-in porch.
-Summerville, South Carolina
A. Tomatoes “self pollinate” but the mechanism is tricky. Bees usually do the job but there shouldn’t “be” any bees on your porch! The pollen is up inside the flowers. Wind can [...]
Q. I have some pumpkin plants that are a few weeks old. They had become infested with aphids so I sprayed them with a home remedy that I found online, ( 1 part veg oil 3 parts water and a few drops mild dish soap.) Well the aphids are now gone but the plant I [...]
Q.
I put in a NEW vegetable garden this year. I tiled in a small amount of aged horse manure and a small amount of garden soil. My zucchini plants are small but there are lots of blossoms on them, but the blossoms fall off and there is no fruit growing. The plants are also [...]
Q. I planted tomato plants in an old barn area that has not been used for horses or chickens or any animals in about 20 years. Now my tomato plants that I planted one week ago are turning white, not yellow like transplant shock but white. Do you know why?
-Lancaster, New York
A. Did you set [...]
Also posted in tomatoes | Tagged tomato plant |
Q. I am having trouble with something sniping the blooms off of my zucchini. Nothing on the plant is chewed except for the blooms. I have sprayed insect spray on the ground and on plant for grubs,etc. It worked for a day. That evening there is a big bloom ready to put on a zucchini, [...]
