Bad News: Damping-Off

Well It has been awhile since I posted and a lot has happened!  Not all good stuff, sadly.  And since it is best to end on a positive note, let's start with the bad.

I started noticing around the week of May 25th that some of the plants out on the porch were looking a bit off.  The leaves were starting to yellow on the tomato and pepper seedlings, and so I did some online research and decided that it was a lack of nitrogen.  Well it turns out that was not the problem.  What was actually occurring was a process called 'damping-off'.  Basically what happens is a fungus develops and causes the stem of the seedling to die.  I actually had to dig into the pots a bit to see the part of the stem that was wasting away.  Most likely I was over-watering, which created the perfect conditions for fungus to grow.  I should also mention that the yellowing of the seedlings was my only clue, since the fungus is not visible.  If there gets to be a large amount of fungus, then you would be able to see it, but that is normally long after the plants have died.

So in short, I have lost SEVERAL of the seedlings I worked so hard to grow.  Since I had such great success last year, In am sort of scratching my head as to how this happened this year.  It is probably a result of the very humid weather and the large amount of rainfall we have had this year.  Last year it seemed like the rain was taking a vacation!  And even though the seedlings were under the overhang of the roof, they still got wet when it rained.  I will definitely be more vigilant next year!

But not all the news is bad.  I transplanted three bell pepper plants into big pots that they will be in for the rest of the season.  Luckily they were still in good shape when I transplanted them on May 27th, and they have yet to fall prey to over-watering or fungus!  I also transplanted some of the Aquilegia flowers and planted Zinnias as well (also on May 27th).  I am happy to report that the Aquilegia are still doing well and the Zinnias have come up!  I continue to monitor the sunflower seeds I planted in the back, but have not seen much in the way of seedling growth.  It is sort of hard to tell with all the weeds that seem to be popping up everywhere!

Because of the sad state of affairs involving the death of many of my seedlings, I made the decision to purchase replacement plants from the store.  In the tomato department I got two Big Boy plants, one Mr. Stripey, and one cherry variety called Husky Cherry Tomato.  I also purchased two replacement plants for my mom, since I had planted some seeds for her as well.  There is a chance that a few of the surviving seedlings I planted will get big enough to also put out in the garden, so I did not buy enough replacements to take the place of all the tomatoes and peppers I planted.  In the pepper department, I got one Jalapeño, one Hungarian Wax, three Long Slim Cayenne, two Habañero, and two varieties I did not plant myself; Tabasco (two plants), and Serraño (one plant).   I was able to get all four tomato plants in the ground today, as well as the Serraño, Jalapeño (one from the store; two of mine), and the two surviving Peter Pepper plants I had.  The rest will be planted as soon as I can get it done.  I am hoping that is very soon!

And one last thing before closing off this post (and going to bed!).  Well maybe two things. :-)  I forgot to mention earlier that I purchased new gardening gloves.  Normally this is not that big of a deal, but I LOVE them!  The ones I had last year were used to the point of falling apart, so it was not that I didn't like my old gloves, it was more that I just really needed some new ones.  I decided to try something a little different than the rubber dipped gloves I had last year.  The new ones are still dipped, but they are dipped in Nitrile. ( Atlas Nitrile Gloves  )  The information said that it is like you aren't wearing gloves, or being "bare handed", and I would say it is pretty close.  The gloves do not have nerves though, so I would suggest handling tiny seedlings with your actual fingers.  Something that is much nicer than my last gloves, in addition to the "bare-ness", is they aren't obnoxious when they get wet!  I can literally spray my gloved hand with the hose, and I don't have the take the gloves off because of heaviness or water pooling.  It is great.  They also seem to clean off easier since the Nitrile is smooth, and doesn't have the built in grooves of the rubber dipped kind.  I know I sound like I am getting paid by the Atlas company, and if they want to pay me I am all for it, but I just really love these gloves!!

And that other thing?  Well photos of course!
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