So stoked to see my tomatoes coming through. These are the beefsteak variety as I'm waiting for my Black Krim to sprout. I decides to go hard on producing more veggies and fruits since I been lollygagging on getting around to starting up my raised beds. Got a no til plot that should be ready to plant in, just undecided if I should give that plot to my tomatoes or to corn? What would y'all do? Growing anything juicy this season?
Maybe sprinkle some DE on the top of your soil after watering to deter the pests or I've read that hydrogen peroxide (dilute) in a spray bottle helps kill the pests as well. How was your experience with egg carton growing?
Yeah my hot peppers are taking a bit to sprout whereas my sweet peppers have already shot out their true leaves. Try nicking your pepper seeds if you want them to germinate faster
Egg cartons are just convenient to keep by the coffee pot at a window so that I monitor and keep with the routine. My whole purpose is to add a light layer of meditative continuity to daily routine. The carton is an effective jumping off point to stay in a broader routine after planting in pots.
In terms of the plants, the carton starts to fall apart around the time the plants need to be relocated. The roots quickly integrate and start penetrating the carton. Last time I removed most of the plants breaking some of the roots in the process. These did not do as well. I also made the mistake of multiple plants in the same container.
Last time, I had discarded a bunch of extra egg carton in some soil in a plastic post thinking "compost it" (too lazy to throw away). There was also one egg holder that did not have anything sprouted, and everything was just tossed together. It turns out that one holder then sprouted a single plant. That plant had no help getting its roots through the carton but it was by-far the strongest plant and resulted in my one tomato... in December... bc... whatever... I'm not doing it for the food... I'm thinking the plant did so well because of that old adage "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but maybe it was just luck. I'm interested in how that plant's babies do now. I think it was infected after it was placed in close proximity to another that wasn't doing great and died after finding lots of little green caterpillars over time. I also probably screwed up by handling the plants to remove any caterpillars I found and the eggs from whatever moth or butterfly is the metamorphosed reproductive phase of said caterpillars.
I tried these when I had fungus gnats, but the only thing that worked was mosquito bits. But I don't know if that would also work for inchworms.