DFW, TX area people, how's everything growing? - Page 2

Mallori · May 21, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by decherdt

I have been keeping up a fruit set count in my "2015 pictures" album. Except for the cherry types and saladettes, almost all of the fruit is set in the bottom half of the our vines, and none at all on our one Wes. Missed (dropped) a couple of big, eye level "generations" pretty much across the board, and I'm not even trying for Brandywines. I did have to treat a big flush of EB, wonder if it could be contributory to blossom drop? Don't recall having to deal with a FT. of rain and its humidity in a month before either.

This is almost exactly what I'm seeing with my plants. My cherries are doing very well, but the others are kind of meh.

I do seem so have some thrip issues, too. My poor plants.

Fiishergurl · May 21, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mallori

This is almost exactly what I'm seeing with my plants. My cherries are doing very well, but the others are kind of meh.

I do seem so have some thrip issues, too. My poor plants.

What are the high temps there now?

Ginny

Mallori · May 21, 2015

Our weather has been crazy. Very very wet with temps bouncing all over the place. Yesterday was hot and today was about 50* when I left my house at 11am

OzoneNY · May 21, 2015

Thats what I got! The flower stems turning yellow and/or brown and then dropping.

What is this?

Dewayne mater · May 21, 2015

Ozone - could be thrips. Read the recent posts about this. They not only destroy flowers and future tomatoes, but, they are a very efficient vector for TSVW and if you get that, the plant is done .

decherdt · May 21, 2015

Temps have been mostly in the mid 80's, hit 90 one time, 60 another time. Fingers crossed, I still hope & figure its plain old blossom drop related mostly to weather, and me trying to get 2 lb beefsteaks to yield on the ~~shoulder~~ cusp of tornado alley. Any body else local get 50- 60+mph winds a couple of times? Drop happens at some time every year. The cherries and a few others are still setting. Mid June and July temps won't drop under 75 and I'll keep a row of cherries just or fun, pull vines and plant black eye peas everywhere else. Working up my list for next Spring, too. Fewer, further apart, No tomatoes bigger than my head, etc

http://www.wunderground.com/history/...99999#calendar

OzoneNY · May 21, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Ozone - could be thrips. Read the recent posts about this. They not only destroy flowers and future tomatoes, but, they are a very efficient vector for TSVW and if you get that, the plant is done .

Oh no. I will test when I get home.
What are you doing to control them and do thrips affect any fruit already set?

Dewayne mater · May 22, 2015

Oh, I have them and have had them that I know of for 3 weeks. I suspect I had them earlier because I started noticing blossom drop and then started looking for them. In the future, I'm going to randomly look for them and perhaps put out yellow sticky traps to get an indicator of when they arrive. As for fruit that is set, the answer is yes:http://www.clemson.edu/public/regula...lder/tswv.html
Also, they can give your plant TSWV, then its church. So, they are a serious pest.

Dealing with them? There are a couple of threads on that circulating now. The article I just linked points out the using pyrethroids, something I've done with permetherin (sp?) is bad because it wipes out their natural predators. I would say ideally, you would use natural predators and allow them to keep the balance, but, I don't have any of the known predators and haven't found a place to order them, yet. Some say the traps work to reduce the population. Neem - nyet. This year using a bactericide identified on Tville has reduced, but never got close to eliminating them.

Dewayne Mater

OzoneNY · May 22, 2015

I got these evil bugs. Ugh!

OzoneNY · May 22, 2015

This is what I got. I started to notice 2 weeks ago some blossom drop, not bad though and it seemed maybe because its been so cold and wet out. That seemed a stretch but I had nothing else to go on so I left it as is. I regret not knowing now. Im afraid I will lose it all this season.

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creister · May 27, 2015

I have had similar to the pictures above. My plants loaded up in the lower to mid levels, and now most are 4-6 feet tall, and not many blossoms. I either have thrips as suggested, or the fruit set is heavy enough to cause fewer blossoms? I am going to check for thrips tonight. Spider mites have already shown up, not sure why as it has been wet and cool.

Mallori · May 27, 2015

Is everyone excited about MORE RAIN??? I was starting to get worried, it hadn't rained for several hours yesterday. Today more rain is forecast.

Fiishergurl · May 27, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mallori

Is everyone excited about MORE RAIN??? I was starting to get worried, it hadn't rained for several hours yesterday. Today more rain is forecast.

It's starting to sound like Florida during the rainy season there. I used to spend quite a bit of time in Quitman, Tx and the surrounding area in April/May/June each year taking horse photos and it never rained like that when I was there.

Ginny

AlittleSalt · May 27, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mallori

Is everyone excited about MORE RAIN??? I was starting to get worried, it hadn't rained for several hours yesterday. Today more rain is forecast.

I asked my wife to read this just so she could laugh out loud too

I emptied 2.5" of rain from our new rain gauge this morning. I have emptied at least 2.5 inches of rain 4 times since Friday the 22 through today Wednesday 27th. It has rained well over 30 inches down here on the Johnson/Hill County line this month.

Fiishergurl · May 27, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I asked my wife to read this just so she could laugh out loud too

I emptied 2.5" of rain from our new rain gauge this morning. I have emptied at least 2.5 inches of rain 4 times since Friday the 22 through today Wednesday 27th. It has rained well over 30 inches down here on the Johnson/Hill County line this month.

Yeah, that is more than the typical rain in Florida during the rainy season or anywhere. Prayers and good thoughts to everyone with all the rain.

Ginny

May 21, 2015	#21
decherdt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 329	Temps have been mostly in the mid 80's, hit 90 one time, 60 another time. Fingers crossed, I still hope & figure its plain old blossom drop related mostly to weather, and me trying to get 2 lb beefsteaks to yield on the ~~shoulder~~ cusp of tornado alley. Any body else local get 50- 60+mph winds a couple of times? Drop happens at some time every year. The cherries and a few others are still setting. Mid June and July temps won't drop under 75 and I'll keep a row of cherries just or fun, pull vines and plant black eye peas everywhere else. Working up my list for next Spring, too. Fewer, further apart, No tomatoes bigger than my head, etc http://www.wunderground.com/history/...99999#calendar __________________ 500 sq ft of raised rows zone 8a Last edited by decherdt; May 22, 2015 at 07:32 AM.

May 21, 2015	#18
Mallori Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: DFW, TX Posts: 28	Our weather has been crazy. Very very wet with temps bouncing all over the place. Yesterday was hot and today was about 50* when I left my house at 11am

May 21, 2015	#19
OzoneNY Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Frisco Texas Posts: 390	Thats what I got! The flower stems turning yellow and/or brown and then dropping. What is this?

May 21, 2015	#20
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	Ozone - could be thrips. Read the recent posts about this. They not only destroy flowers and future tomatoes, but, they are a very efficient vector for TSVW and if you get that, the plant is done .

May 22, 2015	#23
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	Oh, I have them and have had them that I know of for 3 weeks. I suspect I had them earlier because I started noticing blossom drop and then started looking for them. In the future, I'm going to randomly look for them and perhaps put out yellow sticky traps to get an indicator of when they arrive. As for fruit that is set, the answer is yes:http://www.clemson.edu/public/regula...lder/tswv.html Also, they can give your plant TSWV, then its church. So, they are a serious pest. Dealing with them? There are a couple of threads on that circulating now. The article I just linked points out the using pyrethroids, something I've done with permetherin (sp?) is bad because it wipes out their natural predators. I would say ideally, you would use natural predators and allow them to keep the balance, but, I don't have any of the known predators and haven't found a place to order them, yet. Some say the traps work to reduce the population. Neem - nyet. This year using a bactericide identified on Tville has reduced, but never got close to eliminating them. Dewayne Mater

May 27, 2015	#26
creister Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Abilene, TX zone 7 Posts: 1,478	I have had similar to the pictures above. My plants loaded up in the lower to mid levels, and now most are 4-6 feet tall, and not many blossoms. I either have thrips as suggested, or the fruit set is heavy enough to cause fewer blossoms? I am going to check for thrips tonight. Spider mites have already shown up, not sure why as it has been wet and cool.