The San Antonio Sandbur Patch

[Wildcat82]

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed my 3 Indian Stripe potato leaf plants I planted mid-June seem to be handling the temperatures much better than the other mid-June transplants. The other plants I set out have slowly developed crispy leaves from the heat and all (SS100 (2), Black Cherry (3), Porter Improved) have only a few green leaves left. Perhaps potato leaf varieties are able to handle the heat better. None of the ISPL have set any fruit but they seem to be in good shape for a Fall harvest.

My Barbaros Cherry suffered some frost damage this past winter and I sort of neglected it after that. But since re-potting it a month ago, its really taken off and grown at least 8 inches. It’s even set a few fruit. Completely unfazed by our heat wave.

Meanwhile, the Salavatski pomegranate which froze to the ground this past winter has made a nice comeback. Hopefully it doesn’t freeze back again this winter for the 3rd time.

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[MarkAndre]

For what it’s worth, I grew the Porter Improved offered by Victory Seeds and got a larger tomato (still small). It is supposedly different from the other seed being offered. It surprised me by turning out to be what I would call multiflora. Unfortunately I did not keep up with tracking very well, but it seemed to me to set well in the heat. In fact it was setting more than it could mature. The only problem was the ones I was getting were full of stem/green woody stuff in the fruit. I hate that. I was intrigued enough to potentially try it again. And if I was a breeder, I would definitely try to see what I could get out of crosses.

[Wildcat82]

For what it’s worth, I grew the Porter Improved offered by Victory Seeds and got a larger tomato (still small). It is supposedly different from the other seed being offered. It surprised me by turning out to be what I would call multiflora. Unfortunately I did not keep up with tracking very well, but it seemed to me to set well in the heat. In fact it was setting more than it could mature. The only problem was the ones I was getting were full of stem/green woody stuff in the fruit. I hate that. I was intrigued enough to potentially try it again. And if I was a breeder, I would definitely try to see what I could get out of crosses.

I planted 4 Porter Improved in May but got very little production in the high heat. One plant never produced, 2 produced tiny round red cherries while the 4th one produced 1 oz pink egg shaped fruit. The Porter Improved (same seed packet) I grew last Fall produced 2-4 oz pink egg shaped fruit like it's supposed to do. I don't know where I bought the seed. I may order some new seed since I don't trust what I have.

In the 100 degree heat we had, my May transplants acted stunted and never grew or produced properly. I think the plants need to be fully developed before the summer heat arrives.

[GoDawgs]

I'm watching your experiments and seeing what does well in your heat. I did Super Sioux two years in a row and it didn't do well at all. One year it was in a big pot and the next year right in the ground away from the garden. They were both done from purchased seed.

By any chance are you sending in any Coyote seed to the MMMM?

[Wildcat82]

I'm watching your experiments and seeing what does well in your heat. I did Super Sioux two years in a row and it didn't do well at all. One year it was in a big pot and the next year right in the ground away from the garden. They were both done from purchased seed.

By any chance are you sending in any Coyote seed to the MMMM?

Every vendor of Super Sioux describes it as "heat and drought tolerant." Maybe it doesn't do well in your hot and humid environment?

I may send in some Coyote seed later this year.

[karstopography]

I'm watching your experiments and seeing what does well in your heat. I did Super Sioux two years in a row and it didn't do well at all. One year it was in a big pot and the next year right in the ground away from the garden. They were both done from purchased seed.

By any chance are you sending in any Coyote seed to the MMMM?

I’m drying “Coyote” seed at the moment. Looks like it will be at least 25 packs of 5 or more seeds per pack. Coyote was the only tomato I grew this summer that never stopped setting fruit, even in the worst of our worst ever summer as far as the heat goes.

Coyote seeds are significantly smaller than the more or less standard sized tomato seeds.

[GoDawgs]

I'm watching your experiments and seeing what does well in your heat. I did Super Sioux two years in a row and it didn't do well at all. One year it was in a big pot and the next year right in the ground away from the garden. They were both done from purchased seed.

By any chance are you sending in any Coyote seed to the MMMM?

Every vendor of Super Sioux describes it as "heat and drought tolerant." Maybe it doesn't do well in your hot and humid environment?

Reputed heat tolerance is why I bought it in the first place. But it sure isn't as hot here as it gets in your areas of Texas and it does well for you. It may be the humidity here. Even though I preventatively sprayed fungicides (and rotated them), it kept funking up even though it's neighbors didn't. Both years. Go figure.

[Wildcat82]

I'm watching your experiments and seeing what does well in your heat. I did Super Sioux two years in a row and it didn't do well at all. One year it was in a big pot and the next year right in the ground away from the garden. They were both done from purchased seed.

By any chance are you sending in any Coyote seed to the MMMM?

Every vendor of Super Sioux describes it as "heat and drought tolerant." Maybe it doesn't do well in your hot and humid environment?

Reputed heat tolerance is why I bought it in the first place. But it sure isn't as hot here as it gets in your areas of Texas and it does well for you. It may be the humidity here. Even though I preventatively sprayed fungicides (and rotated them), it kept funking up even though it's neighbors didn't. Both years. Go figure.

This next year I will be trialing "Jasper" which my be of interest to you. Wild Mexican tomatoes (Coyote and Matt's Wilds Cherry) are extremely heat, drought, and disease resistant but produce tiny fruit. I believe Jasper is a hybridized version of Matt's that produce fruit twice as big.

According to Cornell University, Jasper has "Resistance to late blight, early blight, Fusarium wilt (races 1 and 2) and Septoria leaf spot. About 60 days to maturity from transplant." http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/main/ ... filterBy=0

With a disease package like that, it might be a good variety for hot and humid Georgia.

[GoDawgs]

@Wildcat82 : "Wild Mexican tomatoes (Coyote and Matt's Wilds Cherry) are extremely heat, drought, and disease resistant but produce tiny fruit. I believe Jasper is a hybridized version of Matt's that produce fruit twice as big."

How tiny is tiny? 1" cherry tomatoes is about as small I want to grow. It's a matter of dedicating available space to tomatoes I can put up or use fresh for sandwiches, salads like slicers etc.

[Wildcat82]

@Wildcat82 : "Wild Mexican tomatoes (Coyote and Matt's Wilds Cherry) are extremely heat, drought, and disease resistant but produce tiny fruit. I believe Jasper is a hybridized version of Matt's that produce fruit twice as big."

How tiny is tiny? 1" cherry tomatoes is about as small I want to grow. It's a matter of dedicating available space to tomatoes I can put up or use fresh for sandwiches, salads like slicers etc.

Completely understand. I have very limited space as well. Vendors describe Coyote as producing 1/2" fruits. In my garden, they weigh about 5 grams on average and the plants are absolutely huge and sprawling. According to Johnny's Seeds website, Matt's Wild Cherry produces 5 gram fruits while Jasper produces 7-10 gram fruits. Jasper probably just barely meets your criteria. I'll be able to give a definitive review next year when I grow it.

[Wildcat82]

Temps have been consistently in the mid 90's for a couple weeks but nighttime temps have been dropping into the low 70's lately and plants in my garden have noticed. I'm not harvesting anything yet but the tomatoes, eggplants, okra, and peppers have really perked up and I'm getting fruit set on most every plant.

Fall gardening has become my favorite time of year.

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[Wildcat82]

Lots of activity in my garden lately. The AC Wendy strawberries (Jung's Seeds) I planted a week ago have all survived and growing happily. Likewise my week old japanese mustard, cilantro, and dill transplants look good. I'll be putting out a dozen collards/kale transplants next week with lettuce, arugula, and spinach to follow the week after.

Meanwhile my eggplant, tomatoes and 3 peppers look great though for some reason there is very little fruit set on anything. I don't know why.

My 3 Aswad eggplant are now 5 1/2 feet tall while my 3 Black Beauty and 6 Ichiban also look great. No fruit set at all. Of my tomatoes (2 Sungolds, 1 Juliet, 2 Super Sioux, 1 Abu Rawan, 1 Porter Improved, 3 Indian Stripe, and 1 Black Plum) only the Sungolds are setting. Three of my peppers I planted out 1 September are blooming but the other 8 peppers I tried to over-summer since early May look awful. Maybe the long heat wave irreparably stunted them?

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[Wildcat82]

I’ve read articles by Penn St. entomologists where they say damage from broad mites usually shows up a couple weeks after broad mite attack. Several universities have reported that broad mites cannot reproduce at temperatures higher than 90-93 degrees. And yet, broad mite damage occurred on my lime tree and young peppers 10 days after our weather moderated. Literally the day temperatures dropped into the 80’s, broad mite population exploded and they began attacking everything in my garden. This hasn’t happened the past few years.

I first noticed a strawberry browning up around the leaf edges about 10 days ago and have been spraying them miticide every day. Didn’t help. Every day I see another dead one out there. Only 10 of my 25 little plants are still alive. I’ll probably just pull the rest out and be done with them.

I have not harvested any okra from my 80 day old plants. My plants are not vigorous and leaves are all dropping off the plants and the small handful of pods produced are twisted up and gnarled. I used to think fire ants were the problem but I made sure I put lots of fire ant killer granules all around my plants ever since I put out my transplants. Russet mites probably have been bothering them and now broad mites are finishing them off.

I posted photos of my stunted peppers in the disease section of the forum. Again, within a week of moderate temperatures the plants became horribly stunted on top of the plants which is a classic sign of broad mite damage. Russet mite damage occurs from the bottom of the plant going up the plant with time. The bottoms of my new peppers look fine.

I think okra and peppers can grow here but only if you have them on continuous drip all summer and are willing to spray daily for russet mites all Summer and broad mites all Fall.

One of blackberry plants I had growing in a small pot went from looking nice to dead as a door nail in 2 weeks. Another victim of broad mites. Weirdly, my other blackberry I have growing in a pot that I moved to the other side of my yard 2 weeks ago looks perfectly fine. I’ve noticed this strange behavior from broad mites over the years where they congregate in one area and ignore another area in my yard.

My container oregano plants looks like it may croak from mite damage.

Things look a little brighter for tomatoes. My Sungold tomatoes are still producing a couple 4 gram fruits per day. My Juliet and Porter Improved are slowly setting a few fruit so there is some hope for these plants. However, my 2 Super Sioux, 2 Abu Rawan, 1 Black Plum and 2 Indian Stripe have zero fruit set. Normally I would attribute this the broad mites but the plants look healthy (and I have been spraying every day for the past 10 days) but there are zero blooms. Headscratcher.

So it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any eggplant, peppers, or okra this Fall nor any strawberries in the Spring. If history is any guide, my lemon, lime and satsuma will enter a zombie state: alive but not growing or producing. If I keep spraying a daily rotation of neem, horticultural oil, rubbing alcohol, Grandevo and Venerate, maybe they will surprise me.

Despite my decimated garden, I still consider this a successful year. I got 4 solid months of tomato production and 1 good month of pepper production along with some greens and excellent herb production. I should be able to get some winter greens. It’s a lot better than 2002-2018 where I suffered total garden wipeouts with the exception of one year.

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[Wildcat82]

Things are looking much better over the past 2-3 weeks in my garden since I’ve been spraying every other day with a rotation of rubbing alcohol/citric acid, Grandevo, and Venerate. I’ve made a point of blasting some mite spray into every open eggplant flower and that seems to have helped. At last count, I saw about 20 little eggplant fruit had set. We reached 36 degrees a week ago but I had the tops of a few tomatoes and eggplant get frozen off. Still, it looks like I may be able to harvest a few more eggplant since we’re supposed to have nice weather for the next 2 weeks.

Meanwhile, some of my tomatoes look like they will produce this Fall. My 2 SunGold dribble out 2-3 tomatoes/day while Juliet, Porter Improved, Super Sioux have set nicely though. My 1 Black Plum, and 1 Indian Stripe have only set a couple fruit. The 3 Abu Rawan look beautiful but have zero fruit set for some reason I haven’t figured out.

The collards, kale, and mustard are growing nicely in my former strawberry bed. I’ve noticed over the past couple years that none of these plants are bothered in the least by mites.

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Porter Improved

[Wildcat82]

The weather over the past week has been cloudy and cool with little sunshine so everything is growing slowly. I've been picking a 3-4 tomatoes everyday and now have enough for a small bowl. My 13 eggplants have now set 33 fruit. No frost in the forecast so hopefully I can get more eggplant and peppers. Just need a little more sunshine to bring this harvest home.

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[Wildcat82]

The Mustard Oil Bomb
Over the past few years I have noticed that brassica, particularly mustard greens, seem impervious to mites. When the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, ground cherries, etc. are looking horribly stunted like they have been sprayed with ROUNDUP, the mustard greens continue to look perfect and pump out flawless looking new growth. What is it about mustard greens that make them immune to mites, aphids, etc? Using Google Scholar I found a few studies that discussed something called the “Mustard Oil Bomb.”

Over millions of years, plants have evolved natural defense mechanisms to overcome insect pests and pathogens. One such mechanism is the production of natural repellents or specialized metabolites like glucosinolates. Common mustard plants are the highest source of glucosinolates. If plant tissues are bitten by insects, glucosinolates and an enzyme known as myrosinase in plant leaves come into contact, and, as a result, isothiocyanate oxic metabolites form which deter or kill most insects. Researchers have called this the “mustard oil bomb.” I did manage to find 1 study in which capsaicin and glucosinolates, alone and in combination, controlled aphids.

It is these glucosinolates and their isothiocyanate breakdown products which contribute to the heat and pungency of mustard. These compounds have been widely studied as antimicrobial agents and show a wide antimicrobial spectrum inhibiting Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts and mould. It has also been shown to kill Alternia spp. (the fungus that causes early blight) as well as fusarium spp.

Since mustard contains natural miticides and insecticides that are extremely effective and 100% safe, why not just spray mustard oil on garden vegetables to eliminate/deter mites and aphids? Alternatively, you could just juice some mustard growing in your backyard and spray that. It would be worth trying on early blight as well.

The mystery is: Why is this apparently well studied phenomenon never discussed by anyone. Mustard oil is never marketed as an insecticide nor are there any studies using mustard oil as an insecticide or miticide. There is a total news blackout at University Horticultural/Entomology departments, pesticide manufacturers, garden forums, etc.

Read more about it here:

Glucosinolate Biosynthesis and the Glucosinolate–Myrosinase System in Plant Defense
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/10/5/132

Insecticidal Properties of Capsaicinoids and Glucosinolates Extracted from Capsicum chinense and Tropaeolum tuberosum
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6572632/

Mustard: A Natural antimicrobial Ingredient
https://spreadthemustard.com/food-servi ... ngredient/

[karstopography]

Thanks for sharing these links to the benefits of mustard.

Funny, I planted a whole lot of various asian type brown mustard seeds today, mostly B. juncea but also B. napa, so the articles shared are timely. Wore myself out preparing beds and planting seeds today. I do think these mustards looks nice and interesting in a garden and believe they do help fight the negative fungal diseases and other unwanted things out in the garden.

I don’t know how much of this mustard we’ll actually eat, but I’ll chop up the leaves at some point late this coming winter and mix them up in my beds. This practice seems to ward off a lot of issues like RKN and foliage issues.

[Wildcat82]

Thanks for sharing these links to the benefits of mustard.

Funny, I planted a whole lot of various asian type brown mustard seeds today, mostly B. juncea but also B. napa, so the articles shared are timely. Wore myself out preparing beds and planting seeds today. I do think these mustards looks nice and interesting in a garden and believe they do help fight the negative fungal diseases and other unwanted things out in the garden.

I don’t know how much of this mustard we’ll actually eat, but I’ll chop up the leaves at some point late this coming winter and mix them up in my beds. This practice seems to ward off a lot of issues like RKN and foliage issues.

Apparently mustard is one of best cover crops you can plant. Tilling in mustard is good a wide variety of reasons.

Most Brassica species release chemical compounds that may be toxic to soil borne pathogens and pests, such as nematodes, fungi and some weeds. The mustards usually have higher concentrations of these chemicals.

https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-she ... -brassicas

[Wildcat82]

Looks like I put down the wrong address for the first article I mentioned above. The correct article and address is:

Glucosinolate Biosynthesis and the Glucosinolate–Myrosinase System in Plant Defense
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/11/1786

[Wildcat82]

Garden planning for 2024
I’ve pretty much decided which varieties I will be planting in 2024. Obviously I place great importance on heat set ability. Here’s a quick preview:

For basil, I will be trialing Thai Towers and Emerald Towers. Both as supposedly taller plants with bigger leaves and are claimed to flower 3 MONTHS later than other basil varieties. Sounds like a big improvement on other basils.

Early season tomatoes will include SunGold, Black Cherry, Brandysweet Plum, Mt Magic, Chadwick, and Blush. I haven’t been real happy with SunGold’s yields in years past but I must admit this Fall it is by far the best tasting of anything I’m growing. I’m attempting to clone 4 Sungolds now and have already seed sown for Black Cherry and Jasper Those will be my extra early plants. In about 2 weeks I’ll be sowing the others.

My tomato heat set trials in 2024 will feature a few new entries. I’ll be planting these seedlings in April.

Juliet
Super Sioux
Porter
Jasper
Flamenco
Punta Banda
Chiapas Wild
Texas Wild

Here are some description of Punta Banda, Flamenco, Chiapas Wild, and Texas Wild

Punta Banda tomato is desert-adapted! Adapted to Punta Banda, Mexico and received from Native Seeds SEARCH in Tucson, AZ. This amazing tomato LOVES the heat and full sun and thrives with lower water levels than most tomatoes. A great producer. This is a meaty and mild tomato, good eaten raw and even better for sauces and pastes.  Highly recommended for anyone in the Four Corners region and farther South.
https://vibrantearthseeds.com/products/ ... nda-tomato

Flamenco An excellent open-pollinated tomato for the Southwest. Flamenco is a cross between Silvery Fir Tree for earliness and feathery foliage and Floridade for heat and disease resistance. The result is a semi-determinate 4' bush loaded with highly flavored 2", red round fruits. Nice acid/sweet balance and great flavor. Continues to produce in hot weather when others stop. Performed very well in our 2012 trials in both Tucson and Patagonia, Arizona.
https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections ... ucts/ts340

Chiapas Wild is a fascinating wild-type variety of cherry tomato, meaning it is more closely linked to the ancient, wild tomatoes that humans eventually began to breed and cultivate. The tomatoes have a totally unique depth of flavour, paired with a delectable sweetness. Typically, this variety produces small tomatoes the size of a blueberry, but in 2022 Franken Farm experienced a unique occurrence- one of my plants produced only full-size cherry tomatoes that retained their delicious flavour. This plant is the origin of these seeds. The plant was the largest tomato plant I have ever grown, reaching 12 feet tall and roughly 8 feet wide from leaf to leaf. It was the first and last producer of the season, as well as having the heaviest yield of a single plant. This tomato is an excellent candidate if you don't lack for space in your garden and would like to grow a showstopping plant whose wild origins serve as an interesting conversational piece. Indeterminate and open pollinated.
https://frankenfarm.ca/products/chiapas-wild-tomato

Texas Wild - This cherry tomato is slightly bigger than Matt's Wild (fruits are about 1/2") but the plants are just as large and sprawling with hundreds of cherry tomatoes. Nice, sweet flavor. indet. reg. leaf 75 days
https://tomatobob.com/shop/ols/products ... 0-25-seeds

Texas Wild - All we really know is that seed of this tomato was collected from a patch of apparently "wild" tomatoes in southern Texas. Sprawling plants produce tons of small, tasty, cherry-type tomatoes. Early-maturing and very productive! One of the stars of our 2012 tomato trials in Patagonia, Arizona (4000'), they've also been super productive in our 2021 Tucson grow-out.
https://www.nativeseeds.org/products/tm012

Wild Mexican tomatoes like Coyote and Matt’s Wild Cherry have amazing heat set ability but the fruits are very tiny. I suspect Jasper is a hybridized version of Matt’s Wild Cherry. Both varieties were brought to market by Johnny’s Seeds, both are 60 days til harvest, both are resistant to the same diseases (early Blight, Septoria Leaf Spot and Late Blight), and both are described as huge sprawling bushy plants. The only difference is that Jasper produces 7-10 gram fruit versus 5 gram fruit from Matt’s. Hopefully Jasper will have Matt’s heat setting ability.

For eggplants, I’ll be planting Ping Tung and Fairy Tale. Ping Tung is generally considered one of the most heat tolerant varieties. One youtube gardener in Austin was harvesting Fairy Tale eggplants during the extended heat wave we had so that looks like a good plant to try here.

My early season peppers include Momma Mia Giallo, Big Jim, and Red Marconi. My raised bed (summer heat set) plants will be Flaming Flare Hybrid, Cubanelle, Habanada, Gypsy, Mammoth Jalapeno. All my summer peppers were listed by Tomato Growers Supply as heat tolerant and this jibes with some recommendations I’ve gotten on this forum. I also have a Chiltepin Wimberly (bird pepper) growing in the back yard. Hopefully I can keep it alive til Spring.