Have a question about something you saw in the garden, or on the klog? Or maybe something from your own or a friends garden? Where to get something? This page is your place to post a question and get an answer back from Shep or another reader...just post it as a Comment below.
John
Can you post a picture? Your description sounds like a wilt, not a blight, but could also be water stress (at least here in Shepherdstown).
The rain has been so localized recently that just the difference between Bakerton, Bellevue and Princess St is noticeable, and the symptoms also related to soil quality and other factors. For instance, this morning when I was in the Bellevue garden (heavy clay, not very good maintenance) the beets were revived (after severe wilting noticed in the heat yesterday) and yet just hours later, in the afternoon, I noticed the beets looking wilted again (though the roots are of predictable size).
Point is: there are a number of possible causes for any given symptom, in any given season, and a picture of the particular plant (thank you web and digi-pix!) would help determine what is the problem in this specific case.
Alternatively, you can check the photo files of problems on the websites of Cornell, Clemson, and Davis, all of which have extensive problem ID sections, and then we could move forward on control.
Posted by: Shepherd Ogden | July 27, 2009 at 09:40 PM
Hi Shepherd. Any reason why my tomato plants are wilting? We garden in the Scrabble area a few miles from Shepherdstown. What started out as a few stems on one plant in June, over several weeks spread to the other 20 or so plants on down the line. All but 2 of the plants seem to have recovered, but now one of the melon plants is showing the same symptoms. Watering doesn't seem to make a difference. Some sort of blight?
Posted by: John | July 27, 2009 at 05:11 PM
Thanks for asking. It is "Straight Ahead Organic" and is available (used) on Amazon. I would sell you a copy, but I sold the last one I had last month at the Back Alley Garden tour. If you are planting in Martinsburg and want to try it this year, you should plant by about the first week in August for fall harvest (and use a fairly early carrot variety). Last time I stopped by Boltz's on Winchester Ave still had both carrot and radish seed.
Posted by: Shepherd Ogden | July 20, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Hi. you said that the "carrot-radish trick was described in detail in your books, what books would those be and where can i get one. I'm trying to start something like this at my house in Martinsburg. -Mike-
Posted by: Mike Jandora | July 20, 2009 at 05:02 PM