I belive I have some bad gardening habits

[Nazmi]

Hi,

I did plant a lot of stuf this year: from mangoes to sugarcane passing by cabbage, jicama, peppers (the veggie), peppers (the spice), ... I had a lot of sprouts, some survived but eventually I lost almost everything, this thread has proven I have at least some over-potting problem, also maybe some overwatering, so I'll try to list the problems I think I have so that they can disappear because it did cost me a lot of magnificient plants this year and I don't want the next to be the same
link to the "ill mango trees": https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/ill-mango-trees.6767/

the problems I suspect I have:
-problems in choosing containers, at least over-potting apparently

-soil sterilization that I want to do (I think I'll use a fresnel lens I got from a tv (it can focus the sunlight and burn a lot of dark stuff)

-fertilization because I belive I did put too much Azote in a big pot because aphids shown up and my plants just died (peppers and jicamas)

-dryness/dampness, I'll add some pics but sometimes, the soil in a pot gets rock-dry and turns in dust and sometimes it's too damp even though I water my plants all the same, so maybe: over/under watering issues

-wind issues, the balcony where my plants are set is a bit windy, do you know if there are effects wind can have on plants ?

-pests/plants discarding issues, I can't remove a dying/useless plant and it's difficult for me to destroy aphids or weeds and all, I overcomed this problem in turkey last year when I had some problems with aphids on my fruit-trees but this year, I remember I saw and let the aphids be a few days before taking action because I wouldn't hurt them .

-workspace organisation problem (there is always dirt everywhere when I work)

Well, I can't take pictures tonight and I don't have time to plug my external hard drives which contains the archives but tomorrow I'll post them.

Thanks in advance, waiting for your tips
Nazmi

 

[Jonathan Tebbutt]

There is a lot in your post...

When it comes to growing anything for the first time, Google is the best resource out there, It will give you the information you need to most of the issues, I tend to read several articles and pick and choose what I follow, ( I am not a follower of rules) For example I have a Bird of paradise plant which I bought around 7- 8 years ago. Being in the Uk they are not very common by the side of the road sort of speak so to give it the best chance of survival I turned to the Internet, Advice on container size and feeding, water, pruning, flowering and pests were all there for me to find. So I now have a wonderful plant that is in the Heated Greenhouse in the winter and outside in the summer and this year rewarded me with 2 flowers.
In regards to wind, wind i find will dry out containers quickly if your not careful, and make sure anything tall is secured to a cane or pole to prevent bending or branches being blown off. Generally most plants will tolerate wind, being in the Uk we have enough of it....
I will be honest I have never sterilised soil so I would even want to answer that.
Dryness well, if you are away from your plants there are several methods of keeping the containers damp/watered, from the water reservoir in the base of the container to a simple drip feeder ( This can be a simple as a spike fitted to an upside down coke bottle which most garden centers sell cheap or online )
Dirt, yes I usually get it everywhere, to keep a workspace totally tidy is impossible when working with soil.... if you are dealing with small pots you can get a soil bench which if you have room can work from, or a tray which you can work your soil from, i will generally jet spray my greenhouse out at the start and end of the season ) Summer/Winter) and then in the Spring and Summer a quick sweep out once a week.

I hope this is of use to you, I am around so just drop me a message if you need anything.

 

[Sheal]

Nazmi, is your soil bought from a supplier or made up by yourself. I presume as your plants are on a balcony that your soil is not from a garden? Any soil that is bought usually contains fertiliser and this will stay in the soil/compost for six to eight weeks. From then on you will need to add fertiliser at intervals during the growing/summer season. During the autumn and winter months this is not necessary as the plants should be given time to rest.

Bought soil should already be sterilised. Aphids can be controlled by spraying the plant with some dish washing liquid/soap diluted in water.

I live in a windy area and yes, it can damage or destroy plants, I have lost many including young trees.

As Jonathan has said above, it's impossible to work with plants and soil without making a mess.

 

[Corzhens]

Let us talk about soil sterilization. When we moved to this house, the backyard was a mess, crushed concrete from the house repair was dumped in the garden. What we did was to separate the stones and concrete from the soild and then we screened the soil by digging 6 inches and making mountains of 1 foot high. After a week, we scattered earthworms that we got from the nearby vacant lot. And the earthworms were covered with soil, slowly with 1 inch everyday until the mountains of soil were all scattered.

 

[Trellum]

Let us talk about soil sterilization. When we moved to this house, the backyard was a mess, crushed concrete from the house repair was dumped in the garden. What we did was to separate the stones and concrete from the soild and then we screened the soil by digging 6 inches and making mountains of 1 foot high. After a week, we scattered earthworms that we got from the nearby vacant lot. And the earthworms were covered with soil, slowly with 1 inch everyday until the mountains of soil were all scattered.

That is a great tip! I might actually try it in my new garden when I get to work with it Hopefully we can get some earthworms nearby, if not we will buy some I think it's worth it!

 

[Nazmi]

I belive you're right, It's been the first time I grew all this stuff and I just checked online five minutes or so for each plant, also about the soil getting very dry, I don't have pics because I lost one of my SD cards (it has to be in my house but where ???),
but thinking again, it may have been a problem in my potting soil (too much horse manure or coco coir, or something like that), these problems, I'll solve them when I will make my next year plantations.
About the dirt, it's store bought but I used to add (maybe too much) coco coir and vermiculite and eventually some horse manure (it was essentially composted wood chips) and I got a lot of dryness on the top of my soil, and I don't like when it does get dry and rough like that, should I leave the soil drying, I know the top drying is normal but when it dries, it doesn't take water like it should, any ideas ?

Also, about the fertilizers, what should I use ? I don't like the "magic chemical stuff", and I belive this year I had too much nitrates in my soil.

also, how should I react when I see some parasites ? Because for example, I have one Pepper that survived and it's been covered with aphids and now little bugs that make some kind of nets (I'll check them tomorrow), I put it in the shower several times, also I removed by hand all the aphids I could but I belive I have not the good actions...
About the dishwashin soap, I know it works well but I'm afraid it could hurt my plants (who knows what's inside the mixture...), are you sure it's ok ?

 

[Corzhens]

That is a great tip! I might actually try it in my new garden when I get to work with it Hopefully we can get some earthworms nearby, if not we will buy some I think it's worth it!

We are actually taking care of some earthworms. We dug up a hole that we call compost bin, that's about a foot high and a foot in diameter. We throw vegetable trimmings there and the earthworms like it very much. That compost bin is our source of fertilizer when the soil in our garden gets dry of nutrients. It is normal for the soil to lose its fertility so we are on the lookout when the plants are not looking healthy anymore.

 

[Beth_B]

A couple of thoughts...first, diluted soap will NOT harm your plants at all. It's a time-honored and gentle way to deal with many types of pests.

Unfortunately, gardening involves occasional battles against pests and insects versus the life and health of your plants...I don't like killing things off but when its a battle between bugs or fungus (fungus is also a life form!) and my plants, I'll take the least invasive route. Soap works. Probably not an option for container plants, but natural enemies - like ladybugs to control aphids - also works. I've bought bags of 1000 ladybugs at garden centers before and just let them loose in my garden.

Dry soil...is not a bad thing necessarily. Probably the number one mistake gardeners make (I used to be guilty of this) is over watering, or too frequent shallow watering. Dry soil is OK, it really is. Let the plant be your guide...if it gets droopy, give it a good drink. For some vegetables mildly stressing them with lack of water is actually good for plant health and increases production. Commercial growers do this. Once a plant's roots start rotting from too much water or poor drainage there's not much you can do to save it, plus moist conditions encourage fungus and pests.

I don't know what soil sterilization even is, so I can't go there! ( I'm going to Google it. ) But adding a good compost to commercial soil is not a bad thing. Search the forum for threads about compost tea...a better alternative to products like miracle grow.

 

[Trellum]

We are actually taking care of some earthworms. We dug up a hole that we call compost bin, that's about a foot high and a foot in diameter. We throw vegetable trimmings there and the earthworms like it very much. That compost bin is our source of fertilizer when the soil in our garden gets dry of nutrients. It is normal for the soil to lose its fertility so we are on the lookout when the plants are not looking healthy anymore.

Nice! I've thought of a compost bin, but how did you make yours? What material is it? And also... doesn't it get too smelly during the summer? I will be living in a small place, the neighbors are right next to me and they are kind of difficult when it comes to this kind of things. That is why I as

 

[Jonathan Tebbutt]

The ladybugs is a good one, I have done that In my Greenhouse and it worked a treat, You do have to decide how you want to treat pests, Some insecticides are very effective and others are just not worth the effort, Of course natural predators for pests is also a good natural way of combating pests, although the real reason for the explosion of pests is the mild winters of northern Europe over the last few years not killing them off, The invasion of slugs and snails is a nightmare.
Beth is right about the dry soil, the plant will tell you it needs a drink by drooping, but a good established plant even in a pot should last a week without water, unless of course the weather is particularly hot and dry, If your pots are out in the open like mine here the rain normally provides enough moisture for the plants and rain water is always better than tap water.
I use a general compost for my plants as its cheap and is a reasonable quality and I just use a liquid feed sometimes ( Miracle Grow ) and it does me just fine.

 

[Sheal]

it may have been a problem in my potting soil (too much horse manure or coco coir, or something like that),

Also, about the fertilizers, what should I use ? I don't like the "magic chemical stuff", and I belive this year I had too much nitrates in my soil.

Horse manure is probably to strong a fertiliser for plants in pots. I buy and use a liquid tomato feed that has seaweed extract in it for all my plants in pots, be they flowers or vegetables.

About the dirt, it's store bought but I used to add (maybe too much) coco coir and vermiculite and eventually some horse manure (it was essentially composted wood chips)

Wood chips are not soil/dirt and they are not good for growing any plants on their own. You need proper soil, the earth that you dig from the ground, or compost which is made from rotted vegetation. I fill my composter with weeds, some grass cuttings, shredded paper and vegetable waste, also a little soil from my garden to help the process of rotting. Any other food from the kitchen apart from vegetation should not be composted as it attracts vermin and will make the compost smell.

About the dishwashin soap, I know it works well but I'm afraid it could hurt my plants (who knows what's inside the mixture...), are you sure it's ok ?

As Beth has said, the diluted soap won't harm your plants or the soil. It's been used to solve aphid issues for many, many years.

I don't know what soil sterilization even is

Soil sterilisation here in Britain is...... baking soil (earth) at a high temperature to remove any seeds, bugs or larvae that it may contain. This is called screening.

Earth worms occur naturally in the garden and shouldn't need to be imported. In dry/hot countries they may not be seen because they can't live in extremely dry soils and will move deeper into the ground. In wetter/cooler countries like mine worms are visible in the soil when digging the ground but they also move deeper when the weather has been dry for a long period of time.

 

[Nazmi]

ok, I'll do the diluted soap thing to decontaminate a huge pepper plant I did grow but which had all it's flowers parazited by aphids so the yield was sabbataged, I come back when I got some news/pics

@Johnattan: sadly I don't think I can get rain water easily (I live in an appartment) but thanks for the explanations about the bug invasion we are having these years.

@Sheal: I did buy horse manure but it's composed of something that look like wood chips (I'll take a picture of the content of the bag I got)

 

[Corzhens]

Nice! I've thought of a compost bin, but how did you make yours? What material is it? And also... doesn't it get too smelly during the summer? I will be living in a small place, the neighbors are right next to me and they are kind of difficult when it comes to this kind of things. That is why I as

Oh, our compost bin is nothing special. It is just one corner in a makeshift planter box that we dug a hole of 1 foot deep and 1 foot in diameter. It's just that and the food you put in like excess vegetable trimmings, fruit rinds and other biodegradable items would serve as feed for the earthworms. But be sure there is at least 1 earthworm in the soil. You can make an observation for 1 week because the worms would eat the green feeds you tossed in there and they would multiply. The evidence is the vermicompost - the refuse of the earthworms that looks like cake but actually soil.

 

[Sonjiskica]

Hi,

I did plant a lot of stuf this year: from mangoes to sugarcane passing by cabbage, jicama, peppers (the veggie), peppers (the spice), ... I had a lot of sprouts, some survived but eventually I lost almost everything, this thread has proven I have at least some over-potting problem, also maybe some overwatering, so I'll try to list the problems I think I have so that they can disappear because it did cost me a lot of magnificient plants this year and I don't want the next to be the same
link to the "ill mango trees": https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/ill-mango-trees.6767/

the problems I suspect I have:
-problems in choosing containers, at least over-potting apparently

-soil sterilization that I want to do (I think I'll use a fresnel lens I got from a tv (it can focus the sunlight and burn a lot of dark stuff)

-fertilization because I belive I did put too much Azote in a big pot because aphids shown up and my plants just died (peppers and jicamas)

-dryness/dampness, I'll add some pics but sometimes, the soil in a pot gets rock-dry and turns in dust and sometimes it's too damp even though I water my plants all the same, so maybe: over/under watering issues

-wind issues, the balcony where my plants are set is a bit windy, do you know if there are effects wind can have on plants ?

-pests/plants discarding issues, I can't remove a dying/useless plant and it's difficult for me to destroy aphids or weeds and all, I overcomed this problem in turkey last year when I had some problems with aphids on my fruit-trees but this year, I remember I saw and let the aphids be a few days before taking action because I wouldn't hurt them .

-workspace organisation problem (there is always dirt everywhere when I work)

Well, I can't take pictures tonight and I don't have time to plug my external hard drives which contains the archives but tomorrow I'll post them.

Thanks in advance, waiting for your tips
Nazmi[/QUOTE/]
You have to fix all this but it's completely natural that you cannot fix them all at once, it of course takes time. Please start working on your garden daily and especially work on the things you want to change. Soon it will come into your habit to do things the new way and you won't have to think about it twice. Hope this helps!

 

[Nazmi]

You have to fix all this but it's completely natural that you cannot fix them all at once, it of course takes time. Please start working on your garden daily and especially work on the things you want to change. Soon it will come into your habit to do things the new way and you won't have to think about it twice. Hope this helps!

Hey, I hope it will go like that we'll see how it goes in the course of 2016, I'm starting to make a little "weather station" to get a bit of data on the influence of weather on the watering, I'll also build a more serious indoor growing/sprouting setup and lastly I'm going to enhance my balcony, I cleaned all the nasty stuff yesterday, I also need to take a decision on whether I keep or throw away all the growing mix I have (with the possibility of sterilization).

A sample of the potting soil I have(sifted yesterday to get back all the clay balls that were inside it and to throw away all the roots/big pieces of vegetals):

Before:

After: