Newbie Vegetable/Fruit Gardener

15 years ago

Hello, I'm in the Gilbert area of Arizona and I'm new to gardening. My boyfriend recently built a raised garden bed for me. It is on the north side of the house, but gets about 10 hours of sun per day.

I put in a few plants but I have some questions about a few of them. First, my Yellow Pear Tomato. This little one was doing great until today I found it fallen over with the stem chewed almost all the way through. There was still some length of stem between the chewed area and the leaves so I buried it all the way up to the bottom of the leaves and hopefully it will be able to survive. Does anyone know what could have done the harm? I'm thinking a bird. Here is a photo:

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Then there is my JalapeÃÂ±o. It looks soo sad, especially the bottom and middle leaves. The top ones look decent but not great. Any suggestions on how to perk it up? It was so pretty when I bought it.

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On that same plant, I also noticed a black mark at the very top of the plant. Could this be something harmful?

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Thank you for viewing! :)

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Comments (5)

rdazgardener
15 years ago
I don't know about the tomato, if its a bug then get some of the organic bug spray at walmart or home depot (I think its called like a soap spray or something)...

about the Jalapeno, how long has it been since you planted it? I have 3 jalapeno's I planted about 4-5 weeks ago and they are doing amazing right now (have already produced a few full size jalapenos and lots of small ones are coming in now). I just planted 8 new pepper plants (different varieties) and they are wilting somewhat during the day, but not as bad as the one in your pic, the jalapeno wilted a bit for a while too, it takes them a couple weeks to get used to their new environment after planting...

how often do you water? If you water it anymore than every 3 days or so (as long as you are mulching) it won't build up the roots well enough to survive well through the summer, maybe you are overwatering and its needing constant water because of a shallow root system?
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
15 years ago
I think the tomoato problem is cutworms. Saw a post recently about the same thing on another forum. Some folks said that if you place empty toilet paper rolls around the plant, the cutworms can't get to them.

I was thinking watering issues too with the jalepeno. Over or under watering, although over watering usually will give you yellowing leaves.
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SieteFleur
Original Author
15 years ago
I planted the Jalapeno last Sunday, so about 5 days ago. It came in a peat pot so I thought that would help avoid transplant shock. Makes sense that it would still need to get used to the new environment, though. I just didn't know if this was too much wilting just for that. I do have another pepper (Cayenne) and the bottom leaves are wilting but the rest seems to be doing fine. It already has a little pepper growing, so cute..
I've watered about every other day, in the mornings. I did add cedar mulch so maybe its getting too much water. I'll try every 3 days.

I looked up the cutworms and its probable that that was it. I'll try that about the empty toilet paper rolls!

Thanks! :D
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
15 years ago
Re: the watering, get a Moisture Meter thingy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Soil Moisture Meter
AJBB
15 years ago
The pepper is shocky. Not acclimated to the 100+ afternoons. Shade the plant and water daily.