SORRY FOR THE LOUD INSECT NOISE! I tried my best to lower it in editing best I could! If you aren't seeing your healthy tomatoes and cucumbers putting out beautiful fruit, you may be missing pollinators! Here are 3 very easy ways to increase your yield by hand pollinating your tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and lots of others! Shout out to Marie McAllister for requesting this video, you finally got me out there to film it! Many thanks! If you’re into container gardening, make sure to checkout my meyer lemon video here: ruclips.net/video/xc91dh2_XbE/видео.html Fancy Ginger? Learn how to grow Ginger from Store bought Root here: ruclips.net/video/1q6_xOsOJRY/видео.html
Rules to Life: 1. Something To Believe In. 2. Someone to Love 3. Something To Do 4. Something To Look Forward To One thing I used to say 40 yrs ago a lot. "The #1 rule in life is SOMETHING TO DO" Just guessing on the order of importance but about a year ago I got to the point of #2. SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. Finding this saying so similar was interesting.
My father always planted many flowers in his vegetable garden. The flowers attracted bees and they would also polinate his vegetables. The result was always a colourfull garden with insects buzzing around the whole day. I have seen videos about US carpenter bees who tend to be more aggressive than european carpenter bees. In europe it is quite common to build "insect hotels" (a bunch of hollow twigs and reed that give bees shelter and breeding space in your garden). The american carpenter bee seems to be more affiliated to build their nests into houses and tearing down wood beams... But still, these bees can make the difference in your garden.
You are absolutely correct, on all counts! I actually keep honey bees here and we have an EXTREME amount of carpenter bees. And they are exactly how you described, aggressive toward structures. We’ve been extremely hot and dry the last several months and the pollinators just aren’t as prolific as they should be. I do have roses, some alyssum, and some other ornamental plants around the garden. Not many mind you, but you are correct. Those gardens look beautiful and they are alive with life!
I have a hive very near my garden, and I kind of feel the same way about the number of bees I’ve seen! Lol. I’m hoping this season it will be better, but the weather is so strange, we’ll just have to wait and see!
My pleasure! This year was really rough on tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. All the weird wether produced weird results. Give it a try for sure, it can really help!
🇨🇦 this video was very helpful. I’m growing some cucumbers inside at the moment and there are no pollinators . I will be using my tiny brush and getting cucumbers 😊 once the weather warms up they’ll be moving out
That’s great! I hope it helps get you through that gap, and I’d love to hear how it turns out for you as well! You have to be pretty diligent about it and just keep it, but it works like a charm!
Doc as always!! Full of information! Growing up on a farm and learning the importance of pollination, this just checks off all the boxes! Great video! Great host! Better friend! Miss you brotha!
Thank you for taking the time to say so here, it was my pleasure to share and I truly appreciate that! I hope it helps you out in the garden if you have any questions, just let me know!
That’s a great question! The first thing to know, is to make sure that the flowers are open and ready, so you’ll have to catch them as they first bloom. After that, if they are open, you can keep pollinating them. Just keep in mind you have to be a little bit gentle if you’re doing it repeatedly as you don’t want to break the flower parts inside Never force the flower open, because it may have already been pollinated where it may be passed viability. I hope that helps!
Thank you so much! You are very kind! Conroe is one of the fastest growing areas in Texas right now. It amazes me to see just how many people have moved in and around the Houston area in the last few years!
That’s fantastic! He does work quite well, especially in the sweltering heat before the leaves drop off. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know. Good luck!
WOW ! Man there's a lot i need to learn on gardening. I had several zucchini plants and noticed the male and female flowers but was not aware we could pollinate them this way. Some of the plants were nice and big with flowers but no fruit,now i know why. thanks for the info my friend !
Two years ago, it was really bad here, nothing was fruiting. Surprisingly it got hotter last year which is what I think caused the main problem, but those are some of my go to when I’m not getting anything at all. Even my own beats didn’t wanna pollinate. It’s always something worth trying when it’s not showing up and producing fruit for you! Same to you! I still need to go fishing really bad!
Oh yes ! Fishing is a great way to relax and maybe bring home some great tasting food, must make time for that. I have been experimenting with a grow light trying to improve on starting some seedlings, Got some broccoli and califlower started but they seem to grow a bit then just stay there so far.. have not grown any bigger ...yet. Also going to try grow bags this time around see how that works out. I am serious about getting better at growing things now so i will try my best to learn. Thanks a bunch for your advice ! Hope you live close to the gulf and try some inshore fishing ! But fresh water fishing looks like a lot of fun to. AND !! If you can't go fishing, Do fishing stuff ! @@TexasGardenDoc
Hi ! I uploaded a video i shot today on my garden. If you see it, any advice on on what i could do better to get better results is much appreciated ! @@TexasGardenDoc
This will be the first year I moved my seed starting set up fully indoors. The last couple of years I’ve had a really hard time regulating temperature out of my barn. It used to be pretty easy, but since 2021 it’s been kind of a nightmare The biggest thing you have to watch for with seedlings, are nutrients light water, and temperature. For instance, most seeds like to germinate between around 70° and 80°, but if they’re cool weather plants like spring plantings, they immediately want to come down in temperature a bit. So you’ll want to move any spring plants to a slightly cooler area. The summer plants can kind of stay in that 70 to 75 range For water you wanna make sure that the soil stays damp until they sprouted. But now that you have sprouts, you wanna make sure you water them regularly. They don’t wanna be wet and really humid most of the time. However, depending on the size of the pots and the type of soil mixture they may dry out really fast. I recommend a spritzer , once the water is moist, you can keep it moist by spritzing it every day or every other day just as needed. Then the hardest one is nutrients. Depending on the soil makes you used you may need to fertilize from the bottom for instance if you use a sterile seed mix, it likely has no nutrients in it. So once they have sprouted, and they have two good leaves, it’s time to lightly fertilize them. I recommend a liquid fertilizer diluted properly. Once most plants get to the point that they have 2 to 4 true leaves it’s time to plant them out. If you can’t plant them out, just make sure they’re getting nutrients where they could be stunted. I actually used to fish quite a bit on the inland lakes. I didn’t get to go last year, but my father did and I still have a freezer full of catfish and Croppie!
That’s fantastic I’d love to take a look! Do me a favor and go into the about section of my channel and find my email address send me an email that way I can remember. I work a full-time job and I get to check occasionally, and by the time I get back to it, I’m afraid I’ll forget!😂
Thank you! It’s crazy because I had problems with pollination last year. This year I started keeping bees and they were all over the plants until the heat got out of control early. It never hurts to have these types of tools ready to go! I hope it helps you out and thanks for subscribing as well!
It was my pleasure, and thank you so much for the subscription. That means the world to me! If you have any questions about anything at all, just ask, I’m usually around and I’d love to help where I can!
@@TexasGardenDoc Awesome 😁 yes of course.. You have great content and I don't mind giving props where it is due.. 😀 I appreciate you responding to my comment and the support you give back 🙏 Many Blessings
@godisincontrol32 thank you! You are so kind and it’s absolutely my pleasure. I try really hard to respond to everyone and help wherever I can. The best part about doing this is the people! And I’m thankful to have you here in this community. Thank you so much!
@@TexasGardenDoc of course 😄 Absolutely.. I feel the same way 🙏 it's all about spending knowledge to the people and finding methods to make life easier 😁 Much appreciated my friend 👍
Hey Doc, I wanted to drop you a note. I just came to your channel and was really impressed that you had a deep conviction in the end about #1 being "something to believe in". I would like to share that since you have a good audience.. You should share what you believe in... Because it is obvious a strong enough conviction for you to mention. I myself used to do RUclips and taught what I read in the Bible. I was shocked to see MI Gardener reply to a Christian site many months ago and confess his concerns about the end times in the comments to another man's video. I was sad to see him never share his faith or even mention what has inspired him. So I encourage you.. If it's Christ who is your God be unashamed.. If it's Buddha .. Then be unashamed.. If it's Allah then be unashamed. Because all people who lose hope and who are discouraged have some sort of religion tagged to them... Even if it's atheism. Your conviction showed something tangible. You should share next time the name of your God unashamedly. Because if it's the God of the Bible then he says he looks to see if we confess him before men. We promise we will still watch you!. If you feel it's irrelevant... Consider this.. That's its the honest and noble trade of a Gardener to choose to open ones eyes to the creator.. And to care for the things in the garden is an honest and noble trade. Rarely do the proud pursue such endeavors. It's the humble that start to " see something to believe in" . Give it some time and see if one day you can muster that strength to confess your faith by name so others may be encouraged as well. ( You can delete this message if you like.. Because it's sooo long.. Sorry)
No way I’m deleting this! I have a long story of faith and my journey through the years (in God mind you) that brings me where I am today. Here is the reason I don’t mention exactly Who (capitalized) that is. The society we find ourselves in today is a strange one of labels…..those labels serve to separate us, I believe unwillingly, from each other. That itself has left us all isolated from the whole of the rest of the souls on this planet. The reason I say it the way I do is to cause a conversation (just like this one we are having!) that doesn’t presume faith. That doesn’t presume labels. To me I feel it breaks through the labels and speaks to that inner faith you are speaking of! In that way, the hope is that conversations will take place and that those that are put off by labels will still be engaged. Now I’ve struggled with this a bit, mainly because I know that proclamation is an important part of sharing the faith. I hope that makes sense! It doesn’t mean I won’t change it to that at all either. My thought was to have some kind of spe rate type of interaction that people that w ant to know more can participate in…although I’m not sure wha that looks like. Luke (M I gardener) I always wondered!
@@TexasGardenDoc lol... That's good to hear. I only came to faith because 2 sisters challenged me with a question when I was in college. When I replied to their question.. They looked at eachother and said " never mind". I was so upset that they didn't care enough to engage me. Later when I came to faith..I got back in touch with them and asked them why they didn't pursue the matter with me they said they were told by their " pastor" to leave it be for peace sake. But that angered me so much when i was in my early twenties that they had something so precious and didn't share it. That treasure they had was impossible for me to " find" on my own and they knew it. The Bible says " how will they believe if they have not heard?". So the great commission is to preach the gospel of repentance ... Because if they don't hear .. How can they believe? And if the one holding treasure doesn't share . How can treasure be shared? God bless you on this endeavor and all your endeavors. We are all growing...but let us grow spiritually most importantly... Day by day.. Inch by inch.. To bear fruit... Fruit unto...repentance.. And into good works and fruits of patience, kindness.. Goodness.. Self control etc. May you " sow the seed " while your prayer Waters it...and God will make it grow... So others may bear fruit like you are. ( The seed .. According to the Bible is...the word) I pray you understand that I'm nudging you in a godly and good direction for your spiritual benefit.. Because I care enough to engage. Take care
Lol I’m very glad that you are! I have a similar, but maybe opposite story that goes back to the age of 13! I was pushed by people, that turned out had no faith at all but claimed to. Rather than turn me off, it fired me up. I have a longing to share all the important parts of my life with people. I too have been have had several online endeavors before that were closed off to me due to my ‘presentation’. That’s why here I have chosen a different way of sharing. That axiom I use has gotten more comments than anything else and has sparked questions and conversations I am thankful and humbled by! When you feel your heart pushed, it changes the entire world to you!
Good Evening. I am a beginner gardner. I am container gardner. Your video has been helpful. Thanks. For my cucumber and zucchini, there are only male flowers?
Hi there! There’s a couple reasons why your zucchini and cucumber might only produce male flowers. The first being that the plant may be very young. Typically in the early stages of the plants growth both cucumber and zucchini, as well as squash. Will only produce male flowers. So if your plant is very young and just really starting to get growing, that could be the first issue. The next thing that also slows down the production of female flowers and cucumber, squash, and zucchini is extreme heat. I know a lot of country is going through very unseasonable heat right now and that could be the reason why you haven’t seen many female Flowers on your plants. This is the case meaning that you’ve been seeing flowers bloom but they’re all male and females and now it’s very hot. You may need to protect your plants from the sun to try to give it a better chance. For instance, last year was the first year I covered up my cucumbers during the hottest part of the year. Here it was getting up to about 110°F. By adding a shade cover and watering early in the morning, help to keep the plants cooler and I got quite a good crop of cucumbers. I tried it again this year, but changed the location to where I planted my cucumbers so they don’t get any sun until about 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Now I understand this is not ideal. I’d rather them get morning sun and not as much afternoon sun, but that’s just the way my garden is set up. This year I’ve got so many cucumbers. I don’t know what to do with them even with this heat. So if both of those were one of those matches was going on with you, I would definitely suggest trying one of these methods. The first being just allow your plan to grow a little bit longer, but given the fact you were all experiencing a heat wave it may need some shade. Now I have to admit, I have not grown zucchini or squash and several years of the squash vine. Borer and other squash, zucchini bugs that absolutely devastate all of my plants. I do grow pumpkins, butternut squash, and cucumbers, and I don’t seem to have a problem with them, but if I plant a regular cooked neck or zucchini in the garden, they’re sure to be overrun with borers within a few weeks. However, for the most part, the same principles applied to those plants as well. Let me know if one of these situations are both of them apply to your situation. I know it can be very frustrating getting started. You look online and everybody’s growing this or that and their gardens look so beautiful and you’re struggling just to get something to fruit. I want you to know that everyone struggles with that. A lot of it is about timing. A lot of it’s about variety, and a lot of it’s about not growing certain things because the bugs are just too much for the heat is just wrong. But don’t give up if you want to grow zucchini and cucumbers, we can help you do that. Let me know and I’ll be more than happy to help you out further. Best of luck and I hope this helps and someway!
It's the second year in trying cucumber..last year no luck..mostly males and almost no females!! Happening again this year so far.. very frustrating. Where are all my female flowers? Any thoughts
Hi there! I’m sorry it’s taking so long to reply, for some reason your comment is just now showing up in my feed. Hopefully it’s not too late, but maybe I can help you out. Most cucumbers and even zucchini and squash were quite the same way as far as flowering goes. The plant is very young. We will produce male flowers first, or at least in the majority well before it produces the female flowers regularly. However, even if you’re in a stage where you’ve had the plant flowering for several weeks and you’re only seeing flowers. There’s a couple of things that could be going on. The first is probably the most likely, that you have a high level of heat. If it’s been unseasonably warm, the plant will typically only produce mail flowers or at least the majority will be there. This has happened for me the last few years due to the high temperatures that come early during the season. To come back this, you can try shading the plant and the hottest part of the day, which is what I did last year and it worked very well! In fact, it worked so well this year all of my cucumbers are planted in an area where they don’t get nearly as much sun during the day. In fact, I don’t think they even start getting sun for a little after 1 o’clock now that’s not ideal later in the day as much hotter, and I still Need to shade it a little bit in the afternoon, but I have so many cucumbers. I can’t even eat them all! The other thing could be if the humidity is very high, although this is kind of anecdotal from my own experiences. When you combine high temperature was very high humidity. I’ve noticed that I have very few female flowers compared to male flowers. Again, it’s hard to separate that from the heat, but I feel like the humidity makes it even worse. I hope that helps and I hope I’m not too late to help you out. I would definitely suggest some shade cough if you’ve dealt with some very serious heat and are going to be dealing with more that should help quite a bit. Let me know if that works or if you have any other questions at all, I’d love to help!
Hi Mary! I typically try to do it in the morning after the dew has evaporated and before it gets too hot. For me, if the flowers are open I’ll pollinate them. I filmed this video Saturday morning so it’s been about 4 days and all the female cucumbers I brushed are no longer open flowers. So i think at least a few of them set fruit. For me, I do it when I walk out there and shake my head because I have very little fruit and lots of flowers open! Hope that helps!
Most b,UE berries are self pollinating, however, planting a couple of different varieties together can help with fruit production. It may be that they might not be getting enough light. I’ve had this problem with elderberries in the past and making sure they get more sunlight helped a lot! That might not be the issue with yours, but I thought I’d throw it out there. It might be time to get another plant and see if that changes things. I hope that helps!
Hi there! Technically, you can do both, but I would recommend the paintbrush method. It gives you a much better chance to get pollination within the flower that way. Great question and thank you so much. I appreciate it. I hope that helps!
Hey Doc- I just found your channel and watched your video on poor texas clay soil- loved the video. I have a question. You applied E-Z straw as a mulch- did you find any grayzon (sp?) issues with it? Im scared to buy straw from my local feed store because after calling the farm they resourced the straw farm, they said yes, it had been sprayed. Since EZ straw is more a name brand maybe you had better luck with it? let me know. I'm in Texas as well and all my plants are burning!! lol...even the wood chips look like they've gone to dust...for real. lol. Thanks in advance
Howdy! That’s a really good question. So I’ve found that ez straw doesn’t seem to have any I’ll affects on my plants at all. There are 2 draw backs I’ve found though. 1] it’s not exactly cost elective given what it is 2] I have seen quite a few weeds sprout from it. Other than that I have no complaints. I was like you I was going to buy straw from my local feed store, but not only could they not tell me if it was sprayed, they couldn’t even tell me the source! Which I have to say…that is NOT like the feed stores I grew up with. So instead, I switch to coastal hay. My local tractor supply was able to tell me where the shipment came from. He said, it’s for live stock it can’t be sprayed! But I called and sure enough, they do not spray. Something about their Texas AG certification requires they don’t. I’ve used that, all but this summer season and it’s been wonderful! This year I was experimenting with my own grass clippings…. Which worked a treat! That is until all the grass died from the heat and drought. So now everything is frying! I’d say look at tractor supply and aske for coastal grass. It’s not as cheap as straw, and if you can confirm their local source then you’re all good. Around here a lot of people sell bales too, they are more than happy to tell you what they do and don’t do to their fields. Plus if you have that around you you are supporting your neighbors too! Hope that helps, and I always love to hear from a fellow Texan!
@@TexasGardenDoc ok. That was a thoughtful response. Thank you. Then I have another question for you. I'm trying my hands at some Texas red ripper beans and another trellising star shaped bean. Both do good in the heat .. However... How should I start them? It's too hot and it may fry the seeds..or should I put the straw and if I did would they grow through the inches of straw. And if you water . Do you remove the straw first then water or as the EZ straw states .. To water the straw? Thanks in advance. In the spring I did well with my plants but... this summer sun throws a wrench into my gardening knowledge.
So I’m not familiar with that particular bean (or those I should say) but here is what I do. I’ve found that more tender plants, greens, carrots, etc don’t do very well with straw cover. They don’t really have the strength to push through that extra layer. However, I’ve found most beans, of course potatoes, and strong greens like collards, will make their way through. Given how hot it is, I’d maybe truly a thinner layer of straw just to make sure. If you really want to make sure they get going, you can always start them in trays and transplant out. Normally I don’t work very hard at ‘hardening off’ my transplants, but the way it is this year, you’d probably want to work it by the books if you choose to start them that way.
Hi there! I’m actually in zone 8B. Not too much difference except the low temperature for me is a little lower and my first and last frost having a little earlier and a little later. Hope that helps!
SORRY FOR THE LOUD INSECT NOISE! I tried my best to lower it in editing best I could!
If you aren't seeing your healthy tomatoes and cucumbers putting out beautiful fruit, you may be missing pollinators! Here are 3 very easy ways to increase your yield by hand pollinating your tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and lots of others!
Shout out to Marie McAllister for requesting this video, you finally got me out there to film it! Many thanks!
If you’re into container gardening, make sure to checkout my meyer lemon video here: ruclips.net/video/xc91dh2_XbE/видео.html
Fancy Ginger? Learn how to grow Ginger from Store bought Root here: ruclips.net/video/1q6_xOsOJRY/видео.html
Rules to Life: 1. Something To Believe In. 2. Someone to Love 3. Something To Do 4. Something To Look Forward To One thing I used to say 40 yrs ago a lot. "The #1 rule in life is SOMETHING TO DO" Just guessing on the order of importance but about a year ago I got to the point of #2. SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. Finding this saying so similar was interesting.
Very cool! I know it’s helped me through a lot of rough days, and I’m guessing it did you too. Thank you so much for mentioning it!
I didnt notice that pollination for the male and females. Now I understand. That was great. Thank you!
I’m glad you liked it and found it helpful!
My father always planted many flowers in his vegetable garden. The flowers attracted bees and they would also polinate his vegetables. The result was always a colourfull garden with insects buzzing around the whole day.
I have seen videos about US carpenter bees who tend to be more aggressive than european carpenter bees. In europe it is quite common to build "insect hotels" (a bunch of hollow twigs and reed that give bees shelter and breeding space in your garden). The american carpenter bee seems to be more affiliated to build their nests into houses and tearing down wood beams... But still, these bees can make the difference in your garden.
You are absolutely correct, on all counts! I actually keep honey bees here and we have an EXTREME amount of carpenter bees. And they are exactly how you described, aggressive toward structures. We’ve been extremely hot and dry the last several months and the pollinators just aren’t as prolific as they should be. I do have roses, some alyssum, and some other ornamental plants around the garden. Not many mind you, but you are correct. Those gardens look beautiful and they are alive with life!
True. But the weather here is so funny i can count on one hand how many bees I've seen lol can't wait for them to do the work for me
I have a hive very near my garden, and I kind of feel the same way about the number of bees I’ve seen! Lol.
I’m hoping this season it will be better, but the weather is so strange, we’ll just have to wait and see!
This information will help a lot next year. I was wondering why my cucumbers and squash weren't maturing -- now I know! Thanks, Doc!
My pleasure! This year was really rough on tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. All the weird wether produced weird results. Give it a try for sure, it can really help!
🇨🇦 this video was very helpful. I’m growing some cucumbers inside at the moment and there are no pollinators . I will be using my tiny brush and getting cucumbers 😊 once the weather warms up they’ll be moving out
That’s great! I hope it helps get you through that gap, and I’d love to hear how it turns out for you as well! You have to be pretty diligent about it and just keep it, but it works like a charm!
Doc as always!! Full of information! Growing up on a farm and learning the importance of pollination, this just checks off all the boxes! Great video! Great host! Better friend! Miss you brotha!
Mayheeeeeeeem! Thanks my dude! It has been too long! I’ve lurked a few times when you e been online. We need to get together!
Another great vid Doc, to tell the truth... made my evening.
Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.
Thanks so much! I’m glad it lifted your day a bit and i am very thankful to take time out of your day to watch and comment here as well. Thank you!
I use a rechargeable toothbrush and put it on the stem near the flowers on the tomato plants and the vibration spreads the pollen it works great
I’ve heard of this method before, what I great idea! Thanks for sharing!
This was super informative I am trying this out in my garden. 🙏🏽
That’s fantastic! Let me know how it goes for you and if you have any questions at all let me know!
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to say so here, it was my pleasure to share and I truly appreciate that!
I hope it helps you out in the garden if you have any questions, just let me know!
This was great, who knew!!!!!
Lol, I’m so glad you liked it! If you give it a go and have issues or questions, I’d love to hear about them. Who knows maybe I can help you out!
Excellent video, I love the 4 things the life should have, question how often I should hand pollinate cucumbers 👍👏
That’s a great question!
The first thing to know, is to make sure that the flowers are open and ready, so you’ll have to catch them as they first bloom. After that, if they are open, you can keep pollinating them. Just keep in mind you have to be a little bit gentle if you’re doing it repeatedly as you don’t want to break the flower parts inside
Never force the flower open, because it may have already been pollinated where it may be passed viability.
I hope that helps!
I’m in Conroe and I love your videos!
Thank you so much! You are very kind!
Conroe is one of the fastest growing areas in Texas right now. It amazes me to see just how many people have moved in and around the Houston area in the last few years!
Thank you. I'll try with the only tomatoes plant I have now. Criss my fingers.
From Houston, Texas
That’s fantastic! He does work quite well, especially in the sweltering heat before the leaves drop off.
If you have any questions or problems, just let me know. Good luck!
WOW ! Man there's a lot i need to learn on gardening. I had several zucchini plants and noticed the male and female flowers but was not aware we could pollinate them this way. Some of the plants were nice and big with flowers but no fruit,now i know why. thanks for the info my friend !
Two years ago, it was really bad here, nothing was fruiting. Surprisingly it got hotter last year which is what I think caused the main problem, but those are some of my go to when I’m not getting anything at all. Even my own beats didn’t wanna pollinate.
It’s always something worth trying when it’s not showing up and producing fruit for you!
Same to you! I still need to go fishing really bad!
Oh yes ! Fishing is a great way to relax and maybe bring home some great tasting food, must make time for that. I have been experimenting with a grow light trying to improve on starting some seedlings, Got some broccoli and califlower started but they seem to grow a bit then just stay there so far.. have not grown any bigger ...yet. Also going to try grow bags this time around see how that works out. I am serious about getting better at growing things now so i will try my best to learn. Thanks a bunch for your advice ! Hope you live close to the gulf and try some inshore fishing ! But fresh water fishing looks like a lot of fun to. AND !! If you can't go fishing, Do fishing stuff ! @@TexasGardenDoc
Hi ! I uploaded a video i shot today on my garden. If you see it, any advice on on what i could do better to get better results is much appreciated ! @@TexasGardenDoc
This will be the first year I moved my seed starting set up fully indoors. The last couple of years I’ve had a really hard time regulating temperature out of my barn. It used to be pretty easy, but since 2021 it’s been kind of a nightmare
The biggest thing you have to watch for with seedlings, are nutrients light water, and temperature. For instance, most seeds like to germinate between around 70° and 80°, but if they’re cool weather plants like spring plantings, they immediately want to come down in temperature a bit. So you’ll want to move any spring plants to a slightly cooler area. The summer plants can kind of stay in that 70 to 75 range
For water you wanna make sure that the soil stays damp until they sprouted. But now that you have sprouts, you wanna make sure you water them regularly. They don’t wanna be wet and really humid most of the time. However, depending on the size of the pots and the type of soil mixture they may dry out really fast. I recommend a spritzer , once the water is moist, you can keep it moist by spritzing it every day or every other day just as needed.
Then the hardest one is nutrients. Depending on the soil makes you used you may need to fertilize from the bottom for instance if you use a sterile seed mix, it likely has no nutrients in it. So once they have sprouted, and they have two good leaves, it’s time to lightly fertilize them. I recommend a liquid fertilizer diluted properly.
Once most plants get to the point that they have 2 to 4 true leaves it’s time to plant them out. If you can’t plant them out, just make sure they’re getting nutrients where they could be stunted.
I actually used to fish quite a bit on the inland lakes. I didn’t get to go last year, but my father did and I still have a freezer full of catfish and Croppie!
That’s fantastic I’d love to take a look!
Do me a favor and go into the about section of my channel and find my email address send me an email that way I can remember. I work a full-time job and I get to check occasionally, and by the time I get back to it, I’m afraid I’ll forget!😂
This is very helpful!! Love the added humor !!
Thank you! I try my best!
This so informative! I really enjoyed watching you explain all these different methods for pollination. Thank you and I just subscribed :)
Thank you! It’s crazy because I had problems with pollination last year. This year I started keeping bees and they were all over the plants until the heat got out of control early. It never hurts to have these types of tools ready to go! I hope it helps you out and thanks for subscribing as well!
Wow thanks l'm learning great stuff here
I’m so glad to hear that!
Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me here as well!
Thank you very much for sharing your method 😁 I subscribed to your channel 🙏
It was my pleasure, and thank you so much for the subscription. That means the world to me! If you have any questions about anything at all, just ask, I’m usually around and I’d love to help where I can!
@@TexasGardenDoc Awesome 😁 yes of course.. You have great content and I don't mind giving props where it is due.. 😀 I appreciate you responding to my comment and the support you give back 🙏 Many Blessings
@godisincontrol32 thank you! You are so kind and it’s absolutely my pleasure. I try really hard to respond to everyone and help wherever I can. The best part about doing this is the people! And I’m thankful to have you here in this community. Thank you so much!
@@TexasGardenDoc of course 😄 Absolutely.. I feel the same way 🙏 it's all about spending knowledge to the people and finding methods to make life easier 😁 Much appreciated my friend 👍
❤️
Hey Doc, I wanted to drop you a note. I just came to your channel and was really impressed that you had a deep conviction in the end about #1 being "something to believe in". I would like to share that since you have a good audience.. You should share what you believe in... Because it is obvious a strong enough conviction for you to mention. I myself used to do RUclips and taught what I read in the Bible. I was shocked to see MI Gardener reply to a Christian site many months ago and confess his concerns about the end times in the comments to another man's video. I was sad to see him never share his faith or even mention what has inspired him. So I encourage you.. If it's Christ who is your God be unashamed.. If it's Buddha .. Then be unashamed.. If it's Allah then be unashamed. Because all people who lose hope and who are discouraged have some sort of religion tagged to them... Even if it's atheism. Your conviction showed something tangible. You should share next time the name of your God unashamedly. Because if it's the God of the Bible then he says he looks to see if we confess him before men. We promise we will still watch you!. If you feel it's irrelevant... Consider this.. That's its the honest and noble trade of a Gardener to choose to open ones eyes to the creator.. And to care for the things in the garden is an honest and noble trade. Rarely do the proud pursue such endeavors. It's the humble that start to " see something to believe in" . Give it some time and see if one day you can muster that strength to confess your faith by name so others may be encouraged as well. ( You can delete this message if you like.. Because it's sooo long.. Sorry)
No way I’m deleting this! I have a long story of faith and my journey through the years (in God mind you) that brings me where I am today.
Here is the reason I don’t mention exactly Who (capitalized) that is.
The society we find ourselves in today is a strange one of labels…..those labels serve to separate us, I believe unwillingly, from each other. That itself has left us all isolated from the whole of the rest of the souls on this planet. The reason I say it the way I do is to cause a conversation (just like this one we are having!) that doesn’t presume faith. That doesn’t presume labels. To me I feel it breaks through the labels and speaks to that inner faith you are speaking of! In that way, the hope is that conversations will take place and that those that are put off by labels will still be engaged.
Now I’ve struggled with this a bit, mainly because I know that proclamation is an important part of sharing the faith.
I hope that makes sense! It doesn’t mean I won’t change it to that at all either. My thought was to have some kind of spe rate type of interaction that people that w ant to know more can participate in…although I’m not sure wha that looks like. Luke (M I gardener) I always wondered!
@@TexasGardenDoc lol... That's good to hear. I only came to faith because 2 sisters challenged me with a question when I was in college. When I replied to their question.. They looked at eachother and said " never mind". I was so upset that they didn't care enough to engage me. Later when I came to faith..I got back in touch with them and asked them why they didn't pursue the matter with me they said they were told by their " pastor" to leave it be for peace sake. But that angered me so much when i was in my early twenties that they had something so precious and didn't share it. That treasure they had was impossible for me to " find" on my own and they knew it. The Bible says " how will they believe if they have not heard?". So the great commission is to preach the gospel of repentance ... Because if they don't hear .. How can they believe? And if the one holding treasure doesn't share . How can treasure be shared?
God bless you on this endeavor and all your endeavors. We are all growing...but let us grow spiritually most importantly... Day by day.. Inch by inch.. To bear fruit... Fruit unto...repentance.. And into good works and fruits of patience, kindness.. Goodness.. Self control etc. May you " sow the seed " while your prayer Waters it...and God will make it grow... So others may bear fruit like you are. ( The seed .. According to the Bible is...the word) I pray you understand that I'm nudging you in a godly and good direction for your spiritual benefit.. Because I care enough to engage. Take care
Lol I’m very glad that you are!
I have a similar, but maybe opposite story that goes back to the age of 13! I was pushed by people, that turned out had no faith at all but claimed to. Rather than turn me off, it fired me up.
I have a longing to share all the important parts of my life with people. I too have been have had several online endeavors before that were closed off to me due to my ‘presentation’. That’s why here I have chosen a different way of sharing. That axiom I use has gotten more comments than anything else and has sparked questions and conversations I am thankful and humbled by!
When you feel your heart pushed, it changes the entire world to you!
Good Evening. I am a beginner gardner. I am container gardner. Your video has been helpful. Thanks. For my cucumber and zucchini, there are only male flowers?
Hi there!
There’s a couple reasons why your zucchini and cucumber might only produce male flowers. The first being that the plant may be very young. Typically in the early stages of the plants growth both cucumber and zucchini, as well as squash. Will only produce male flowers. So if your plant is very young and just really starting to get growing, that could be the first issue. The next thing that also slows down the production of female flowers and cucumber, squash, and zucchini is extreme heat. I know a lot of country is going through very unseasonable heat right now and that could be the reason why you haven’t seen many female Flowers on your plants. This is the case meaning that you’ve been seeing flowers bloom but they’re all male and females and now it’s very hot. You may need to protect your plants from the sun to try to give it a better chance.
For instance, last year was the first year I covered up my cucumbers during the hottest part of the year. Here it was getting up to about 110°F. By adding a shade cover and watering early in the morning, help to keep the plants cooler and I got quite a good crop of cucumbers. I tried it again this year, but changed the location to where I planted my cucumbers so they don’t get any sun until about 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Now I understand this is not ideal. I’d rather them get morning sun and not as much afternoon sun, but that’s just the way my garden is set up. This year I’ve got so many cucumbers. I don’t know what to do with them even with this heat.
So if both of those were one of those matches was going on with you, I would definitely suggest trying one of these methods. The first being just allow your plan to grow a little bit longer, but given the fact you were all experiencing a heat wave it may need some shade.
Now I have to admit, I have not grown zucchini or squash and several years of the squash vine. Borer and other squash, zucchini bugs that absolutely devastate all of my plants. I do grow pumpkins, butternut squash, and cucumbers, and I don’t seem to have a problem with them, but if I plant a regular cooked neck or zucchini in the garden, they’re sure to be overrun with borers within a few weeks. However, for the most part, the same principles applied to those plants as well.
Let me know if one of these situations are both of them apply to your situation. I know it can be very frustrating getting started. You look online and everybody’s growing this or that and their gardens look so beautiful and you’re struggling just to get something to fruit. I want you to know that everyone struggles with that. A lot of it is about timing. A lot of it’s about variety, and a lot of it’s about not growing certain things because the bugs are just too much for the heat is just wrong. But don’t give up if you want to grow zucchini and cucumbers, we can help you do that.
Let me know and I’ll be more than happy to help you out further. Best of luck and I hope this helps and someway!
Awesomeness 👍🙏
Glad you liked it, and I hope it helps!
this is so informative. i use the flowers usually to decorate the food i serve at Matilde BnB 😉
Oh I bet it’s beautiful!
@@TexasGardenDoc yes, many of our guests loved it
Very cool!
It's the second year in trying cucumber..last year no luck..mostly males and almost no females!! Happening again this year so far.. very frustrating. Where are all my female flowers? Any thoughts
Hi there! I’m sorry it’s taking so long to reply, for some reason your comment is just now showing up in my feed. Hopefully it’s not too late, but maybe I can help you out.
Most cucumbers and even zucchini and squash were quite the same way as far as flowering goes. The plant is very young. We will produce male flowers first, or at least in the majority well before it produces the female flowers regularly. However, even if you’re in a stage where you’ve had the plant flowering for several weeks and you’re only seeing flowers. There’s a couple of things that could be going on. The first is probably the most likely, that you have a high level of heat. If it’s been unseasonably warm, the plant will typically only produce mail flowers or at least the majority will be there. This has happened for me the last few years due to the high temperatures that come early during the season. To come back this, you can try shading the plant and the hottest part of the day, which is what I did last year and it worked very well! In fact, it worked so well this year all of my cucumbers are planted in an area where they don’t get nearly as much sun during the day. In fact, I don’t think they even start getting sun for a little after 1 o’clock now that’s not ideal later in the day as much hotter, and I still Need to shade it a little bit in the afternoon, but I have so many cucumbers. I can’t even eat them all!
The other thing could be if the humidity is very high, although this is kind of anecdotal from my own experiences. When you combine high temperature was very high humidity. I’ve noticed that I have very few female flowers compared to male flowers. Again, it’s hard to separate that from the heat, but I feel like the humidity makes it even worse.
I hope that helps and I hope I’m not too late to help you out. I would definitely suggest some shade cough if you’ve dealt with some very serious heat and are going to be dealing with more that should help quite a bit. Let me know if that works or if you have any other questions at all, I’d love to help!
Thank you! How often do you use the brush to transfer from male to female flowers?
Hi Mary! I typically try to do it in the morning after the dew has evaporated and before it gets too hot. For me, if the flowers are open I’ll pollinate them. I filmed this video Saturday morning so it’s been about 4 days and all the female cucumbers I brushed are no longer open flowers. So i think at least a few of them set fruit. For me, I do it when I walk out there and shake my head because I have very little fruit and lots of flowers open!
Hope that helps!
I have a blueberry bush and not blueberries for 3 years. So I need to get another bush for pollination?
Most b,UE berries are self pollinating, however, planting a couple of different varieties together can help with fruit production. It may be that they might not be getting enough light. I’ve had this problem with elderberries in the past and making sure they get more sunlight helped a lot! That might not be the issue with yours, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
It might be time to get another plant and see if that changes things. I hope that helps!
Question how about lemons does it need paintbrush or beat it?????
Hi there! Technically, you can do both, but I would recommend the paintbrush method. It gives you a much better chance to get pollination within the flower that way.
Great question and thank you so much. I appreciate it. I hope that helps!
Hey Doc- I just found your channel and watched your video on poor texas clay soil- loved the video. I have a question. You applied E-Z straw as a mulch- did you find any grayzon (sp?) issues with it? Im scared to buy straw from my local feed store because after calling the farm they resourced the straw farm, they said yes, it had been sprayed. Since EZ straw is more a name brand maybe you had better luck with it? let me know. I'm in Texas as well and all my plants are burning!! lol...even the wood chips look like they've gone to dust...for real. lol. Thanks in advance
Howdy! That’s a really good question. So I’ve found that ez straw doesn’t seem to have any I’ll affects on my plants at all. There are 2 draw backs I’ve found though. 1] it’s not exactly cost elective given what it is 2] I have seen quite a few weeds sprout from it. Other than that I have no complaints.
I was like you I was going to buy straw from my local feed store, but not only could they not tell me if it was sprayed, they couldn’t even tell me the source! Which I have to say…that is NOT like the feed stores I grew up with. So instead, I switch to coastal hay. My local tractor supply was able to tell me where the shipment came from. He said, it’s for live stock it can’t be sprayed! But I called and sure enough, they do not spray. Something about their Texas AG certification requires they don’t. I’ve used that, all but this summer season and it’s been wonderful! This year I was experimenting with my own grass clippings…. Which worked a treat! That is until all the grass died from the heat and drought. So now everything is frying!
I’d say look at tractor supply and aske for coastal grass. It’s not as cheap as straw, and if you can confirm their local source then you’re all good.
Around here a lot of people sell bales too, they are more than happy to tell you what they do and don’t do to their fields. Plus if you have that around you you are supporting your neighbors too!
Hope that helps, and I always love to hear from a fellow Texan!
@@TexasGardenDoc ok. That was a thoughtful response. Thank you. Then I have another question for you. I'm trying my hands at some Texas red ripper beans and another trellising star shaped bean. Both do good in the heat .. However... How should I start them? It's too hot and it may fry the seeds..or should I put the straw and if I did would they grow through the inches of straw. And if you water . Do you remove the straw first then water or as the EZ straw states .. To water the straw? Thanks in advance. In the spring I did well with my plants but... this summer sun throws a wrench into my gardening knowledge.
So I’m not familiar with that particular bean (or those I should say) but here is what I do. I’ve found that more tender plants, greens, carrots, etc don’t do very well with straw cover. They don’t really have the strength to push through that extra layer. However, I’ve found most beans, of course potatoes, and strong greens like collards, will make their way through. Given how hot it is, I’d maybe truly a thinner layer of straw just to make sure. If you really want to make sure they get going, you can always start them in trays and transplant out. Normally I don’t work very hard at ‘hardening off’ my transplants, but the way it is this year, you’d probably want to work it by the books if you choose to start them that way.
@@TexasGardenDoc Good idea! Thanks
Glad I could help!
What zone are you in? I’m zone 9
Hi there! I’m actually in zone 8B. Not too much difference except the low temperature for me is a little lower and my first and last frost having a little earlier and a little later. Hope that helps!
You repeat yourself a lot.
Sorry about that.