270 Dragonfly Basics. Up-potting Tomatoes.

Show Transcript

GB 270 TRANSCRIPT Dragonflies, Tomatoes

Farmer Fred

00:00

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long-lasting fabric plant container. It's made in the USA. Visit smartpots.com slash fred for more information and a special discount. That's smartpots.com/fred. Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.

You're probably aware of dragonflies And if you're a gardener, you definitely want this colorful, fast-flying, beneficial insect in your yard. Each day, a dragonfly can eat 20% of its own weight in mosquitoes. Now you can't buy dragonflies at a garden center, so how do you attract dragonflies to your garden? We talk today with Master Gardener and Dragonfly aficionado, Pat Murphy, about dragonfly basics.

We're podcasting from Barking Dog studios in the beautiful abutilon jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It's the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, and we're brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson nursery. Let's go.

DRAGONFLY BASICS, PART 1

Farmer Fred

01:52

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a dragon? Maybe it's a fly. Well, what in the world is a dragonfly? You're familiar with dragonflies. More than likely You've seen them. What should you know? it's one of the best beneficial insects that you would like to have in your yard. Why is that? What do dragonflies need to thrive in your garden? Dragonflies are found in all 50 states and around the world, so if you give them the right home, they will come. We're talking with Pat Murphy. She's a Placer County master gardener and she loves dragonflies. I happened to catch her presentation at a garden club meeting where she expounded on the benefits and beauty and really the deadliness of dragonflies when it comes to how they catch their prey. And Pat, dragonflies what an interesting little creature it is and it's a rather old creature too. I was reading somewhere where it says that they predate dinosaurs, Pat Murphy.

Pat Murphy

02:47

They do, fred, and yes, and thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be on this podcast. I enjoy it. And the dragonflies are an interesting insect. They have dated them like before the onset of dinosaurs. They figure about 300 million years and some of the fossils of the dragonfly relatives that they found are two feet long their wingspan. So today we're looking at dragonflies that go anywhere from one to five inches of a wingspan, and that five inch wingspan is usually in Central America.

Farmer Fred

03:20

All right, so we've established that it is an insect. It's not some flying mammal like a bat, Pat.

Pat Murphy

03:26

You got that right. It is. It's definitely an insect and it's an incredible skilled predator and it has incredible agility, Fred.

Farmer Fred

03:36

Yeah, I guess the name dragon refers to the fact it has what fierce jaws.

Pat Murphy

03:41

this is interesting. It definitely does. It's an opportunity. It catches its prey and we'll talk about that. But it's able to bite off the head of whatever they're catching. But the good news is it doesn't bite us, so we're safe. It goes after the little things that fly around in the world, Fred.

Farmer Fred

04:01

and I would imagine one of those little things that they're flying around catching at up to speeds of 60 miles an hour would be mosquitoes.

Pat Murphy

04:13

You know they're my friends. I love dragonflies because mosquitoes really aren't my favorite. They have a really great appetite. They definitely eat mosquitoes. They like flies. They eat moths. They eat butterflies. There's actually a dedicated dragonfly, and I'm sorry to say that he's bees. They have their success ratio for killing their prey is 95%.

Farmer Fred

04:39

I think they win the contest, then, of most effective insect.

Pat Murphy

04:44

Well, they do. They do. I mean, you know, we look at studies for lions and lions have been around for a long time and they're pretty formidable characters. You know in the jungle And you know when they're in pairs their success ratio is about 30% And if they're by themselves, 17 to 19%. But here we've got the dragonfly, their success ratio is the minimum 95%. But what's really incredible is they catch their prey in midair. And that is their name. You know their claim to fame.

Farmer Fred

05:19

There are a lot of dragonflies throughout the world, something like 5,000 species of dragonflies. Are they all attracted to water?

Pat Murphy

05:28

All dragonflies are. They actually get their certain life in water. They they, they gear themselves to aquatic habitat, they lay their eggs in water and the larva can actually live many years underwater. Until it's fully formed, it needs to go through what they call molting, and that molting is is shedding, and they molt six to 15 times before they're fully formed in water, and again it can take years.

Farmer Fred

05:59

what sort of water are they attracted to? Is it swimming pools, fountains, bird baths? Well, what do they need in the way of water?

Pat Murphy

06:05

it's a great question. Like you indicated earlier, there is thousands of species, and what scientists are finding is and this is all about adaptability, again, they've been here since before the dinosaurs. There's different species that are attracted to, certain types of water. there's one dragonfly that likes to lay their eggs in salted water,  like oceans or salt streams, and this is what's really interesting, because a lot of insects do not like that, but this does. So again, species determines what type of water. Some of them like stagnant. Around here in the Sacramento area, fresh water is a choice of most of them.

Farmer Fred

06:51

What exactly is fresh water? I ask this as a personal question because my little recirculating birdbath fountain type  water sometimes tends to get a little green. Would they be attracted to that or not?

Pat Murphy

07:05

They would. They would, As long as it's moving, they get some oxygen in it. Again, they want to lay their eggs and so they want to have some sort of oxygen in that water as a good water source, some sort of a birdbath, a waterfall, a fountain. They're pretty much attracted to a lot. You know, sometimes even a plain old little wine barrel will work. Put in a little bit of water in a wine barrel And so they have sort of a shallow end. They can sit on the edge of the wine barrel and sun themselves. And then they can dip into the barrel itself And having a little aerator in the water barrel, one attracts them to the water and it offers some oxygen into the water.

Farmer Fred

07:50

Well, there's a lot of creatures in the yard that are attracted to water, and that includes the nemesis of dragonflies, mosquitoes. Mosquito larvae are laid in water. How can those two peacefully coexist in the same pond?

Pat Murphy

08:08

Interesting enough, the dragonfly always wins. The dragonfly, as a larva will definitely eat the mosquito larva that's in the water, so that makes it a great beneficial for that. Once they become airborne, they're definitely into those mosquitoes. They can eat up to hundreds of mosquitoes a day. In fact, they eat one-fifth of their body weight daily.

Farmer Fred

08:34

I guess, too, where you locate this water feature to attract dragonflies would have to have some sort of environmental protection for the dragonfly, for instance, where it might be protected from wind and yet still get a lot of sun.

Pat Murphy

08:53

A very good point. They definitely like the sun. In my yard they would sit on the rock near the pond and just sort of sun themselves and then dip themselves into the water and then come back out. So definitely a sunny area, nothing that's shaded.

Farmer Fred

09:11

Also, like you said, they need to be protected from the wind, i guess too, but it's a good idea to put a few flat rocks, like you have, near the edge of the pond too, because they like to bask in the sun, i imagine.

Pat Murphy

09:25

They do, they do. It's quite interesting.

Farmer Fred

09:30

Well, getting back to mosquitoes versus dragonflies that are existing in the same body of water, i would think, if there's anybody listening to us who works for a mosquito vector district, they would be wondering now. If I put in Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt dunks, into standing water in order to control mosquito larvae, does that also adversely affect dragonfly larvae?

Pat Murphy

09:59

It does not, which is a great question, because the BTi definitely does affect the mosquito larvae and it's something that we recommend If you don't have running water, if you have water that's stagnant or if you have drains, where, especially in this area in Lincoln, CA, we have drains that go from the back of our house to the front and drain out onto the street, and the water gets trapped in there and creates a haven for mosquitoes, and we put the granules, the BTI, in there And, again, it's safe for nature, it's safe for children, but it definitely kills the mosquitoes.

Farmer Fred

10:39

And doesn't hurt the dragonflies.

Pat Murphy

10:41

It does not hurt the dragonflies, no, no.

Farmer Fred

10:44

That's good news. By the way, bt and BTi basically the same thing. Bti is bacillus thuringiensis israliensis, which is a subset of BT that is specifically aimed at mosquito larvae. Yes, dragonflies come in some amazing colors. They're almost iridescent. What is a very common one here in California, it's red in color. Which variety is that?

Pat Murphy

11:11

That's the flame skimmer. It's gorgeous. It's that bright orange color. They're extremely colorful. There's so many different colors And again it's all about attracting that female to the male and actually blending in with their environment. But the flame skimmer is outstanding. Love the color.

Farmer Fred

11:34

So people may be wondering are dragonflies and damselflies related? Is a dragonfly a male dragonfly and a damselfly a female dragonfly?

Pat Murphy

11:44

They're close. They're in the same species order but the dragonfly and the damselfly. they actually have different bodies. The damselfles are smaller and they fold their wings over their abdomen And where the dragonflies, when they perch and sit on a rock, their wings are straight out. They never fold their wings in.

Farmer Fred

12:08

Let's talk a little bit about what a dragonfly looks like, in case people may be wondering what that is. They're what Anywhere, from what? One to four inches long?

Pat Murphy

12:16

They are. And they have a head on them. It looks like they're all eyes and they are. They have 360 degree vision with their head of eyes. They have a bunch of facets that allow them to to see a lot easier. They have three pairs of legs. They have four sets of wings, and the wings that they have on their bodies all can operate independently. They're extremely agile. They're able to go forwards and backwards, right to left, up and down. They're able to like be in stasis and midair.

Farmer Fred

12:52

They're extremely good flyers, and they perch in the oddest of places too. I usually see them on the end of a post or a tomato cage or a T-post, on a fence, something like that. It's like a, i don't know. are they resting or are they scoping out a prey?

Pat Murphy

13:13

They're both. They're extremely prey-bound. And they do need to rest because they have exceptional speeds of flight. They do, I think, with those three feet. Those three pairs of feet gives them a good perch. So they're maybe on something that's really, really thin, but they're very anchored, And they're looking around. They're opportunists. They will, they will go for anything that flies.

SMARTPOTS!

Farmer Fred

13:48

I've told you about Smartpots, the original award-winning fabric planters. They're sold worldwide. Smartpots are proudly made 100% right here in the USA. They're BPA free and lead free, making them safe for growing vegetables and other edibles. Well, the folks at Smartpots have added a new product to their lineup, perfect for building the healthiest soil imaginable for your garden By composting. It's the Smartpot Compost Sack, a large 100-gallon fabric bag that's lightweight yet extremely durable and lasts for years. It can hold 12 cubic feet of pure compost. This rugged fabric is entirely porous, containing many micro pores that allow for air circulation and drainage. It's easy to start a compost pile with the Smartpot Compost Sack. Just open the sack, set it on level ground and start adding your compostable materials grass clippings, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and more, as well as fallen leaves, straw and shredded paper. Next place the optional cover over the sack. That's all there is to it.

Smartpots are available at independent garden centers and select Ace and True Value hardware stores nationwide. You can find the location nearest you at their website and you can buy it online from Smartpots. Just visit smartpots.com slash fred. And don't forget that slash Fred part, because on that page are details about how, for a limited time, you can get 10% off your Smartpot order by using the coupon code FRED. F-R-E-D. Do it at checkout from the Smartpot Store. Visit smartpots.com/fred for more information about the complete line of Smartpot's lightweight, colorful, award-winning fabric containers and their new compost sack. And don't forget that special Farmer Fred 10% discount. It's Smartpots, the original award-winning fabric planter. Go to smartpots.com/fred.

DRAGONFLY BASICS, PART 2

Farmer Fred

One thing I do like about dragonflies is they can't be sold because I'm not sure why. But if you're a gardener and you're thinking, "yeah, i'd like some of these dragonflies, i'll go down to the garden center and buy some". No, no, you won't.

Pat Murphy

16:02

No, no, nature offers them to us. They know where to go to lay their young. and no, we don't buy dragonflies Just because that larval process takes so long. we're talking about six to 15 moultings. They're on their own timeline and they're in that water doing their magic until they can emerge as a flying insect.

Farmer Fred

16:24

The adult version of dragonflies don't have that long of a lifespan, do they? It's a matter of months, not years.

Pat Murphy

16:33

a lot of journals indicate seven to 56 days, an ideal condition six months. So they don't live a long time.

Farmer Fred

16:41

Wow, and to survive for years in water and then you're finally an adult must be disappointing to have such a short life, but it's exciting. You can fly at 60 miles an hour. There you go,  you can see the world. Yeah, exactly. But to attract them to your yard, though, you need those water features, don't you?

Pat Murphy

17:00

You need water features and, like you indicated earlier, you know if you've got water you usually have mosquitoes around. They like any sort of soft water type of insect. So we're looking at the moths and the flies and mosquitoes and midges, and so they like plants. You know you've watered a plant and I see this. You water a plant and it's damp. I've seen them perch on plants that are damp. They seem to gravitate towards anything that's wet. They come from the wetlands and this is what we're concerned about. We're losing a lot of our wetlands with climate change. This is where they herald from. Creating a sort of wetland in our backyard is definitely inviting for them.

Farmer Fred

17:45

I get, yeah, getting on that line of extinction. It's something like 307 dragonfly species are in danger of extinction, but the dragonflies at greatest risk for extinction are the stream dwellers, and those are species that won't be attracted to backyard ponds. They're out there in nature.

Pat Murphy

18:03

Yes, which is something that we, you know we have to understand, and maybe we can help them in some way, and that's what scientists are working on.

Farmer Fred

18:12

Going back to the larvae that last for years in the water. Are the adults taking care of them or are those babies on their own?

Pat Murphy

18:19

They're actually on their own. They're able to eat the mosquito larvae and any small little fish you know, larvae that might be in the water, They'll be whatever's in that water body now.

Farmer Fred

18:31

I'm concerned now about if I have dragonfly larvae in my recirculating fountain and if I want to clean the fountain, how many dragonfly larvae will I be destroying?

Pat Murphy

18:44

Good question, definitely. If you have a water feature in your yard, knowing that you've got life teeming in that water source, you definitely don't want to use any sort of disinfectant with that water source, such as granules of Clorox or bleach or, you know, whatever you normally would use to maybe clean it up.

Farmer Fred

19:06

So if you're going to clean out your fountain because you've got debris falling in it constantly from your neighbor's trees, not that that's a problem with my place, here in suburban purgatory, the way to go about it would be a thorough cleaning by hand, probably, unfortunately emptying out the water, scrubbing the inside and, while you're there, maybe work on the recirculating motor, clean that up, making sure all the tubes are connected correctly, maybe clean out that tube too and then refill it with fresh water, and you'll get more dragonfly activity that way.

Pat Murphy

19:42

You will, You will And, you know, possibly even just trying to keep a handle on. You know, like you talked about with if you've got like a lot of leaf debris and using a skimmer and skimming and getting those leaves out of there so they don't literally, you know, ferment in the water. And another thing too is when you're looking at water source, if it's in a shady area, it's going to get dirtier faster. If you can indeed keep the water circulating a little bit more, it would offer a cleaner fountain.

Farmer Fred

20:13

All right, but still, i mean, if you've never cleaned your fountain, it's probably a good idea, just for the sake of you, have a recirculating motor, just for the sake of the motor, exactly.

Pat Murphy

20:23

The motor in the pot. Yes, yes, you're so right about that.

Farmer Fred

20:27

It's important. There's a guy who's constantly sticking his arms into the water to open up the compartment under the water, to get to the motor, to scrape off every piece of debris that gets stuck to the filter that brings the water up into the motor and out the top. Well, you tidy up. One thing I've learned in my research of dragonflies is their popularity and the organizations  and clubs that dragonflies have. And I understand there's a sanctuary for dragonflies.

Pat Murphy

21:02

There is. The first sanctuary that we've had in the United States was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I hear it's stunning. We were a little slower on the bandwagon. Foreign countries have had dragonflies sanctuaries and now we have our own in Albuquerque.

Farmer Fred

21:19

And there is climate change going on and dragonflies may be changing because of climate change. How are dragonflies adapting to the weird swings in the climate around the world?

Pat Murphy

21:30

It's a great question. We've noticed that there's changes everywhere, right, and nature always either fills a void or goes with the flow, and in this case, the male dragonflies have decided to help themselves. It gets pretty hot out there, especially in the heat of the summer when our temps are over 100. Typically, the male is always the more attractive species, i guess so, to attract the female, and they have these incredible dark wing patterns on their wings that attract the female.

What we're finding is, or the scientists are finding, is that dark pigment is being shed. It because they figured out that with the male dragonflies, those dark pigmented wings can increase their temperatures up to three and a half degrees. And the one thing the males don't want to do like us, we don't want to wear a heavy coat in the summer, so they're shedding their pigment. With the pigment loss, it looks like they have like a lacy wing that you can just see their exoskeleton. So the question to scientists are how are they attracting the female dragonfly? The other interesting point of this is the female is not losing her color. She is not shedding her wing pattern, only the males are with this climate change.

Farmer Fred

22:53

Obviously there has to be some sort of adaptation going on and the females being very forgiving, I probably understand the color change going on in the males.

Pat Murphy

23:02

I would think, because this is big, the heat is affecting all of us and we all adapt in different ways, so I'm sure the females are adapting in their way also.

Farmer Fred

23:12

I guess we could spend a minute talking about dragonfly sex, since we're sort of buzzing around the subject. And it's interesting that they do all their mating while flying.

Pat Murphy

23:23

That's usually the case. The male has to work pretty hard at getting his. how do you say "sperm" on the radio, on the podcast? I don't know. What do we say?

Farmer Fred

23:33

Well, it was in Dr Strangelove, I believe, the phrase was, "essential bodily fluids", Body fluids yes, yes, essential bodily fluids. Yeah, no, go ahead and say semen, what the heck, as long as you're not offended by it.

Pat Murphy

23:46

No, i'm not, I'm not All right. So the male does a lot of work to get his semen out to the appropriate place on his body And once he finds that female, they literally mate in midair and I've actually seen this over my pond and  usually midsummer is their mating time And when they mate, they literally form like a heart shape.

Farmer Fred

24:11

So they sort of attach themselves to each other.

Pat Murphy

24:13

They attach themselves to each other and they fly. She will dip her abdomen into the water and deposit her eggs into the water, and that's the process.

Farmer Fred

24:25

Dragonflies. You want them in your yard because they feed on insects like gnats, mosquitoes, midges, flies and moths, And, of course, sometimes other smaller dragonflies. And near water, they will eat anything small enough that moves, including water beetles and even small fishes. They don't suck blood. They don't bite or sting humans. They're your friend. You want them in the yard. We've learned a lot about dragonflies today from Placer County Master Gardener Pat Murphy. Pat, thanks for all the good words about dragonflies.

Pat Murphy

24:58

Thank you.

DAVE WILSON NURSERY

Farmer Fred

25:00

Are you thinking of growing fruit trees? Maybe you already are, but you want to know more about them. Well, you probably have a million questions like which fruit trees will grow where I live? What are the tastiest fruits? When's harvest time? How do I care for these trees? The good news is the answers are all nearby. Just go to DaveWilson.com, click on the Home Garden tab at the top of the page. And in that Home Garden tab you're going to find a link to their fruit and nut harvest chart so you can be picking delicious, healthy fruits from your own yard for a long-growing season. Here in USDA Zone 9, that could be May through December. And you're just a click away with the informative YouTube video series at DaveWilson.com. As part of that video series, they'll walk you through the simple process of using the Dave Wilson website to find their trees either at a nearby local nursery or at a mail order source. That's Dave Wilson Nursery, the nation's largest grower of fruit trees for the backyard garden. They've got planting tips, taste test results and information about their revolutionary backyard orchard culture techniques. That'll explain how you can have a cornucopia of different fruit trees in a small backyard. Your harvest to better health begins at DaveWilson.com.

BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER/PODCAST

Farmer Fred

A common question this time of year among gardeners is where's the zucchini? Or, for that matter, when will all the summer squash varieties start producing? If you're not seeing squash flowers, or maybe you see the flowers and then they fall off, or maybe you start to get squash but they literally die on the vine. What's going on? That's the late spring-early summer topic in the latest "Beyond the Garden Basics" newsletter and podcast. We talk with a squash expert who explains why there may be problems with squash production this time of year and in some instances you're not to be blamed, you're innocent. So what's the problem? You'll find out in the latest "Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast entitled, "Where's the Zucchini?" It's currently available and it's free. If you're already a "Beyond the Garden Basics" newsletter subscriber, it's probably in your email waiting for you right now. And remember you can start a subscription because,  it's free. Find the link to the "Beyond the Garden Basics" newsletter and podcast in today's show notes, or you can find it at Substack or you can sign up at the newsletter link at our homepage, gardenbasics.net.

UP-POTTING TOMATOES

27:38

Farmer Fred

In today's Garden e-mail Bag on the Garden Basics podcast, we get a missive from Tonya in the Tahoe Park section of Sacramento. Debbie Flower is here to help us answer these questions. This is a question that us here in USDA Zone 9, we’ve probably tackled with this maybe a month, a month and a half ago or so. But for many of you living in colder parts of the country, around Mother's Day through mid June, might be the time you might be doing this, and that's starting several cherry tomato plants and up-potting them. And Tanya's question says, "Can I pot them up to a one gallon pot or is it too soon?" As you can see, she's showing us a photo. Some of the tomato plants are getting pretty big in their very small containers.

I like that idea. I tried that this year for the first time. In fact, i was giving Debbie a tour of the garden beforehand and I was pointing out the New Girl Tomato, two New Girl tomato plants that I stuck in the ground, one on April 7th and one on April 28th, which here in Sacramento is "official tomato planting day", or somebody's birthday (Fred's birthday).

The April 7th tomato seedling was planted straight out of the four inch container that the seed was originally planted in, And so there was a lot of roots in there. But it went in the ground on April 7th, which is a few weeks before optimum time. If there is such a thing anymore as optimum time, it's hard to say, it varies from year to year. In the meantime I took another New Girl tomato plant that was in a four inch container and up potted it to a one gallon container that contained a very rich mix of a very good quality potting soil along with worm castings, and that plant just took off.

It was in a protected area, It was in the greenhouse for a while. And when the nights got above 50 degrees, it was getting hardened off outside. And it was easily twice the size of the plant that was already in the ground. It just kept growing and the one planted on April 7th just sort of sat there. And we went out to the garden today and, sure enough, the New Girl that was planted on April 28th had little tomatoes on it. The one planted on April 7th had none. What does that mean? Nothing.

Debbie Flower

29:52

To be a legitimate experiment, you need a bigger sample size than two.

Farmer Fred

29:56

Two, yes, and probably more test plots and probably more tomato varieties. Right, yeah, and probably have it printed in a peer reviewed journal.

Debbie Flower

30:06

Yes, reviewed by people before it's printed. Yeah.

Farmer Fred

30:09

Well, no, it was just you.

Debbie Flower

30:12

These look like two inch pots in Tanya's picture and the tomatoes are maybe two inches tall and they can definitely be potted up. I would wait until I see some roots at the edges of the two inch pots and then move them up to the next size or put them right in the ground, yeah, and they might be cramming around the inside of that pot long before you see them coming out the bottom.

Farmer Fred

30:36

I mean, normally you would just turn the pot over, look, oh, there's roots coming out. Let's transplant.

Debbie Flower

30:41

I was thinking take the pot off the plant and see what roots I have underneath.

Farmer Fred

30:44

Well, yeah, but still you could. It might go round and round  inside a plastic pot, yes, before it went out the bottom. That way it's already starting to be a problem for the plant, stressing it. So you can unstress the plant by giving it a bigger home. Right, and for what? Three weeks or so.

Debbie Flower

31:00

Yeah, i would cut the roots that are going round and round. It isn't a herbaceous annual for us. They are perennial plants where they are native, but they're annuals for us, so it's not as critical for that plant, but that's what I would do. She asks if, when she pots them up, should she put newspaper in the containers, and the answer is it's not necessary. If it makes her feel better, i guess a single layer of newspaper would be okay, as it would break down very quickly. The reason people want to do that is to keep the media from falling out of the holes, but I always wet my media first before I put it in the container, and that  sticks together pretty well. Yes, a little bit comes out the holes, but I'm typically working outdoors on my potting bench and so that's not a big deal.

Farmer Fred

31:43

Yeah, and you just scrape off that into your hand and put it back into the mix.

Debbie Flower

31:46

Exactly, yeah, exactly. If you're working indoors, you can have a large container. I find kitty litter boxes to work very well because they have a side to them and enough space to work in to do the potting. You can buy specialized ones for potting, So you don't make a mess all over the house or just a thick layer of newspaper.

Farmer Fred

32:05

It may seem silly that I'm mentioning this, but I will, because I've seen it in too many odd situations. Make sure whatever pot you put it in has drain holes, right Yeah, absolutely. I'm always amazed when I see plants in containers that have no drain holes Have no drainage.

Debbie Flower

32:21

Yes.

Farmer Fred

32:22

You think it's going to evaporate through the sides of the pot or something? But yeah, make sure you have the drain holes and don't put anything else in the bottom of the container either. Correct, besides newspaper, that wet soil, like you say, sticks together. It does And will be fine.

Debbie Flower

32:36

Yes, All right, so when she's ready to plant them out. the reason I try not to grow my tomatoes so big that they're in number ones is I don't want to dig that big a hole. But when she's ready to plant them out, they need to be hardened off if they're coming from indoors. And this looks like it's inside her house. Her photograph looks like it's inside her house. To harden them off is to prepare the plant for conditions that are outdoors: Increased sun levels, light levels, increased wind, increased fluctuation in day and night temperatures. That is a gradual process. I've probably discussed before but I'll do it again.

It's a gradual process, takes about a week to 10 days And you put the plant out during the day in full shade for a day or two And if there's no damage to the plant you can go to the next step. But in the first two days you bring it indoors at night. Then you take it outside into part shade, so maybe it gets an hour or two of sun, and bring it in at night for a couple of days. If there's no damage visible on the plant, then you increase the amount of sun And you do this over and over again And then finally you just leave it outside overnight in the container, and if there's no damage, or relatively none, you put it in the ground.

Farmer Fred

33:48

Rarely will you find a gardener take a vacation during planting season Just for this very process. This is a daily task And also keeping you out of direct wind as well.

Debbie Flower

33:59

Yes, you want to start at the first two days when you're going to be home, because the first thing that happens is they run out of water really fast. The increased wind and whatever that maybe it's more humid in the house, i don't know, and this may be a California thing because we're such a dry climate, but they dry out quite quickly and need watering in the afternoon.

Farmer Fred

34:20

And basically, when nights are steadily above 50 degrees, that's when you can think about planting them in the ground. And if you want to use a frost cloth, a light frost cloth or a row cover makes sense for a number of reasons, not the least of which is wacky storms that develop around planting time, and hail storms. A cover can protect it from getting leaves sheared off. Right, yes, and stopping white flies from landing. Right, yeah. There's a lot of good points to having row covers over your young plants. You just have to make it easy for yourself to be able to throw that cover off in order to water the plants and check on their health.

Debbie Flower

34:57

Yeah, so how do you attach? I used clothespins. They still make them. I know I used clothespins on the rounded cattle panel. I put the row cover over the top and held it down  in two directions and held it down with clothespins.

Farmer Fred

35:18

And Gail Pothour, master gardener and vegetable head, offered this tip, too, when they recently had a predicted hail storm in the town where she lives is. She ran around and apparently she keeps large plastic trash bags handy for this very purpose. Which is to go out there and cover her pepper plants that have already been caged and just throw that plastic bag over that cage and that protects it from the hail, and then removing it before the next day.

Debbie Flower

35:49

Yeah, you wouldn't want to leave it on.

Farmer Fred

35:51

No, but for a short term solution to pending things falling from the sky. Yes, yeah, makes a lot of sense. You could even use cardboard or, again, your favorite, garbage can lids.

Debbie Flower

36:03

Garbage can, lids right And, if they're not caged, a cardboard box.

Farmer Fred

36:07

Yeah, there you go. See these Amazon boxes can come in handy, so keep them.

Debbie Flower

36:12

Just have to have a storage place for them.

Farmer Fred

36:14

Yeah, well, they fit well into each other and they should be at least the height of the plant, if not greater, right, you don't want to crush your plant, right?  So, Tonya, yeah, you're doing all the right things. I think you're worrying too much, but I think your little guys will be successful. Good luck. Thanks, Debbie.

FLASHBACK EPISODE OF THE WEEK: 182 "How to Grow Raspberries, Boysenberries and Blackberries"

Farmer Fred

Get your day off to a healthy start by adding fresh picked, high fiber berries, such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries, to your breakfast. In many parts of the country, that harvest has already begun or will begin shortly. Back in episode 182, we talked with Master Gardener and accomplished home berry grower, Pam Bone, who had lots of good tips for growing these tasty, healthy treats. It's "all about berries", and that episode became one of the most listened-to of all the Garden Basics Podcast, and it's this week's Flashback episode. Again, it's number 182, "How to Grow Raspberries, Boysenberries and Blackberries". It's from April of last year. You can look up this informative episode, number 182, in the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast player of your choice, or click on the link in today's show notes for this Flashback episode of the week. You can also find it at our homepage, gardenbasics.net.

The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast comes out once a week on Fridays, plus the newsletter podcast that comes out, "Beyond the Garden Basics" newsletter, continues. And that will also be released on Fridays. Both are free and they're brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. The Garden Basics podcast is available wherever podcasts are handed out and that includes our homepage, gardenbasics.net, and that's where you can also sign up for the "Beyond the Garden Basics" newsletter and podcast. That's GardenBasics.net, or you can use the links in today's show notes. And thank you so much for listening.