Identifying Plant Issues

Just like us, plants can suffer from too much sun. When they get too much direct sunlight, their leaves can turn white or pale yellow, sometimes in irregular patches. They might even wilt or become brittle and crisp around the edges. And the fruit? They might develop whitish and leathery lesions or patches on the skin and lose flavor and texture.

By taking these proactive steps, you can significantly reduce the risk of sunscald and ensure the health and vitality of your plants.

To mitigate sunscalds, you can relocate the plants in containers where they receive plenty of morning sun and afternoon shade when temperatures are the highest.

If your plants are in a garden bed, you can also use shade cloth, a lightweight fabric specifically designed to protect plants from sun damage. You can purchase shade cloth at most garden retailers, and it comes in various sizes to suit your needs. To use it, simply drape the fabric over the plant, ensuring it covers the top and sides but leaves enough space for the necessary sunlight to filter through.

The foliage of pepper plants also acts as a protective sunshade for the fruit. To utilize this natural protection, we recommend gently tucking the fruit underneath the foliage as much as possible. This involves carefully lifting the leaves and placing the fruit underneath.

English lavender varieties, while cold hardy, are native to drier Mediterranean climates and are typically grown annually in northern states. The issue with harsher, colder winters and slower evaporation rates is that thawing, damp, cold soils retain lots of moisture around the lavender roots, leading to root rot. This condition will often kill lavender, rather than the chilly air.

One way to prevent this is by planting lavender on mounds. These mounds, when properly constructed, can help drain excess water away from the roots, reducing the risk of root rot. Consistently removing the snow from the dormant plants is also important to allow the water from melting snow to drain through the soil past the roots. Even with these precautions, we cannot promise that plants will survive the winter.

Most herbs are low maintenance, thriving with just the right balance of sunlight and evenly moist soil.

However, when the leaves start wilting or turning another color (yellow/brown), it's a good indication that something is affecting the plant's health. If the leaves are turning yellow, it could be a sign of overwatering, while brown leaves could indicate underwatering. Both can prevent the roots from absorbing essential nutrients from the soil, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. We recommend watering only when the top inch of the potting mix is dry to the touch, and no more, as herbs are very susceptible to overwatering.

White flesh and unpleasant-tasting tomatoes are not inherent characteristics of tomato plants. White flesh, a common tomato condition, is caused by environmental factors, such as heat, sunscald, and stink bugs that extract juices from the tomato and inject yeast into the flesh, halting production in that area of the tomato.

Importantly, tomatoes with white flesh are still safe to use as food, despite the taste being a bit bland.

Tomato cracking is mainly caused by uneven watering. The fruit suffers when the plant attempts to cope with the transition from dry, drought-like periods to wet, soggy moments. Adding too much moisture, significantly when the plant has set fruit, may inadvertently flood your tomato plant with water it doesn’t need. This can predispose the plant to fungal diseases and cause premature cracking and splitting in nearly ripened tomatoes.

The soil should be kept consistently and evenly moist, never dry, and not oversaturated with water. A soaker hose and mulch around the plant’s base will help retain and distribute moisture evenly. Mulch acts as a protective layer, reducing evaporation and maintaining soil moisture.

Another key factor that can lead to tomato cracking is calcium deficiency. Calcium is essential for cell wall formation in plants, and a lack of it can result in weaker cell walls, making the fruit more susceptible to cracking. To address this, it's important to consider adding calcium-rich amendments to the soil. This solution is effective and can significantly reduce the risk of tomato cracking, giving you peace of mind about your plant's health.

We understand the disappointment when tomato and pepper plants don't meet your expectations. However, it's essential to recognize the resilience of these plants. Despite the challenges of gardening, tomato and pepper plants are remarkable in their ability to adapt and produce fruit under favorable conditions. However, environmental factors like temperature extremes and fluctuations, excess nitrogen from fertilizers, inadequate sunlight, pollination issues, inconsistent watering, pests, and soil conditions can disrupt this and lead to a common phenomenon: "blossom drop. " This is a plant's physiological response to an environmental stressor that causes plants to produce little to no flowers and fruit. Blossom drop occurs when the plant, in response to stress, drops its flowers before they can develop into fruit, conserving energy for survival.

To help your plants recover and mitigate blossom drop, ensure they receive at least 6 hours of sunlight daily. If temperatures consistently rise above 85 degrees F, use shade cloth to protect plants from long days in the sun, or if the plants are in containers, relocate them to an area that receives morning sun and afternoon shade. Also, watch those evening temperatures. Anything below 55 degrees F will cause tomato and pepper plants to abort production and redirect energy to survival.

Keep the soil consistently and evenly watered but not overly saturated.

Excess nitrogen from fertilizer or soil can be harmful to your plants. While nitrogen is essential for healthy foliage, too much can lead to excessive vegetative growth at the expense of flower and fruit production. Once plants have flowered and set fruit, we suggest switching to a fertilizer higher in potassium and less nitrogen or a more balanced NPK blend, such as a 10-10-10 formulation with equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

Bees or hand pollination can then help kickstart the fruiting process. Bees are natural pollinators and are crucial in tomato and pepper plant production. In the absence of beneficial pollinators, hand pollination can be effective. To hand-pollinate, gently shake the plant's stem or use a small brush to transfer pollen from one flower to another. Our website has an article explaining how to hand-pollinate your plant in more detail, including the best time to do it and the techniques for effective pollen transfer. Here's the link: Got Pollination Problems? Give Hand-Pollination a Try! – Bonnie Plants.

While gardening can be challenging, it's also a journey of learning and adaptation. Growing tomatoes and peppers may require patience, but with the proper adjustments and diligent care, your plants can thrive and produce as expected. Remember, success is within your reach.

As a home gardener and herb enthusiast, you play a crucial role in understanding and managing the factors that can cause basil to bolt. When basil shifts energy to produce flowers and seeds, it is a natural end to the plant's life cycle. However, when this happens prematurely, it is caused by an environmental factor that stresses the plant, such as summer heat. Your vigilance and care can help prevent these unforeseen challenges from happening when you least expect them.

During the summer heat, basil thrives best in the morning sun and afternoon shade. While basil is susceptible to overwatering, it needs consistent and evenly moist potting soil when temperatures rise above 85 degrees F, but not over-saturated.

During warmer temperatures, it's best to trim your basil by at least 1/3 each month and at the first sign of a flowering stem to keep the plant's energy focused on producing more leaves. Harvesting leaves regularly, even if not needed, is a proactive practice that can help prevent the plant from bolting, giving you more control over your basil's growth. Here is a link to our article on how to grow basil successfully: Growing Basil Herbs | Planting & Care Tips—Bonnie Plants.

Everbearing strawberries typically spend their first year establishing a robust root system necessary to support healthy fruit production. We recommend pinching off the first flowers and early fruit to allow the plants to direct their energy toward developing a solid root system, an essential step in cultivating healthy, productive strawberry plants.

In the first year of production, strawberries may appear misshapen, mushy, or quickly die. But don't lose hope, as strawberry plants produce better in the second season and subsequent years once the plants are well established. So, keep nurturing your plants and look forward to a bountiful harvest in the future.