News Article for July 20, 2009, from LSU AgCenter County Agent Kenny Sharpe:
It is not too early to begin planning your fall garden. I know it is still the middle of summer, but that cooler air earlier this past week reminds me it will cool down eventually.
Fall gardens are the exact reverse of spring plantings. Fall gardens are planted in the hot weather and then harvested in the coolness of fall. It is much harder to grow a fall garden, and it takes someone with a lot of determination to want to work that hard in the heat.
A big consideration for fall planting is harvesting the produce before you get a frost that will kill the plant material.
Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable crop grown. If you are going to plant a fall crop of tomatoes you will need to get the transplants in the ground by mid-August, which should allow you to get the crop harvested before the end of October.
I would suggest using white plastic mulch for a fall planting. The white will be much cooler than black and it will suppress the weeds that can take a garden over this time of the year. This would also be a good time to use drip tape under the plastic for much-needed irrigation.
It will be beneficial to plant your plants a little deeper when planting in August. This will allow the roots to be cooler and in a zone where there will be better soil moisture. I would set the transplants about 6 inches deep in the summer.
Insect and disease pressures are at their peak in midsummer, so you will have to be vigilant about scouting for problems. Most successful growers will alternate insecticide and fungicide sprays because the pest problems are much greater than in the spring.
Fall-produced tomatoes will be setting fruit in September when we will still get a lot of hot days with temperatures up into the mid 90s. It is essential that you plant varieties that can set fruit in those high temperatures. Those varieties that are adapted to the high temperatures are known as heat-set varieties. The heat-set varieties that tend to work well for fall production include Sun Leaper, Florida 91, Sun Master, Solar Fire, Talladega, Sun Chaser, Phoenix, BHN 216, Solar Set and Heat Wave II.
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Have you noticed any foliage missing on your azaleas lately? I have seen the red headed azalea caterpillar busy in my own azaleas and have had reports from others. My dwarf azaleas were pretty much defoliated, but the large Formosa azaleas only suffered minor damage because of their massive size.
As you might have figured, the red headed caterpillar has a red head, and its body is black with white broken spots. It is very colorful but has a ferocious appetite.
Control the caterpillars with Orthene, Sevin or a Bt formulation like Thuricide or Dipel.
For more information on these or related topics, contact Kenny Sharpe at 225-686-3020.