bluemoons

I lost one of mine as well and my conclusion was bot rot. I tried to save the plant by pruning well below the affected leaves, but it was like a new section of plant died off every week. It had gotten so bad that I'd pruned more than 50% of the plant, so I just replaced it. Like you, mine are large and the replacement is smaller, but they grow quickly.

Drake elms are cool, but their roots are very shallow and they blow over very easily.

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What kind of trellis would y'all recommend for tomatoes and watermelons?

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I've tried quite a bit for tomatoes and I always wind up going back to caging and staking the cages. Once they top the cage, I flip another cage upside down and connect it to the bottom cage with zip ties. It doesn't look the best, but it works.

I tried the Florida weave method last year and really didn't like it. It is high maintenance and requires frequent tying for new growth. If you prune your plants to one main stem, I think a tall stake would be fine. The cages are much lower maintenance for an indeterminate plant that is allowed to have multiple stems. I allow my indeterminates to have 3 main stems, so a single stake wouldn't work very well. Cattle panel or the safety wire with squares would work, but will require frequent clipping as the plants grow.

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The fact that you're here asking this question after you talked to your agent is grounds for reporting your agent to the state department of insurance.

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This is super dramatic.

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You can't just throw a number at the policy and call it a day because that's a recipe for an underpayment at claim time.

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Sure you can, as long as the number is accurate representation of the cost to rebuild in the event of a loss. Every carrier handles this a little differently, but between your baseline dwelling coverage, other structure/accessory building coverage, and additional coverage percentage, it’s very easy to adjust the limits to make sure you’ve got more than enough coverage in the event of a total loss.

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Yea must be 1/4 inch. I can get that regulator with a gauge and fitting on Amazon for 79 bucks in the “frequently bought together” section.

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:cheers: I did the same thing whenever I set mine up. Just ordered a stainless hose to go with it. Whenever I eventually get a new gauge, I’m gonna set it up on quick connects.

That'll work fine, but you'll need a wrench to tighten the fitting to the tank. You can get something like this: LINK and just replace the tank-side fitting on the regulator, such that you can tighten with your hand. Just make sure the NPT sizes line up. I think they're typically 1/4".

Ah, I see. I could be wrong, but I don't think a needle valve is going to fix your tank freezing problem. My understanding of that issue is that it's primarily related to the high flow of the gas compared to the amount of propane remaining in the tank, which exists whether you're using a regulator or a needle valve. A bigger tank will solve the problem for the most part, but it will probably still happen when the tank is really low.

I can tell you that since I've had the regulator I linked earlier (10 years or so), I've never had my burner shut off on me when a tank froze up. The flow just decreases a bit, which can be remedied by shaking the tank or putting it in some water.

Some photos of the garden's status as of yesterday. Tomatoes and peppers are setting a bunch of fruit. I think the cold nights the last couple of weeks may have cost me some early tomatoes, but whatever. Cucumbers and tromboncino squash are starting to climb. I'm expecting my squash and zucchini to start flowering over the next week. I'm a little later on them than usual just because I didn't star seeds indoors. Direct sowed them this year. Watermelon and cantaloupe are sluggish and probably will continue to be until the heat sets in. Everything is healthy though and thankfully, I've had no real pest problems yet. I think we're getting some rain today and tomorrow, then warm and sunny for the foreseeable future. Hoping for a lot of growth over that time.

I loosely follow the square foot method. My spacing is one pepper per sqft, one tomato per 4sqft, and one okra per 2 sqft. I've always given the okra and tomatoes plants a bit more space than the general square foot gardening rules, just because they get pretty big.

I have a 60psi regulator similar to this setup (LINK ) and it rips. I bought the pieces separately from Ace and I’ve got a stainless hose. Much better than the stock Bayou Classic regulators. Tank freezing up can be solved by setting it in a Rubbermaid with some water in it.