What is that?
It reminds me of my lemon grass that died back every winter, I basically chopped that back as much as I could once the last freeze was done for the winter, which meant removing 80% of the plant mass but it was all dead mass that wouldn’t regrow.
So glad they are doing well! I don’t use grow lights down here, just chaos and luck. I do have friends who have nice setups in their garage, but I’ve managed to do everything on those crawfish trays with some pots that I reuse every year. Maybe not the most effective, but it works!
Mr. Meer started the seeds, I usually just do starts partly because then I only get a few plants and not thirty plants I feel like I need to find a home for. These will probably go on the ground this weekend
He also started peppers from seed but we haven’t had good luck with that in the past. But as you can see our seed starting method is pretty casual.
This is a great question. I can’t get my plant ID app to work, but this is what it looked like in September 
I guess I could set something up in the shed, if I do buy another grow light. Historically I have grown fat healthy tomato starts by having the light literally right on top of them. But, well, everything is different here.
Chaos and luck indeed, there are many gardening rules I ignore! 
On a webinar right now, and I love this framing: “gardening is the slowest of the performing arts.”
On another week, you can just plant tomato or pepper seeds in the ground and have pretty good odds.
WUT
Well, it’s not like it’s going to get too cold for them in May. And you have time for them to grow in ground; you’ll be able to harvest until October at the earliest, maybe November.
About half of my seeds are sprouting, and some are hitting the container lid. Should I remove the lids now?
We have a split season for tomatoes here, most people pull them out of the ground in june. And plant new ones in the fall. Bug predation is really hard, and I believe when temperatures stay over 80° at night that the pollen gets too sticky and they stop setting fruit. Some people do try to keep their tomatoes alive all summer long and then they produce again in the fall.
This is the thing I keep meaning to print for you Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide
You want to follow directions for South Louisiana. Sadly late June July and early August is some of the worst time to garden here. It can get terribly hot. I normally grow things like okra Roselle and sweet potato. Anything else is a gift. A lot of the local farmers take their “winter vacation” this time of year. Lots of things like pumpkins and gourds are often planted in July for an October harvest.
One person that has great advice is Dan Gill, he is the head master gardener at LSU and writes for the Times-Picayune.
Interesting, thanks. I’m far enough north they slow a little setting fruit in July, but don’t stop completely.
I’ve overwintered tomatoes here. It is wild. Originally from PA, I am still learning.
The plant seller I talked to at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago suggested that when it gets super hot, cut the tomato plants WAY back and they will regenerate and bear again in the fall? Worth a try.
I am used to not being able to garden at all for 6 months out of the year so a summertime lull feels totally do-able!
It’ll give you so much time for canning!!
Citrus fucking gall wasp. I’m going to lose my entire lemon crop this year.
I would, just make sure the non-germinated ones don’t dry out. Also, they should be under lights for sure if half are germinated.
Thanks. They have been under lights for a few days now.
