FIMBY: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

This is another installment in our Food In My Back Yard series, devoted to edible gardening.

One of my fellow community gardeners asked me to diagnose some of her vegetable plants the other morning. What I found was a sad sight: Grean bean plants victimized by spider mites, to the point that the leaves and even the beans were mostly white, with just a little green remaining.  No green, no chlorophyll, no food-producing mechanism for the plant.

Can they be saved? she asked. Highly unlikely, I replied. Better to pull them out now and maybe replant, or start something else there next month.

We turned to her pumpkin plants. Spider mite damage was visible there, too, but the leaves were still mostly green, and the little pumpkins were unharmed. These plants had a good chance of surviving until harvest. But I warned her that spider mites love hot and dusty conditions, which could be expected to continue this month. My advice: Wet the plants down in the morning, especially the undersides of the leaves, to help keep the pests under control.

This illustrates the decisions that gardeners of edible plants may be facing in the coming weeks, as July heat takes its toll on summer vegetables. Every garden is different, as is every gardener’s level of patience, but here’s some guidance on assessing:

Dig it up or pull it out if:

— The plant no longer is producing new shoots. Don’t worry about a lack of flowers. The plant avoids producing them or discards them when stressed. But if some of the plant is yellow or brown, yet it has been getting regular watering, examine it for evidence of new growth. If you see nothing new AT ALL on the plant, it’s probably time to pull it. And some vegetables, such as corn or determinate tomatoes, might be done with their life cycle anyway.

— It’s under attack from a disease or a pest that’s affecting production. A bit of leaf miner damage will not prevent a pepper’s fruit from growing, for example, but a serious spider mite infestation will affect a plant’s ability to photosynthesize, as in the example above. Pull and toss it into the trash, not the compost. Trying to halt an attacker at this point might be costlier, in time and product, than the value of any harvest that might yet be possible.

— You’re tired of it. Too much zucchini already? It’s OK to dig it out, really. Remember to add compost to the soil afterward, so nutrients are renewed for the next crop at that spot.

Let the plant be (for now) if:

— It was planted late and didn’t produce much before July’s heat hit. If the plant has vigor, even if very little fruit, leaving it in place into the fall could produce a crop when the temps are a bit lower. I found this to be true with a Black Plum tomato I was ready to give up on .

— It’s still producing flowers. The pollen might be dried up, but the plants is still trying. This plant may be heat-resistant, even if it was never advertised as such. Lucky you! Make a note on that for next year, too. 

— You just aren’t sure. The plant’s just sitting there, but it’s clearly not dead. It may have gone into a temporary dormancy. If you’re interested in seeing what else it will produce, there’s no harm in leaving it there for a few more weeks. Be sure to keep watering it on the same schedule, and fertilize once the triple-digit heat stops. Good luck!