I’ve only had success with cherry tomatoes. I can never grow full-sized tomatoes due to fusarium wilt and vertiulum wilt, even after spending dozens of hours watching youtube videos and reading forum posts and extension office newsletters on how to fix it. But I live in a rural area and there’s at least 5 massive tomato fields within 30 miles of where I live in Florida (by commercial growers) so it’s absolutely possible but I just don’t know their secret. 😣

I met another local gardener through an online board game but he was unable to offer advice on wilt disease prevention. Do you have any actionable advice on how to prevent fusarium wilt and/or verticulum wilt? I’m inexperienced with Lemmy so if you can’t view this screenshot easily, I’ve transcribed it below:

I had a gardening question if you grow tomatoes

I have tried about 12 different tomato cultivars (medium to large sized, for sandwich slicing) and they all die halfway into their life cycle due to the 2 common wilt diseases in Florida’s hot humid weather

My best attempt was with better boy hybrid but I only got about 8-10 tomatoes and they were not big & healthy but undersized due to the struggling plant

I can do fine with cherry tomatoes (supersweet 100s and Everglades tomatoes) but I’ve never been a successful tomato gardener and have tried all the tips such as well draining soil, mixing in compost, watering at the base so the leaves don’t get wet, etc…

I have not bothered with hydroponic soil-free substrate but I bought 2 giant boxes of it a few years ago and still have it (coco coir and perlite) but it seems too much ongoing effort even if I got 50 tomatoes or more per plant

I also bought 200 rockwool cubes and might consider starting them in soil-free substrate and then transplant them when they are a foot tall, so they have a head-start at dealing with wilt funguses

Those are rock wool cubes (for hydroponic gardening hobby) mentioned in the last paragraph with a nascent tomato plant growing in the lower left corner of the image. Whenever I feel motivated enough to start hydroponic gardening, I just shrug my shoulders and plant my tomato seeds or rosemary seeds conventionally in a flower pot. (I always manage to find an excuse at the last minute on the day I finally roll up my sleeves to start hydroponic gardening 🤦‍♂️)

If you or anyone has questions about first-time gardening, ask away!

I’m just trying to force myself to either start the beef jerky hobby this weekend or the hydroponic gardening. My excuse for not starting the beef jerky all year is not knowing whether it “counts” as a valid hobby, so this post will help me force myself to “shit or get off the pot” and pick one since inaction is the same as choosing “neither”.

I also own a virtually unused violin that I’ve only played 3-4 times this year which was my hobby I intended to begin last year. 🤦‍♂️

On the topic, whats important to you about a hobby versus a skill or technique?

I spent the first 30 years of my life in front of my computer. All my hobbies were computer or video game related. I also was immobile about 5 years ago (bedridden, over 400 pounds). It feels wasteful to not utilize my newfound mobility and do stuff outdoors. I can go back to all my old childhood hobbies when I’m old & senile.

Ngl, and I don’t think you are a bot, but this feels like one of those astroturfed askreddit questions that come from bots.

I have terrible social skills in real life, I guess that bled into my online persona too. 🤦‍♂️

That’s largely due to lack of mobility training. I would highly suggest making that one of your hobbies.

Already on it 💪

Why do you need other people to decide that for you? It is both culinary skill and hobby. Life does not fit in categories described by single words.

Mainly FOMO (fear of missing out on a more “valid” hobby) but also to get others perspectives, including those I might disagree with because I’m often wrong in my initial judgment about stuff. I don’t want to look back 20 years from now and realize I deluded myself into counting something as a hobby that isn’t one, when the opportunity cost might be a better hobby that I’ve also been putting off getting started for the past 5-10 years (hydroponic gardening, wall/rock climbing, telescope star-watching, learning violin, etc.)

I have been slowly learning 2 knots and practicing them every weekend for the past 6 weeks. I wanted to ask how useful is the “tarp corner knot” in climbing and/or general outdoor activities? My local climbing gym 1 hour away includes a free 2-week membership if you pay $65 for their 90 minute beginner group lesson (capped at 6 climbing noobs) for people who have never climbed before, so I thought it might be useful for that maybe? Here is the link to a 10-second video showing the knot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Fjq4xt68I

The worst type of troll or bad actor is the one I have put in bold:

Trolls often provoke others into displaying emotional responses,[3] or manipulating others’ perceptions, thus acting as a bully or a provocateur. I quit my niche youtube channel of 500 subscribers and 70 videos because of one extremely motivated troll.

I thought you’re just not supposed to talk to them if they reach out first (i.e. if you’re a suspect) but it’s fine to reach out to them as long as you’re not a possible suspect to any unsolved crime in the last 90 days?

Then leg lifts while lying down—one at a time at first, then both at the same time.

Were you lying on your back? Or lying on your stomach?

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkUNt4QBtA0

Specifically at 5:11 with the broomstick in between your legs

The only thing which finally helped my back was physical therapy. It was the list of 7 exercises she told me to do. I searched each on youtube and one of the videos included 2-3 extra beyond the one I was searching, and 1 of those extra exercises finally worked like a miracle! 😁 I still have the video bookmarked if you want me to search for it and link it.

it’s not going to stick unless you have an application for it.

I am trying to get into “low dopamine hobbies” which is why I got into beekeeping last year and has been one of the best decisions of my life. Anything you do regularly becomes positively reinforced so as long as an activity isn’t annoying or negative, you can do it more often until you enjoy it, even if it’s not enjoyable at first. I also would like to practice speed at tying knots since that would give me a goal to look forward to. I’m a huge fan of watching speedrunning videos and always find doing something fast is entertaining, even if the underlying activity is nothing special in and of itself. I also love watching people play piano pieces extremely fast, and I myself have put in hundreds of hours of practice into playing 1-2 piano pieces about a decade ago. It gave me a goal to look forward to and I enjoyed the challenge, especially since I was terrible at piano before I began. 😁

I’ve found online rope and knot guides pretty frustrating.

Same. I’ve learned from trying to follow videos that knots which look easy might be a reflection of the person’s skill (at making them seem easy) and maybe they have practiced tying that knot 5000 times in their lifetime. Some knots look simple but are deceptively complicated. 😣