2 questions what is this purple spot. And what is a good purple hybrid asparagus strain

Question: I had a winter indoor crop of lettuce carrots and swiss chard wiped out in full, by what started as a few little purple spots and spread fast to 4 containers, by fan I am guessing, or by my hands, I don't know. I had 2 carrot containers a swiss chard container & one big container with 4 different lettuce varieties. In the beginning everything first began to have purpling and then everything went necrotic and died. I cleaned the area with bleach, I'm using all new containers, and I just had a basil plant and 2 pepper plants begin to have these initial signs so frustrating. Different soil, mostly all different seed. And this is a portion of my crops I intend to put out for spring. So I was pretty bummed as u might figure. I culled everything I saw it on immediately. Last year I asked you guys, various seed companies and no one had what even seemed like a feasible or good suggestion. I got things like lack of phosphorus, but I wasn't lacking phosphorus plus they were still just seedlings. The the extension here blamed the fox farm ocean forest soil I was using(just like 40% the other 60% was inert coco), however I gave 2 plants to my sister before this outbreak or what have you happened, and hers were fine. Also I have used the soil before with good results as a partial component to my indoor growing mixes. I have everything in 7 inch greenhouse lids on 10x20 trays at this point, in part because I just didn't trust the environment after that loss. Then sure nuff 3 plants popped up with it. I included the 1 photo I thought to take. Really frustrated, so far it's just those 3 which promptly went in the garbage. It was wild all four separate containers and a separate pot too infected and destroyed. I neemed some of the things that were near it but not showing signs this time. Wish I had tried Neem before. But just curious if you have any thoughts on this.

Also what is a good high yielding purple asparagus strain for northern MN that I could search for 2 year crowns of, or if you know of a reasonable and reliable source to purchase such crowns that would be lovely too. 

Thank you

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 03, 2023, 6:26 PM EDT
response: Thank you John for reaching out to ask2.extension.  I understand how frustrated you must be.   There are so many factors that could be involved, especially if you are losing more than one crop.  What kind of lighting is in your room?  How about the air movement?  Are you using a heat pad to start the seedlings?  Are they covered or uncovered?  Water amounts? what is the temperature of the room? So many factors to consider.I found examples of pictures of other peppers purpling like yours.  Lighting was agreed as the problem - too much light, either too, much too close or on too long. I had commercial greenhouses earlier in my life.  I used a seed starter mix, a tray like you did, heating pad and humidity dome or cover on the trays.  The seed starter has no nutrients in it, so is good for starting, but won’t last for growing and plants need to be transplanted after growing  true leaves ( shaped as they will look as they get bigger). First leaves have no difinitive shape.I found a site called pepper geek.com that gives a great run down on how to start peppers.  They use the fox farm soil, but not to start, just when transplanting. Might be a read for you for more insight for all plants. That so many of your crops are failing is puzzling. I’m hoping it’s temperature or lighting.  That’s easily fixed. I hope I can help you.   As far as purple asparagus, I bought Purple Passion.  I’m not 100% sure where I got it, but I think Gurneys.  It took a couple of years to get going really well, but now I’m 5+ years and getting more than two of us can eat.  I think I bought it two different years in a row to increase my production. Please let me know an answer to some of the questions above.  I really would like to help.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 03, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
response: I have 5 80 watt LEDs on the side the problem popped back up on, I added some fox farm to the mix when transplanted. They are all under 7 inch greenhouse domes on 10x20 trays, they have pretty much all been covered, I did hit them with some weak dose fish emulsion. Temps range from 70-75 in this area of my room. I have fans going pointed at the lights. I did use a heat pad to start all the peppers and tomatoes, then switched them under the T5 to the LED and ditched the heat pad. Been trying to transplant on the second set of leaves, started out watering too much but remedied that at transplant and in general at this point. The crop I lost was open air fans moving good temps water was right, they started in big containers so no transplant was necessary. I'm pretty sure it was some kind of pathogen. But nothing was similar about this batch including the types of planted swiss chard is the only same one. And those are covered and in a different room all together. I was looking at purple passion and thought there might be a more productive purple hybrid as is the case with all the green asparagus, like most things it seems there are hybrids with better yield and disease immunity than heirlooms or OPs. I found a Amazon seller selling 2 yr old big crowns for 35$ for 20, I also have wild crowns that were years old I transplanted into our yard, and millennium I'm starting from seed. Think I might get the purple passion crowns for that price for variety and to have some I can take at least some of them next year. They got a return policy, which ya know, it's hard to be sure in your first 60 days, but I should have some idea. I want variety and don't wanna wait 3 years

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 04, 2023, 10:05 AM EDT
response: Good morning John.  I reached out to a professor at the U. Of Wisconsin who is hosting a zoom class on plant diseases that I have been attending.  If there is a pathogen he will know of it.  I will let you know as soon as I hear back from him. As far as your asparagus, I agree you won’t know much in 60 days.  You aren’t supposed to pick it until the second year, so not much of a return policy.  Good luck with it. I will get back to you as soon as I can.  I really want to help you solve this. Talk to you soon. (I hope).

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 04, 2023, 6:54 PM EDT
response: The picture sucks, I hope not to have a better one, but this is the second time I've seen this, this time thru. And it's weird . On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 5:48 PM John Ricker <<personal data hidden>> wrote:Thank you! I have another issue in there, the purple issue has been subdued at this point... I found this tho on a few tomato plants. The purple on the bottom of this leaf is supposed to be there, but this bright green fuzzy growth that stuck out like a 1/16th of an inch and was weird AF. That isn't natural. I swear never had so many problems gardening indoors.On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 9:05 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 04, 2023, 6:54 PM EDT
response: Thank you! I have another issue in there, the purple issue has been subdued at this point... I found this tho on a few tomato plants. The purple on the bottom of this leaf is supposed to be there, but this bright green fuzzy growth that stuck out like a 1/16th of an inch and was weird AF. That isn't natural. I swear never had so many problems gardening indoors.On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 9:05 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 04, 2023, 9:11 PM EDT
response: Good evening John. Does this describe what you have?  Pale greenish-yellow spots, usually less than 1/4 inch, with no definite margins, form on the upper sides of leaves.  Olive-green to brown velvety mold forms on the lower leaf surface below leaf spots.  Leaf spots grow together and turn brown. Leaves wither and die but often remain attached to the plant.  If so this is tomato leaf mold.The disease is driven by high relative humidity (greater than 85%).  Foliage is often the only part of the plant directly infected. Infection will cause infected leaves to wither and die, indirectly affecting yield. Gauge how severe the case is by how many leaves have been affected.  Consider it severe if more than 50% of the leaves are infected.  You can prune the infected leaves off.  Get rid of them and clean the pruners with a 10% bleach solution between plants.  Be sure the ventilation is good and there is room between plants for circulation.  Watch the plants for further infection.  If you can, move them away from the other plants. When it is possible to do so, open a door or window to get some fresh air moving- just not too cold. Don’t give up.  I had years that I lost the whole crop of impatiens, my peppers got aphids.  There are so many variables.  Could be with all of the snow we’ve had, the humidity is high outside and affecting your room inside.  It might be a tough year for the garden.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 05, 2023, 3:25 PM EDT
response: I definitely won't give up, as a matter of fact I'm drastically expanding this year going to have a 20x10 tomato patch a 20x10 pepper patch and a 35x10 everything else patch. As well as cracking new ground to grow corn for the first time ever, and put cover crop to build the soil, and next year switch the corn and cover crop so the whole area gets green manured in 2 years. . I'm going to do the cover crop every other row, basically corn, cover, corn , cover and so on like 10-15 Rows of each, like 50 feet long. Plus my asparagus patch. Here I figured out how to use my phone a bit better. Here is unfortunately 2 more examples of the 2 things I'm currently battling, but with better photos.On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 8:11 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 05, 2023, 3:30 PM EDT
response: Okay that does describe the tomato thing... But not the purple situation that has managed to show up really on almost all plants accept maybe squash, which I really just grew for no reason, it didn't need the extra time indoors, but why notOn Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 2:22 PM John Ricker <<personal data hidden>> wrote:I definitely won't give up, as a matter of fact I'm drastically expanding this year going to have a 20x10 tomato patch a 20x10 pepper patch and a 35x10 everything else patch. As well as cracking new ground to grow corn for the first time ever, and put cover crop to build the soil, and next year switch the corn and cover crop so the whole area gets green manured in 2 years. . I'm going to do the cover crop every other row, basically corn, cover, corn , cover and so on like 10-15 Rows of each, like 50 feet long. Plus my asparagus patch. Here I figured out how to use my phone a bit better. Here is unfortunately 2 more examples of the 2 things I'm currently battling, but with better photos.On Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 8:11 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 06, 2023, 4:29 PM EDT
response: Any ideas on the purpling issue, I just found 2 peppers with it present so I pulled & neemed them. Just trying to ensure I don't lose any significant amount of my seedlings for spring

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 06, 2023, 6:09 PM EDT
response: Any ideas on the purpling issue, I just found 2 peppers with it present so I pulled & neemed them. Just trying to ensure I don't lose any significant amount of my seedlings for spring

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 06, 2023, 6:11 PM EDT
response: Unfortunately I found yet more peppers with this purpling in it's early stages. I neemed and isolated them. I had 2 in a singular cup and they both were purple, I just posted 3 photos of the worst one

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 06, 2023, 10:35 PM EDT
response: Sorry John. I just found your email.  I have sent the pictures to a disease specialist and am waiting to hear back.  I’ll. Send it again and will let you know what I found out as soon as I can.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 07, 2023, 12:24 AM EDT
response: Thank you! So much I put a bunch of work in and I just can't believe this I have to assume, some sort of pathogen, disease I dunno. Has come back. I washed the walls with bleach every seed every container even the fan is different. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.On Thu, Apr 6, 2023, 9:35 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 10, 2023, 9:55 AM EDT
response: Good morning John and Happy Easter.  Just wanted to let you know that I have reached out to four university personnel. Two have forwarded it one to a third person and I’ve had no answer.  I hoping it’s because of Easter/spring break.  I’ll let you know when I hear.  I’m sorry this is taking so long while your plants are struggling. We are supposed to be in the 60s and 70s for the next few days.  If you are too, open some windows during the day. Talk to you soon.

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 11, 2023, 12:49 PM EDT
response: Hi John.  I heard back from on of the people I emailed and they said the same thing-phosphorus problem.   She also asked if you could take a picture of the underside of the leaves.  She’s looking for possible gray mold.  Thanks. Deb Kroon

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 16, 2023, 10:34 AM EDT
response: When it first showed up I had it in 50% fox farm which definitely has plenty of phosphorus. My sister works over in the eye transplant department of the U. She is bringing in a few pepper plant with it.That tomato mold has gotten worse, does Neem help with that by chanceOn Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 11:49 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 16, 2023, 1:10 PM EDT
response: You could try it.   I have not used it.   The mold means too much moisture wether it is humidity, which is my guess, or watering.  I emailed the extension people again yesterday.  If possible get fresh air into your room.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 16, 2023, 1:20 PM EDT
response: I will prolly try the neemOn Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 12:10 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 16, 2023, 1:20 PM EDT
response: Ok, thanks. I'll try it's cold here today, and it is back a ways in the basement On Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 12:10 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 17, 2023, 10:14 AM EDT
response: Good morning John.  I heard back from the U this morning.  They are still telling me a lack of phosphorus and that’s all they have for an answer.  I’m so sorry I don’t have a better answer.  I’m thinking that you have to chalk it off to a strange winter and spring.  Again I’m so sorry.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 17, 2023, 11:09 AM EDT
response: Okay, it has slowed down I gave sister 2 plants to bring in to you guys but I might just tell her to keep them and give them phosphorus On Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 9:14 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 17, 2023, 11:13 AM EDT
response: that’s great.  I think if you can keep your tomatoes going until you can get them outside, the mold should go away.  Bad year.  Good luck John!

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 17, 2023, 11:30 AM EDT
response: Well some things are going great, and I intend to grow an enormous amount of food, for farmers market donations and my family. I have lots of things that look great. And I have about 50 tomato plants and like 20% affected and I have about 40 pepper plants 20 eggplants and a slew of seeds I intend to plant outside... Including a corn field with plans for beans to grow up the stalks in a 2 sisters method. I am addressing these issues and one way or another I will be harvesting a good amount. I'm sure I may have some questions for y'all ... I am just getting back into gardening. But I'm going big this year. I have a lot more to learn tho. Is there an online master Gardner course? Or even a class specifically on building soilOn Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 10:13 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 17, 2023, 11:40 AM EDT
response: I am so glad you’re not giving up.  Gardening can be frustrating. There is a Master Gardeners class. It takes about three months to complete and is started already this year.  If you are looking for some specific classes, I’d check with your county’s extension office.  They do offer classes and could help you with that.  Your county may have Master Gardners.  I haven’t looked online, but if you do try to find one that is associated with a University or something similar. Have a great summer!

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 17, 2023, 1:16 PM EDT
response: Damn I just found another pepper plant with the same purple, and I know I had given this one seabird guano. So it was phosphorus deficient. Is there any chance you guys could peak at the 2 live examples I sent down to the cities with my sister, by chance?So do the only do the master Gardner course once a year? How long is the course? Thank you again for all of your efforts and info, I greatly appreciate it!On Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 10:40 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 17, 2023, 5:09 PM EDT
response: I live in the way southwest corner of MN.  I’m not sure how they handle things brought into the U.  The phone number for the extension there is<personal data hidden>. The MG course is only offered once a year.  It’s done online- starts in January.  It took me 3 months to complete the course itself.  Then the first year interns have to complete 50 hours of volunteer work, which they go through during the course.  After that it’s 25 hours of volunteer and 25 hours of cont. Ed.  I’m not sure what the cost is this year.  I think it’s around $350. You can go to the extension.umn.edu and get most specific information about the course.

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 18, 2023, 2:01 AM EDT
response: Thank you so much for the info!  That's a good price as well. I think I might do that next year. I have a good amount of land where I live at present,it's my mom & Dad's. I am taking care of my dad in hospice. But she is pretty cool with me setting up lots of gardens. So I am doing just that. This purple shit definitely isn't phosphorus, I have 3 that just started having it & the all had been being fed seabird guano for weeks, pretty frustrating On Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:09 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Deb Kroon  Replied April 18, 2023, 8:05 PM EDT
response: Thanks for being so patient.  I hope you have a great summer!