Posted by FarmI on May 26, 2010, 8:44 pm
> Bert Hyman wrote:
>> balvenieman@invalid.net wrote:
>>
>>> Don't be too quick to conclude your veggies to be diseased. You made
>>> no mention of what other veggies might be growing in that plot and
>>> how they are doing. If you've raised the same few kinds of plants in
>>> the same small area for a few years, your plants may be suffering a
>>> nutrient deficiency. ...
>>
>> You raise an important point. My wife reports that she uses an
>> 11-15-11 granular fertilizer. I can't say exactly how much, or
>> exactly how it's used, since my involvement in the project is mainly
>> digging and hauling, but I trust that she's using it as directed.
>>
>>> If you have the wherewithal, by all means, start some new
>>> container plants in new soil but you might be doing yourself a favor
>>> to take an evening and really study any of the links below that
>>> interest you.
>>
>> Thanks for the links.
>>
>>> Much of the information is redundant and repetitive but studying the
>>> images may help you identify an easily-cured deficiency that responds
>>> positively to the "three-day" test (in general, that's how long you
>>> should wait for a visible response to fast-release corrections).
>>
>> The U of Mn's extension service has a soil testing service, and our
>> county has an open plant diagnostic clinic every week that we can use
>> if we can't arrive at a conclusion ourselves.
> I think Balvenieman makes a good point, the other guys are assuming your
> conclusion about contamination and going for the nukes, even if
> reluctantly. Unless I saw obvious signs of pathogens I would not jump to
> that conclusion.
The first thing I'd do would be to find another spot and cultivate that.
There's only be one mild mention of the problems of trying to grow the same
plants over and over again in the one plot of soil. Read up about crop
rotation and why that is important (and supposedly even more so if you're
not an organic gardener) and then start another bed in another place and
continue to do that every couple of years before you go back to the first
spot again.
Posted by General Schvantzkoph on May 26, 2010, 6:03 pm
On Wed, 26 May 2010 15:00:12 +0000, Bert Hyman wrote:
> My wife and I are absolutely not knowledgeable gardeners; our back yard
> is planted with perennials and shrubs selected mainly for appearance,
> hardiness and whim (I got three gas plants, based solely on their name),
> and we manage to keep things alive and pruned to our satisfaction.
>
> A few years ago, we set aside the one small sunny spot for growing
> tomatoes and basil. Each year we've tilled the area by hand, worked in
> some manure-based soil amendment, planted a few plants we picked up at
> the garden center and were happy with the result.
>
> This year, the tomatoes died, and the basil is stunted.
>
> My suspicion, and the consensus at my wife's office, is that we
> introduced some sort of blight, either from the purchased plants or the
> soil amendment.
>
> What can we do to this plot of death so that we might get something to
> grow next year? Is there any quick fix for this year? Our growing season
> is terribly short here.
I'm spraying with copper fungicide this year to prevent early and late
blight, you might want to give it a try.
Posted by sherwin dubren on May 31, 2010, 3:36 pm
On 5/26/2010 10:00 AM, Bert Hyman wrote:
> My wife and I are absolutely not knowledgeable gardeners; our back yard is
> planted with perennials and shrubs selected mainly for appearance,
> hardiness and whim (I got three gas plants, based solely on their name),
> and we manage to keep things alive and pruned to our satisfaction.
> A few years ago, we set aside the one small sunny spot for growing
> tomatoes and basil. Each year we've tilled the area by hand, worked in
> some manure-based soil amendment, planted a few plants we picked up at
> the garden center and were happy with the result.
> This year, the tomatoes died, and the basil is stunted.
> My suspicion, and the consensus at my wife's office, is that we
> introduced some sort of blight, either from the purchased plants or the
> soil amendment.
> What can we do to this plot of death so that we might get something to
> grow next year? Is there any quick fix for this year? Our growing season
> is terribly short here.
Bert,
You might try covering the area with dark plastic sheets. The effect
of the sun's heating and the lack of light might kill whatever is
in your soil. The safest thing is to remove the top layer of soil
and replace it with something suitable. Is anything else, like weeds,
growing there now? Nothing growing is a more serious problem. Did
you spray any weed killing chemicals there? A neighbor of mine
accidentally sprayed what he thought was a weed killer, but it turned
out to be a total plant killer.
Sherwin
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>> balvenieman@invalid.net wrote:
>>
>>> Don't be too quick to conclude your veggies to be diseased. You made
>>> no mention of what other veggies might be growing in that plot and
>>> how they are doing. If you've raised the same few kinds of plants in
>>> the same small area for a few years, your plants may be suffering a
>>> nutrient deficiency. ...
>>
>> You raise an important point. My wife reports that she uses an
>> 11-15-11 granular fertilizer. I can't say exactly how much, or
>> exactly how it's used, since my involvement in the project is mainly
>> digging and hauling, but I trust that she's using it as directed.
>>
>>> If you have the wherewithal, by all means, start some new
>>> container plants in new soil but you might be doing yourself a favor
>>> to take an evening and really study any of the links below that
>>> interest you.
>>
>> Thanks for the links.
>>
>>> Much of the information is redundant and repetitive but studying the
>>> images may help you identify an easily-cured deficiency that responds
>>> positively to the "three-day" test (in general, that's how long you
>>> should wait for a visible response to fast-release corrections).
>>
>> The U of Mn's extension service has a soil testing service, and our
>> county has an open plant diagnostic clinic every week that we can use
>> if we can't arrive at a conclusion ourselves.
> I think Balvenieman makes a good point, the other guys are assuming your
> conclusion about contamination and going for the nukes, even if
> reluctantly. Unless I saw obvious signs of pathogens I would not jump to
> that conclusion.