Late blight resistant tomatoes - Page 3

 

In article


 Marglobe 1917 tasty and tough.

http://www.vegetableseed.net/heirloom-vegetable-seeds/heirloom-tomato-see
ds/heirloom-red-tomato-seeds/marglobe.html

--
   Bill   Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
<http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending>

 

In article


Symbiosis: interaction between two different organisms living in close
physical association, typically to the advantage of both.


In the past 540 million years there have been five major events when
over 50% of animal species died.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event

Five events in 540 million years don't seem like a norm.


Undocumented fruits?


Maybe, once upon a time. These days they are mostly grown for cosmetic
qualities and durability in shipping.


Maybe in one generation, but not necessarily in one season.

Indeterminate types are "tender" perennials, dying annually in temperate
climates (they are originally native to tropical highlands), although
they can live up to three years in a greenhouse in some cases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatoes


Citation please.


Yet, I have volunteers, every year in my garden. They are Yellow Plum,
and grow amongst my dwarf fruit trees and strawberries.

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid06815176&sr=1-1

pg. 24
Healthy soil food webs control disease
A healthy food web is one that is not being destroyed by pathogenic and_
disease-causing organisms. Not all soil organisms are beneficial, after
all. As_ gardeners you know that pathogenic soil bacteria and fungi
cause many plain_ diseases. Healthy soil food webs not only have
tremendous numbers of individual organisms but a great diversity of
organisms. Remember that teaspoon_ of good garden soil? Perhaps 20,000
to 30,000 different species make up its bil-_lion bacteria-a healthy
population in numbers and diversity.

A large and diverse community controls troublemakers. A good analogy is_
a thief in a crowded market: if there are enough people around, they
will catch_ or even stop the thief (and it is in their self-interest to
do so). If the market is_ deserted,  however, the thief will be
successful, just as he will be if he is stronger,_ faster, or in some
other way better adapted than those that would be in pursuit.

Just as important, every member of the soil food web has its place in
the_ soil community. Each, be it on the surface or subsurface, plays a
specific role._ Elimination of even just one group can drastically alter
a soil community. Birds_ participate by spreading protozoa carried on
their feet or dropping a worm_ taken from one area into another. Too
many cats, and things will change. Dung_ from mammals provides nutrients
for beetles in the soil. Kill the mammals, or_ eliminate their habitat
or food source (which amounts to the same thing), and_ you won't have as
many beetles. It works in the reverse as well. A healthy soil_ food web
won't allow one set of members to get so strong as to destroy the web._
If there are too many nematodes and protozoa, the bacteria and fungi on_
which they prey are in trouble and, ultimately, so are the plants in the
area.

And there are other benefits. The nets or webs fungi form around roots
act_ as physical barriers to invasion and protect plants from pathogenic
fungi and_ bacteria.  Bacteria coat surfaces so thoroughly,  there is no
room for others to attach themselves. If something impacts these fungi
or bacteria and their numbers drop or they disappear, the plant can
easily be attacked.

Special soil fungi, called mycorrhizal fungi, establish themselves in a
symbiotic relationship with roots, providing them not only with-physical
protection but with nutrient delivery as well. In return for exudates,
these fungi provide water, phosphorus, and other necessary plant
nutrients. Soil food web _populations must be in balance, or these fungi
are eaten and the plant suffers.

Bacteria produce exudates of their own, and the slime they use to attach
to_ surfaces traps pathogens. Sometimes, bacteria work in conjunction
with fungi_ to form protective layers, not only around roots in the
rhizosphere but on an_ equivalent area around leaf surfaces, the
phyllosphere. Leaves produce exudates that attract microorganisms in
exactly the same way roots do; these act_ as a barrier to invasion,
preventing disease-causing organisms from entering_ the plant's system.
Some fungi and bacteria produce inhibitory compounds, things like
vitamins and antibiotics, which help maintain or improve plant health;
penicillin_ and streptomycin, for example, are produced by a soil-borne
fungus and a soil-_borne bacterium, respectively.
-----

Mid-Columbia growers add hot mustard to fields
By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer

Chinese hot mustard, like horseradish and habanero, is best consumed in
small portions.

That's part of the thinking behind efforts by many Mid-Columbia farmers,
particularly potato growers, to raise fields of mustard around this time
of year. The mustard is grown from August to late fall -- it can reach 5
to 7 feet tall before it's chopped and tilled.

The chopped and buried mustard plants release chemicals that kill
root-knot, root-lesion and stubby-root nematodes -- all enemies of
Mid-Columbia potatoes.

"The chemicals in the mustard plant are the same chemicals as the
mustard seed," said Andy McGuire, agriculture systems educator for the
Washington State University Extension Office in Ephrata.

Mustard seed, when cracked and ground, is used to make the hot mustard
offered at many Chinese restaurants. "You know that feeling you get when
you eat hot mustard? ... It's the same reaction in the soil," he said.

In a sense, the pesky nematodes are bathed in the sinus-searing
condiment.

"It gets into the water they're living in and kills them," McGuire said.

Using mustard as a so-called green manure crop in the Mid-Columbia dates
back more than a decade. Besides killing nematodes, chopped and tilled
mustard also fights soil-born fungal pathogens such as verticillium
wilt.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2009/11/08/784901/mid-columbia-growers-add-
hot-mustard.html
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:19:09 -0500, Bill who putters



This brings to mind 4-H camps when young and conservation folks
presenting about crop rotation, fallow ground, fertilization with
animal manure.  Fallow is a concept long abandoned, cover crops and
all and giving the soil rest and rebuild...given over to big-agri-biz
and chemferts and roundup ready everything.  Many is the hour I have
spent in my youth walking bean fields and cutting weeds and later
riding a tractor, cultivating crops, removing weeds and aerating the
soil, etc. (yep, guilty as charged)

Had to spend a bit of time at the local Chevy dealership recently,
getting a vehicle inspection and sat visiting with the elderly owner
for an hour or so. Good converse, as it turns out we both have many
old characters in common from the last fifty years.  Even a Playboy
Bunny, believe it or not. Part of the conversation involved the large
amount of ground being farmed by single proprietors...ten thousand
acres for one fellow, spread over a large chunk of northwest Missouri.
His "crew" plants, sprays poison, and never sees the crop again until
harvest.

Lots of love involved, eh?

Charlie

 



  Industrial farming consequence via Union of concerned scientists.

<http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_i
ndustrial_agriculture/costs-and-benefits-of.html>

--
   Bill   Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
<http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending>

 



  
<http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/03/01/Manure-a-growing-pollution-pr
oblem/UPI-27241267462864/>

    More on pollutions Manure issues.

--
   Bill   Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
<http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending>