Re: {Home Grown Food:408} Digest for home-grown-food@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 2 Topics

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Robyn Dolgin

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Jul 29, 2012, 2:47:26 PM7/29/12
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If the foliage of a whole crop of tomatoes, beans or certain other vegetables becomes deformed, you might consider if any soil amendments might have been tainted.  We had this problem due to a chemical called Clopyralid at a community garden i coordinated several years ago.
Hopefully this is not the case, but it certainly educated me about the issue with using compost and mulch from unknown sources and practices.  It made me a stickler for only using homegrown compost for my edibles.
Robyn
On Sat, Jul 28, 2012 at 11:07 PM, <home-gr...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/home-grown-food/topics

    Cheryl Distaso <cdis...@frii.com> Jul 27 11:54PM -0600  

    Hi-
    Thanks for bringing this up. I think that blight diagnosis is right on.
    It's good to know it's not just me.
    I've had 3 tomato plants up and die for the first time ever.
    I have a friend who lost most of her tomatoes and eggplants.
    My eggplants are quite pretty. Grasshoppers are also fierce. I've lost
    lots of beans for the first time ever. It's been the worst gardening
    year I can remember.
    Cheryl
     
     
    --
    Cheryl Distaso
    Coordinator, FCCAN
    P.O. Box 400
    Fort Collins, CO 80522
    (970) 419-8944 www.fccan.org in...@fccan.org

     

    "A. Barnett" <abarn...@comcast.net> Jul 28 08:28AM -0600  

    Most are doing ok. Had a few showing wilting leaves, a Brandywine was one.
    ...Alex
     
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: home-gr...@googlegroups.com
    To: Digest Recipients
    Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 11:31 PM
    Subject: {Home Grown Food:405} Digest for home-gr...@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 1 Topic
     
     
    Today's Topic Summary
    Group: http://groups.google.com/group/home-grown-food/topics
     
    a.. Tomatoes: how are yours doing? Neighbor reports blight [3 Updates]
    Tomatoes: how are yours doing? Neighbor reports blight
    Sue Sullivan <sue...@aol.com> Jul 27 06:24PM -0700
     
    My novice and enthusiastic gardening neighboring is losing most of his
    tomato plants to a leaf and fruit disease of some sort. He took a
    sample to Fort Collins Nursery and a worker there gave a probably
    diagnosis of blight and said it is widespread this year because of the
    relatively warm winter and spring.

    I've lost a couple plants here and there to what I thought was
    transplant stress/failure to thrive and chalked it up to the 100-
    degree June we had. I do have some leaves starting to die off on a few
    of my tomato plants right now, but I figured that was just late-summer
    stress. Until I talked to my neighbor. Now I'm feeling all paranoid.
    How are everyone else's tomatoes looking?
    Sue
     
     
     
    Marguerita Cattell <mcat...@aol.com> Jul 27 07:33PM -0600
     
    I have maybe 2 of 50 romas with leaf wilt but still fruiting. Today I noticed 2 of 70 cherry and reisentraubes looking purple on the leaf tips.

    Sent from my iPhone

     
     
     
    Lindsay Ogden <lindsa...@gmail.com> Jul 27 08:13PM -0600
     
    My tomato plants are also doing poorly. I only have a few this year, and
    they are mostly fruiting. My heirloom is not setting fruit.

     
     
     
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    Robert Howard <rhde...@q.com> Jul 28 08:00AM -0600  

    Understanding their life cycle can be a big help in gaining the upper
    hand. The pests overwinter in the adult stage under mulch and other
    debris. So one tactic is to remove all the mulch in your garden about
    a month after you shut things down, burn or hot-compost it and
    replace it with a cover crop or a nice fresh mulch of shredded
    leaves, which should be in abundance at that time of year. Or hold
    off on the new mulch, place boards on the ground near where infested
    plants were growing, check them every morning for adults looking for
    a place to spend the winter and destroy them. (The adults; not the
    boards.)
     
    And carefully mark where attacked plants were growing. We’ll explain
    why in a minute.
     
    The following season, start squash bug-prone plants a week or two
    earlier than usual or buy the next biggest size than you usually get
    at the garden center. If you DO start your own plants, make sure they
    stay close to their artificial lights and are well fed. (If you’re
    not going to keep your starts under lights, don’t bother starting
    them; weak, spindly, light-starved plants don’t stand a chance
    against these pests.) The goal here is to set big, healthy, actively-
    growing plants out into the garden.
     
    And be sure not to plant in the same spots as squash grew the
    previous year! This is why you marked the location of last year’s
    problems; you don’t want to place your plants where overwintering
    adults may already be lurking.
     
    Remove any protective winter mulch and don’t replace it, as mulch
    harbors the pests. Instead spread an inch of rich, finished compost
    on top of the soil to keep weeds down. It will also feed the plants
    perfectly. Reapply monthly or as needed.
     
    And yes Rachel, protect those young plants with spun polyester row
    covers! Numerous studies have shown this to be the single most
    effective squash bug tactic. Make sure those covers are tight to the
    ground and check them frequently. You’ll have to remove the covers
    when the first female flowers open, but that’s fine; by now, you’re
    off to a great start. (If you just plain despise these pests, you can
    always leave the covers on and hand-pollinate the plants.)
     
    As soon as you remove your row covers, place boards loosely on the
    soil alongside your plants. The adults will hide under these boards
    at night, much like slugs. Unfortunately, as Oklahoma State
    University entomology Professor Dr. Scott Fargo explained in an
    ORGANIC GARDENING magazine back when I was Editor in ’95, this
    doesn’t work as well in really warm climes or at the peak of summer,
    as the adults hide under the boards to stay warm. But it works great
    wherever and whenever nights are a little cool.
     
    Go out early in the morning and scrape any squash bugs (and/or slugs)
    off the bottoms of the boards into a bucket with some soapy water in
    the bottom. Do NOT be an environmental criminal and use kerosene or
    gasoline to drown insect pests; it is NOT necessary and there is no
    way to dispose of that toxic waste safely and legally.
     
    When nights are warm, dust diatomaceous earth (a mined natural
    product) around the base of your plants. Incredibly sharp on a
    microscopic level, it will dehydrate and desiccate any squash bugs
    (and slugs) that try and cross over the white powder.
     
    Hand pick and destroy any adults you see, especially early in the
    season. You’ll greatly minimize problems if you prevent egg-laying by
    those codgers from last year. Tape a mirror to the bottom of an old
    hoe and use it to examine the undersides of the plants’ leaves every
    morning. Destroy any shiny eggs you see; egg colors range from
    yellowish-brown and bronze to brick red. Any eggs you miss will hatch
    into nymphs, the wingless, immature stage of the squash bug. They
    start out a pale green, darken as they get older and look a little
    like smaller, doughy versions of the adults. Hand-pick or vacuum up
    these evil children. Or spray them with insecticidal soap, a light
    summer spray horticultural oil or a spinosad product. Call them vile
    names and insult their ancestors.
     
    And finally, plant things like alyssum, calendula, daises, dill,
    fennel and mustard greens near your squash and cucumbers. Their
    small, pollen-and nectar-rich flowers will attract the Tachnid fly,
    an especially beneficial beneficial insect that preys on squash bugs.
     
    Robe

     

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