cut worms and tomatoes

[WGard...@gmail.com]

Alright, bit of bad news yall. The garden has cutworms. The best
remedy for this is to put a but of aluminum foil around the base of
your plant. Make sure it goes a couple of inches above and below
the soil.
Here is a good site with a simple summery of what cutworms are and how
to control them. http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/cutworms.html

Also, we will be getting in the tomatoes this weekend. If possible,
every one should be out there planting. The tomatoes need to get in
the ground in the next 5 or so days due to their size and the
weather. They will go fast and be handed out on a first come first
serve basis. If you have any specific requests, please email me at
cala...@gmail.com and I will try to put some aside for you. Again,
these will go on a first come first serve basis.

Im afraid I wont be able to make to many more of our meetings because
all my classes are having required weekend field trips starting this
weekend, till the end of the semester. Feel free to call me or email
me with any questions you may have. I may not be able to make the
meetings but, if I can get reception where ever I may be, ill help you
however I can. Ill also be getting us some plants for our side beds
this friday.

Remember, when planting the tomato, pluck of the baby leaves at the
bottom of the plant and bury as much of the stem as possible. Put a
couple of spoons of cotton seed meal and such at the bottom of the
hole and protect the stem from cut worms. Follow with a water,
light, and a good trellis. Yields one incredible tomato plant.

Good luck and have fun! May all your plants be of the best health
and highest yield.

Here follows an email from Don on his research and experience with
tomato trellises. Im sure many of you will find it of use.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Don Lambert <gro...@flash.net>
Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Subject: Master Gardeners
To: Becky Smith <jim....@sbcglobal.net>, "Wilson, Nancy"
<nwil...@7-11.com>, Carolyn Bush <chrysalis...@att.net>, Karla
Barber <karla-...@sbcglobal.net>, Calandril Nailo
<cala...@gmail.com>



All tomato growers:

Supporting your tomato plants

Remember most varieties are at least 5' tall, and some will grow to 10
or 12 feet. If not supported they will sprawl across your garden,
across pathways, and into other people's space. These sprawled plants
are hard to pick, make weeding difficult, and generally are not very
productive or healthy.


Here are some tomato support ideas from Master Gardeners in Santa
Clara
County, California. They tested tomato support systems, and you can
follow the link to see their report.

The better choices appear to be:
1. Wire Mesh Cages (a roll of 5' x 150' heavy duty (10 gauge)
remesh, costs $91 at Home Depot).
GICD has been using a type of 48" tall "Horse Fencing" with large
enough holes to reach through (6"x6" is ideal). For stakes we use 8'
1x2s, one or two per cage, attached with wire. For robust plants a
second cage is added on top. A strong wind will blow these over.

2. Cement Reinforcing Mesh Trellis with EMT Electrical Conduit --
something like t-posts will also work to hold it up, the conduit
bender
part is not easy for most of us. This is really a fence made of mesh,
like the "Horse Fencing" that you can reach through. With a row you
can
use a stout post one each end, with some t-posts for support every 5-6
feet. This fence is a little short for most plant, but adding some
posts and twine to go higher may work.

Note: The "Horse Fence" sold by Home Depot will not work, as if has
holes that are too small, 2x3". A fencing with large holes, usually
graduated (smaller towards the bottom) can be found at Tractor Supply
Co.

3. Square Wooden Cage -- Four posts, with string, wooden or bamboo
cross pieces, etc.

4. Electrical Conduit and Vertical String Method -- a horizontal
piece
of wood will substitute. I doubt that vertical strings will support
tomatoes.

5. Posts and Twine Method -- really needs to be well tended and have
many strong posts.

No matter what method you choose, the plant will not climb by itself,
or
stay in bounds without regular attention. You need to spend time
every
2-3 days tying vines up (vines grow fast and will become a mess if you
only can come to the garden once per week), poking growing tips back
into cages or guiding them to grow through the fence holes, and
pruning
off what you cannot control.

All the commercially manufactured types seem to be too short, too
weak,
not readily available, expensive, etc. The ubiquitous "Tomato Cages,"
those cone shaped things work well for pepper and eggplant, but will
not
contain and support something as big and heavy as a tomato plant.
Notice that the Master Gardener group did not even bother to include
them in the tests.

I also found a tri-fold cage at Home Depot, the "47 inch Tomato
Tower"
($4.97 each), that is too expensive, too short to support most plants,
and made of thin gauge wire that is not strong enough. So, if you
cannot come up with real heavy mesh cages, do try to come up with
something that is strong enough, tall, and bring string and clippers
to
the garden several times each week.

The Master Gardener link ---
http://www.mastergardeners.org/picks/tomato_staking.html

Don