June 5, 2017

Funny how I recently mentioned that I never get decent potato harvests. This was before I looked under the covers and noted I had several of browned potato plants. This the indication it is time to harvest. The planting technique I use spreads the harvest over a long period. I was surprised to see the quantity of potatoes that I had amassed. It was about 17 pounds or about 17.7 ounces of spuds per plant. Usually my harvests are around 5 to 6 ounces per plant.

Some of the spuds were around 12 ounces apiece. This is a very nice baking size.

This set me to wondering; “what have I done different”. Since putting in the drip system I have been able to get larger spuds on a regular basis, but there was no quantity.

The only thing that I can think of that is different is the use of Promax. This is the thyme oil concoction that I am trying out this year to combat root knot nematodes (RKN).

Our season has been rather flippant and I was not seeing much effect from the use of this. There were many veggies that were in decline from RKN infections. My distributer suggested that I start applying every 15 to 20 days. This product is billed at being able to help RKN infected plants to regrow roots while the thyme kills the juveniles and eggs. The adults expire after their 20 to 30 day lifecycle without having reproduced. Because we have had some chilly weather, growing conditions have been something to desire. But finally, it got to be decent growing conditions for the beans. Half of the bean bed was RKN free and the other portion was really showing it’s ugly head in bean growth or the lack there of. With the last application, the stunted beans began to actively grow and are nearly as tall and bushy as the uninfected plants. Best of all bean production nearly doubled. The okra was starting to perk up too but the growing conditions for RKN have been better than growing conditions for okra. We recently have had a few better okra growing days and I think with improved weather this potion will work on the okra too.  I am very optimistic about this stuff, it looks like it is living up to its billing. Another benefit that is mentioned is that Promax also attacks harmful soil fungi. 

When I dug my potatoes, the skins looked much more blemish free and as I mentioned more of the spuds had sized up very well. By all appearances this is to do with this potion. I am interested to see how the rest of the spuds look.

In regard to another veggie I will be interested to see how it turns out as well. Some of sweet potatoes have had a “russeted” skin from soil fungi in years past. This does not affect the eating quality but does affect the storing quality. It allows them to dry and become quite wrinkled which makes them unsellable. I am hoping to see such favorable results with my sweets as well. We will know once the harvest begins in August.

I will patiently wait, to see if the overall garden harvest will be up this year. Time will tell.