August 3, 2017

Good morning,  Ah yes the best laid plans of mice and men.I modified my tomato planting schedule with hopes that there would be a continuous harvest of tomatoes. It does appear Mother Nature 2 and dirt farmer 0. So back to the drawing board and lots of contemplation.

Of course this is a multiplayer happening (heat, dry, RKN...) and I just need to do some trial and error. This is nothing new to me, although it may be a bit harder of a puzzle to figure out.

Last year with my tomato planting I did my usual main crop planting with the first harvest being one month ahead of the second.I was hoping that the first would finish as the second was coming on. Well it seemed like they all ripened at the same time. July was a real baker for heat and the second bloom for both of these plantings were delayed until it cooled down. By this time most of the tomatoes had died. the second bloom for both plantings never really materialized.

This year I went with a two month delay between plantings. June was the scorcher this year and forced both plantings to do the same thing again this year.

I did not so much notice it last year but this year My "pet" RKN was the main culprit for the majority of my tomato plant mortality. Some of the plants were very knotted. I feel with planting early I at least got one crop.

Sooooo it is back to the drawing board. I have 31 beds and I am sure to some extent there is RKN in most of them. The tomatoes, yellow squash and the okra I plant are the most susceptible to RKN. Or at least they appear to be the most effected. My beans did exceptionally well with the use of the Pro max treatment. We will see how well  the other crops perform.  

I have noted on several occasions that I prefer not to use Hybrids. I have come around to the idea that the use of RKN resistant hybrids is not a bad idea. 

Maybe because it has been such a hot year is why the RKN is so pronounced. It just might be that the population has finally grown to where it is becoming a real problem garden wide. 

As with all organic controls the more layers one can add to their treatment regime, success is more likely. I have no "pie in the sky" dreams that I will ever be with out these guys.

A short list of organic RKN control. Lots of organic mater incorporated into the soil, washing tools between beds, allowing beds to be weed free fallow with frequent cultivation's, solarization, the use of nematode resistant varieties of veggies, grafted tomatoes, soil drench of cold pressed neem oil, drip system injection of Azaguard and Promax, and the use of beneficial nematodes. 

Once you have nematodes you have them for ever, it is a mater of controlling them to manageable levels.

This week I harvested chard, green onions, beets, zucchini, eggplant, okra, cucumbers, chilies and from storage butternut squash, bulb onions and garlic. Pleas email for availability.

Sadly the tomatoes succumbed  to RKN and tomato mosaic virus. I hope to have tomatoes later this fall. I am letting the sweets size up a little more. I found as I was harvesting the bed they were getting smaller. I have 3 other beds to harvest.