It went from 88.9 F to 37 F overnight :shock: and is 'casted to stay 37 F to 39 F for another 24 hours:?:. If the skies clear, I may get a chance to see if sprinklers do prevent frost:wait:but so far so good:) Saw some Bear Creek greenies to go with the Cherokee Carbon.

Funny kind of leaf damage at 34 F on 04/08. A close call, just a few leaves here and there.

Ran the trimmer between the CRW cages, spraying bleach water last couple weekends. Maybe 150 greenies in the works:) Side dressed some ammonium sulfate in the slow poke corn.

[QUOTE=decherdt;690716]Started doing this in the Fall of 2014 after finding tomato plants with RKN roots... Then its Sunnhemp with Sudex and Sesame for Summer cover July through Oct. followed by another Winter cover cycle...[/QUOTE]

I am also battling RKN in my raised bed garden. Have you grown your Sunn hemp long enough to notice if there has been any effect on the RKN?

Last summer I sowed one raised bed in Sunn hemp as a trial since it supposedly has nematicidal properties. It was chopped up when it reached 5' and tilled it in. There were fall carrots planted there but RKN aren't active in soil temps under 60-65 degrees so they're fine. I have three experimental tomato plants in that bed now so I guess I'll see if the hemp had any effect.

Fall planted clover here is a deer magnet which brings a whole new set of problems for the fall garden so no more clover here!

Have grown sunn hemp 2 years, have not noticed much difference. I can't grow tomatoes in the Summer so I like to keep anti nematode roots going in the patch. SH is supposed to be good for the soil as a legume and as organic matter whether or not it discourages nematodes. I think that the trick for me may be to plant through a thick mat of live rye in the Spring. We are in black gumbo clay here, and started this the first time we noticed a problem, so our rkn issues are minor compared to folk in sandy soils. I don't see legumes like clover and alfalfa as necessary and they may even host a few bad guys. I try mixed covers because I heard that its a good thing. Here is a pic from Oct 2016 from July planted tomato that we did not till or Summer cover, just pulled the played out Spring tomatoes, moved over 2 ft and post hole planted through played out Winter cover. Not awful, but not good, and cucumbers were worse. These are better than we saw in 2013. Adequate suppression may be all I ever get, and I reserve the option to graft, but would probably continue with cover crops even then.

Here is a pic of some that we pulled in July 2016 that had grown in live rye cover

[QUOTE=decherdt;698783]Here is a pic of some that we pulled in July 2016 that had grown in live rye cover[/QUOTE]

Hmmm, planting through live rye. You're using annual rye, yes? When did you plant yours and when does it die out on you? ? I had an annual rye cover on several beds through this past winter, turned it under this spring. I might have to play with your planting through live rye next spring.

Nematodes don't "wake up" and start doing damage until soil temp gets above 60-65 so the fall and early spring brassicas along with the English peas don't have a problem. But the later squash, cukes, okra etc sure do. :panic:

"Annual rye" in a Google search returns links to ryegrass, and ryegrass does not suppress nematodes. Grain producing cereal rye roots trap rkn, preventing reproduction. The Noble Foundation of Ardmore. OK developed the "Elbon" variety recommended by Texas A&M for rkn in Texas, and Southern climates. [URL="https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&hs=bk3&channel=fs&ei=TB_vWrbGK4LujwT924-IAQ&q=elbon+rye&oq=elbon+rye&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i7i30k1j0i67k1j0i7i30k1l2j0i67k1j0l2j0i30k1l2.288272.290252.0.291632.6.6.0.0.0.0.158.660.0j5.5.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.5.656...0i13k1.0.Ywh6MTAXxuc"]Googled[/URL]

If you plant your maters in rye, you can't stop the rye from seeding, can you?

Nan

You can but not easily, especially in CRW cages,:no: have to get in there with hand shears at the soft dough stage in the middle of the reproductive phase of growth.
I have hand trimmed it over our 500 sq ft but its free seed these days:)

Plus the Sudex in the Summer mix is another poor rkn host, and results in significant amounts of organic matter, further suppressing the pest. I use the sterile Sudex so it cannot reseed voluntarily. I do have to give it a haircut couple of times, down to the height of the Sunnhemp. SH is also supposed to be unable to reseed North of the 28th parallel, about Baja, CA - Corpus Christie. TX - S.Petersburg, FL, ........Mt Everest....etc

[QUOTE=decherdt;698792]"Annual rye" in a Google search returns links to ryegrass, and ryegrass does not suppress nematodes. Grain producing cereal rye roots trap rkn, preventing reproduction. The Noble Foundation of Ardmore. OK developed the "Elbon" variety recommended by Texas A&M for rkn in Texas, and Southern climates. [URL="https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&hs=bk3&channel=fs&ei=TB_vWrbGK4LujwT924-IAQ&q=elbon+rye&oq=elbon+rye&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i7i30k1j0i67k1j0i7i30k1l2j0i67k1j0l2j0i30k1l2.288272.290252.0.291632.6.6.0.0.0.0.158.660.0j5.5.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.5.656...0i13k1.0.Ywh6MTAXxuc"]Googled[/URL][/QUOTE]

Here is a different take on ryegrass vs cereal rye, I may have to add some ryegrass into my Winter mix
[URL]http://ryegrasscovercrop.com/portfolio-view/arggrowin/[/URL]

This is that TAMU guidance on Elbon, looks to be a Jerry Parson's project, [I]maybe [URL="http://www.plantanswers.com/about.htm"]Parsons[/URL] was just a crazy old turtle[/I]
[URL]https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden26.html[/URL]
[URL]https://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/homehort/archives-of-weekly-articles-davids-plant-of-the-week/control-garden-nematodes-with-cereal-elbon-rye/[/URL]
I'm starting to wonder what the roots look like on my slow poke corn, 7 weeks from VE to V6 seems like too long:?!?:

[QUOTE=decherdt;698839]I'm starting to wonder what the roots look like on my slow poke corn, 7 weeks from VE to V6 seems like too long:?!?:[/QUOTE]

From what I've read you don't have to worry about rkn with corn as corn is a grass. I've never had a problem there, thank goodness!

Here is a link to a 2006 Parsons article referring to a TAMU plant pathologist in the late 70's finding earlier references of rkn trapping in Elbon [URL]http://www.plantanswers.com/nematode_control.htm[/URL]

First ripe is a Sweet Gold cherry, first blush slicer is that cat faced Cherokee Carbon. Lost hundreds of flowers, maybe to winds. Testing row cover for wind break and a little bit of shade for exposed tomatoes.