Quote:
Originally Posted by joseph
ALittleSalt: Thanks. Can you believe that I'm only about 77 days away from the start of my fall frosts? I am pretty much limited to 60 DTM or less tomatoes even when I start them way early... In my garden 70 day tomatoes take 100 days to mature, and some years my frost free growing season is only around 85 days long.
Today is the anniversary of the last spring frost in the previous two growing seasons. This year is warmer.
|
Just out of curiosity, do you know the zinc and phosphorus levels in your soil? I know you don't like to use synthetic fertilizers and are breeding with low fertilizer requirements, but I'm curious. I think phosphorus may play a role in fruit-ripening speed (and phosphorus is less available when it's cold), and zinc deficiency can stunt plants. I think our yard generally has been pretty zinc deficient; I'm starting to see the classic signs on some plants, but I think that might be one reason plants seem to grow slower in our yard than a lot of people's. I'm not saying you should add phosphorus or zinc to your soil, even if you are deficient, especially if you're wanting to breed stuff that does well with when those nutrients are less available, but it might be cool to know.
If you were to test it, it might be interesting to test the fruit or plants instead of the soil (compare the levels to a fruit or plant in another region). Maybe I'm wrong, but I suppose testing the soil will probably just tell you what's in it (not what's available), although I'm sure that's good to know, too. The PH of the soil would be good to know, since that affects availability.