Spray for tomatos

[sergeant69]

Originally Posted by snippits

Here is a very good Foliar Fungicide Spray Guide for Tomatoes by NC State University. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/pro...o-spray-guide/

I got dizzy just reading all that!

[Dewayne mater]

^^^
Holy cow that's a lot of spraying of chemicals! I do use Manzecob, copper, actinovate, and daconil on mine (for disease). Throw in some other sprays for insects and its about as much as I'm comfortable with from a home grown food item I and my family eat a lot of.

Dewayne Mater

[RootLoops]

i got a lot of tomatoes last year with no pesticide at all it's not impossible to go pesticide free in the south, it just requires more of the farmers shadow, which is the best fertilizer as well

three times a day i walk the garden putting any pest bugs into a bowl of soap water. i got to see lots of nature happening, things eating things, weird bugs i'd never seen before that i got to learn about. you get a real connection to your plants that i never got when i used synthetics. to each his own of course but for me anything that gives me a reason to be in the garden can't be a bad thing

[feldon30]

I'm reading with interest what other people are posting as I will be gardening for the first time in South Carolina this year. I know that Fusarium is a concern here, which is not something I've ever had to deal with. I'll be trying out Actinovate and beneficial nematodes of different types, as well as the usual BT liquid later on. I'm really hoping I don't have to trot out any chemicals beyond Daconil.

Who knows, I may have to get on the grafting train next year. It's crucial to me to grow heirlooms.

I should add that I'll be gardening in a surrogate location 8 miles from me, so I can't really walk the garden every day let alone multiple times a day to look for problems.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by feldon30

I'm reading with interest what other people are posting as I will be gardening for the first time in South Carolina this year. I know that Fusarium is a concern here, which is not something I've ever had to deal with. I'll be trying out Actinovate and beneficial nematodes of different types, as well as the usual BT liquid later on. I'm really hoping I don't have to trot out any chemicals beyond Daconil.

Who knows, I may have to get on the grafting train next year. It's crucial to me to grow heirlooms.

I should add that I'll be gardening in a surrogate location 8 miles from me, so I can't really walk the garden every day let alone multiple times a day to look for problems.

Feldon if you've never gardened in the deep south you are in for a treat. Maybe after that hard winter we had you will be lucky enough to have an easy first year; but when we have a mild winter look for lots of problems by mid summer. It is a very long season down here. Many years the season hardly ends before the next one begins. One year I was planting my spring seeds for tomatoes and peppers while still getting ripe ones out of the garden in late December. Most plants won't last the whole season so begin getting ready for a mid to late summer planting which will frequently give you lots of ripe tomatoes before the first hard freeze. Hopefully you won't have to deal with fusarium because it isn't everywhere down here. I seem to have the market cornered on it. Grafting has saved my heirloom growing; but it is a lot of trouble if you plant a lot of tomatoes.

We have almost three distinct tomato growing times here and different varieties perform better at those different times. Spring is best for all tomatoes down here but it is about the only time the big pink beefsteaks do really well. Mid summer is good for slightly smaller fruited varieties many of which are reds. Fall is a bit tricky because you have to set the plants out in the blazing heat of mid summer when diseases and pests are at their worst. Fall is usually very hot and very dry so the blacks do well then along with an assortment of others that can survive the first month or two in the garden. Spring plants that make it into the fall will be monsters if they can remain healthy for 7 to 8 months; but that is rare.

It is also hard to grow really large fruit except in the spring and early summer because the fruit start to ripen in the heat too quickly for them to get really huge. All through mid summer and early fall the fruit tend to be a bit smaller and then you may get a few large ones later in the fall but they may not have time to ripen.

If you plant many tomatoes I hope you have a really good sprayer because it may get a real workout. Good luck.

Bill

[feldon30]

In Houston, we had foliar fungal diseases galore due to torrential endless rains. Everything was in 10" tall raised beds, with a thick layer of wheat straw mulch and soaker hoses for watering. After 4 years of loading the soil with organics and compost, you could dig down 2 feet and my terrible brown play-doh clay had been transformed into good soil.

The Plot

Now I'm once again starting from scratch, but this time on bright red clay. After debating the subject, I am going to try going without raised beds and just grow in the ground. I've got a lot of space -- 30x9 with a walkway through the middle -- and hope to plant all of it. We've had a landscaper come out and clear the space and is delivering several cubic yards of sandy garden mix to loosen things up. He's got a hydraulic tiller and is going to mix it all together.

The plot is on a very gradual slope, so I'm hoping that water will drain and I won't have a "bowl" effect. As an insurance policy, I'm considering digging a 6 foot trench starting from the lowest corner of the cleared area and headed downslope and laying a French drain (a PVC pipe with holes in it and rocks around it so it doesn't get clogged). That way if water does try to pool in the beds, it will run out the bottom.


Fall Crops

After 3 years of trying in Houston, I was pretty much done with fall crops of tomatoes. You'd plant the poor things out in late July and by the time you got any tomatoes, we were getting cool evenings that just sapped the flavor from them. Do you think I should try fall tomatoes here?

I've got my pink PL beefsteaks started and holding back a few varieties for an April 9th sowing. I know it's a long season, but do you think I should do a May sowing of tomato seeds?


Spraying

Again I'm hoping I don't have to spray like crazy. As it is, I will have to spray for rabbits which is something I've never dealt with. Half of me wants to just grow a strip of carrots for them.

I've actually got access to a huge sprayer, but it will sometimes have Malathion and Macozeb, and I don't want those on my food. I think for the space I'm growing, an Ortho Dial-N-Spray will manage.

If I am spraying 2-3 different things, should I combine them into a single spraying, or alternate sprayings throughout the week?

[sergeant69]

very good spraying questions! that I can't answer.
question: whats a hydraulic tiller? hows that work?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by sergeant69

very good spraying questions! that I can't answer.
question: whats a hydraulic tiller? hows that work?

A hydraulic tiller works like this.
It has an internal combustion engine that runs a hydraulic pump that runs a hydraulic motor that runs the tines.
For the same engine size you can have a much more powerful tiller that does other things like raise and lower the tines.

When you were in the police dept the wrecker that showed up many times had a PTO coming off the transmission that ran a hydraulic pump that ran the wench.

Some cabinet shop up north I cant remember the name was ran by the Amish all of their equipment ran off of hydraulic motors so they wouldn't have electricity inside.

Worth

[sergeant69]

ah. like the controls on my Dixie chopper mower. on the tiller, I guess it would have to have an eccentric shaft to rotate the tines.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Worth1

A hydraulic tiller works like this.
It has an internal combustion engine that runs a hydraulic pump that runs a hydraulic motor that runs the tines.
For the same engine size you can have a much more powerful tiller that does other things like raise and lower the tines.

Yeah, it is quite a powerful machine. It's a Boxer if anyone wants to look it up.

With the hydraulics, it doesn't get jammed or bog down like a regular engine-driven tiller. That said, the ability to shift the balance of power from 100% tractor/movement to 100% tiller is not always a good thing. The fellow was trying to till a particularly tough part of the clay pan "soil" and he adjusted it so 100% of the power was going to the tiller. POP! The hydraulic line burst from the strain and now he has to have a new hose made.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Yeah, it is quite a powerful machine. It's a Boxer if anyone wants to look it up.

With the hydraulics, it doesn't get jammed or bog down like a regular engine-driven tiller. That said, the ability to shift the balance of power from 100% tractor/movement to 100% tiller is not always a good thing. The fellow was trying to till a particularly tough part of the clay pan "soil" and he adjusted it so 100% of the power was going to the tiller. POP! The hydraulic line burst from the strain and now he has to have a new hose made.

Morgan you didn't break the rental tiller did you.

Worth

[b54red]

Originally Posted by feldon30

In Houston, we had foliar fungal diseases galore due to torrential endless rains. Everything was in 10" tall raised beds, with a thick layer of wheat straw mulch and soaker hoses for watering. After 4 years of loading the soil with organics and compost, you could dig down 2 feet and my terrible brown play-doh clay had been transformed into good soil.

The Plot

Now I'm once again starting from scratch, but this time on bright red clay. After debating the subject, I am going to try going without raised beds and just grow in the ground. I've got a lot of space -- 30x9 with a walkway through the middle -- and hope to plant all of it. We've had a landscaper come out and clear the space and is delivering several cubic yards of sandy garden mix to loosen things up. He's got a hydraulic tiller and is going to mix it all together.

The plot is on a very gradual slope, so I'm hoping that water will drain and I won't have a "bowl" effect. As an insurance policy, I'm considering digging a 6 foot trench starting from the lowest corner of the cleared area and headed downslope and laying a French drain (a PVC pipe with holes in it and rocks around it so it doesn't get clogged). That way if water does try to pool in the beds, it will run out the bottom.


Fall Crops

After 3 years of trying in Houston, I was pretty much done with fall crops of tomatoes. You'd plant the poor things out in late July and by the time you got any tomatoes, we were getting cool evenings that just sapped the flavor from them. Do you think I should try fall tomatoes here?

I've got my pink PL beefsteaks started and holding back a few varieties for an April 9th sowing. I know it's a long season, but do you think I should do a May sowing of tomato seeds?


Spraying

Again I'm hoping I don't have to spray like crazy. As it is, I will have to spray for rabbits which is something I've never dealt with. Half of me wants to just grow a strip of carrots for them.

I've actually got access to a huge sprayer, but it will sometimes have Malathion and Macozeb, and I don't want those on my food. I think for the space I'm growing, an Ortho Dial-N-Spray will manage.

If I am spraying 2-3 different things, should I combine them into a single spraying, or alternate sprayings throughout the week?

Feldon you should have it a bit easier in South Carolina than in Houston though the season will start a bit latter. If you are dealing with clay soil it takes a long time to get enough organic matter and sand into the soil to slow the compaction problems. If we have another rainy summer like last year you will be wishing for those raised beds. I know they are a pain to build but with the heavy rainfall we can get here in the south if you are dealing with clay soil it could be worth the trouble. My garden is on a clay knob and I gardened for years adding tons of organic matter in a futile attempt to get the clay to turn to a nice loam that didn't turn into a brick as soon as it dried after a heavy rain. Also the slope caused major drainage problems for me so I finally built raised beds and am still using them after 25 years.

I sometimes use my Ortho Dial-N-Spray to apply chemicals to my plants. The main fungicide I use is Daconil which is not supposed to be mixed with other chemicals. I also use a dilute bleach spray when foliage diseases hit despite the regular applications of Daconil. If you gardened in Houston then you know with the high humidity and heat some instances of foliage diseases are unavoidable and unpreventable.

I definitely think you should do a May sowing of seeds to replace some of the plants that will be dying or no longer producing by late June and July. I would stick to hardier varieties that fare well in the heat. I plant a lot of blacks like Indian Stripe, Spudakee, JD's Special C Tex and Carbon for summer set out. I also plant some of the reds like NAR, Druzba, Lumpy Red, and a few golds like Dr. Wyches Yellow. I am constantly trying new varieties for the fall and sometimes even a pink will do well. Some that have done well for me in the fall besides the ones mentioned above are: Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red, Linnies Oxheart, Fish Lake Oxheart, Big Beef, Red Siberian, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Brandywine Cowlicks, Limbaugh's Legacy, Kosovo, Gary O' Sena, Aunt Ginnies Purple, Marianna's Peace and Zogola.

I just looked up that Boxer tiller. Wow! That is what I needed before I built the raised beds. I wore out 3 tillers in ten years in that hard clay before I built the raised beds.

Bill

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Morgan you didn't break the rental tiller did you.

LOL I wasn't driving. I wasn't anywhere near it. It was being operated quite well by a guest worker. He just exceeded the tiller's ability to turn brick clay into soil.

Originally Posted by b54red

Feldon you should have it a bit easier in South Carolina than in Houston though the season will start a bit latter. If you are dealing with clay soil it takes a long time to get enough organic matter and sand into the soil to slow the compaction problems. If we have another rainy summer like last year you will be wishing for those raised beds. I know they are a pain to build but with the heavy rainfall we can get here in the south if you are dealing with clay soil it could be worth the trouble. My garden is on a clay knob and I gardened for years adding tons of organic matter in a futile attempt to get the clay to turn to a nice loam that didn't turn into a brick as soon as it dried after a heavy rain. Also the slope caused major drainage problems for me so I finally built raised beds and am still using them after 25 years.

Hmm. I will start checking CraigsList for scrap lumber. Raised beds for me would cost about $160 if I get pressure-treated. It's not an unreasonable expense, but on top of everything else, I was hoping to wait a year for that. Hmm.

Originally Posted by b54red

I sometimes use my Ortho Dial-N-Spray to apply chemicals to my plants. The main fungicide I use is Daconil which is not supposed to be mixed with other chemicals. I also use a dilute bleach spray when foliage diseases hit despite the regular applications of Daconil. If you gardened in Houston then you know with the high humidity and heat some instances of foliage diseases are unavoidable and unpreventable.

I didn't know if I needed to hit the plants with anything other than Daconil and BT liquid. I'm also going to look into Actinovate, and I plan to use Exel LG.

Originally Posted by b54red

I definitely think you should do a May sowing of seeds to replace some of the plants that will be dying or no longer producing by late June and July. I would stick to hardier varieties that fare well in the heat. I plant a lot of blacks like Indian Stripe, Spudakee, JD's Special C Tex and Carbon for summer set out. I also plant some of the reds like NAR, Druzba, Lumpy Red, and a few golds like Dr. Wyches Yellow. I am constantly trying new varieties for the fall and sometimes even a pink will do well. Some that have done well for me in the fall besides the ones mentioned above are: Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red, Linnies Oxheart, Fish Lake Oxheart, Big Beef, Red Siberian, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Brandywine Cowlicks, Limbaugh's Legacy, Kosovo, Gary O' Sena, Aunt Ginnies Purple, Marianna's Peace and Zogola.

I was planning to do seconds of Big Beef, Cherokee Purple, and I was already planning to hold off for my second planting to do Neves Azorean (first time growing), so I will push back all of those until May 1st. I can get plants of some of those varieties so I may be able to plant some in June too. It's going to be so strange to plant out tomatoes over a staggered schedule.

Since you are providing such great advice, have you got any experience with melons?

Originally Posted by b54red

I just looked up that Boxer tiller. Wow! That is what I needed before I built the raised beds. I wore out 3 tillers in ten years in that hard clay before I built the raised beds.

Yeah it's pretty impressive. Seeing it pull out 5 foot tall shrubs with a 3" dia trunk was something else. It took a lot of tries but it succeeded in the end.

[parah]

Originally Posted by b54red

Spring is best for all tomatoes down here but it is about the only time the big pink beefsteaks do really well.

Bill

That is interesting! I didn't know Pinks tend to be less heat tolerant than red.
I learn something new every time I visit Tomatoville.

[b54red]

[QUOTE=feldon30;398194]Since you are providing such great advice, have you got any experience with melons? /QUOTE]

I have grown quite a few melons over the years but I draw the line at watermelons since I had to pick them as a kid. Got totally sick of the things by the time I was 14 years old. I'm not growing any melons this year as I am using extra space experimenting with my grafted tomatoes. I narrowed my melons down to just one the last few years and that was a cantaloupe called Ambrosia. They are the sweetest most luscious melons I have ever tasted.

The problem with growing melons for me is the amount of space they take in my raised beds and the difficulty of keeping pickle worms out of them.

Bill