Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by PlainJane

Barb, thanks for the crab shells tip. Between the dang snails, the fire ants and the nematodes somehow getting into the fabric pots I can use all the help I can get. Still better than dealing with deer, turkeys, rabbits and chipmunks though.

Yes, nematodes are microscopic worms that can move through even the tiniest opening of a bag or pot. If you want to avoid nematodes, start with fresh potting mix, or solarize for the summer, at least 6 weeks. Cover the entire bag or pot in a clear trash bag, not black, (gets much hotter with clear) and tie it so water can't get in.
After solarizing,use a 3 mil plastic liner undrr your grow bag, something solid, will be a barrier to keep nematodes out.

I always use the Seabright labs brand yellow sticky traps, one trap gets pretty full, but lasts the whole season. I cheaped out one year, got a different brand and not only a lizard but a bird got stuck. By the time I freed it, the trap pulled out several of it's feathers, it couldn't fly and could only run away. Worst feeling ever! And I only saved about $1!
Seabright works perfectly for whiteflies, thrips, and almost all my leaf miners are gone.

[ginger2778]

I noticed Barb has her bags up on top of a barrier, because nematodes will get right through the landscape fabric.

My bags are on top of a layer of pine bark mulch but looks like that’s not enough. We have extra stone laying around from a garden wall project; I’ll steal some of that for now and get them off the mulch.
Funny, I never had issues with white flies up north but down here I battle them at least once each year. The sticky traps I put out were effective but on day 2 I caught a lizard and couldn’t get him off. It was awful. I threw them out and have just lived with the white flies since. So glad to have a proven option for next spring!
Re: the solarization ... I’ll have to plan for that. Normally tomatoes get new soil then I rotate different crops in succession in the container. I keep 40 or so 30 gallon fabric containers going all the time but I’m running out of places to dump really old soil. Some new layout planning is in order ...

[Barb_FL]

Jane,
Part of the reason I solarize is to have somewhere to put that mix over the summer when not being used. Seems like you have a lot of mix in those large containers.

Here are the bags we use: 3 ply clear: Some of the other ones that say CLEAR are more white.

https://www.amazon.com/Husky-Heavy-C...ontractor+bags

The price is high right now at $39; I think I usually get them for $1 per bag.

I started with all new potting mix in Fall '17, so dumped my old mix into the raised beds.

---
Also, welcome to the Florida thread. We're so happy you're here.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Larry - In your raised beds, have you ever added Crab Shells? They have chitin. I add them to all my containers now; On the root pouches, I line the bottoms with crab shells and in both the RP and EarthBoxes, I also add them in the mix. When I solarize my EB over the summer (basically until sometime in October when I plant out) I also mix in crab shells.
To give you an idea, for planting out this year, I used 3 4lb bags. For solarizing I used 1 new bag and what was left from one opended bag.
The brand I use is Neptunes Harvest - The shells are not granualized at all.
I stopped using dolomite lime completely. I try to find the 4lb bag on sale for <$11 - last time about that at Amazon plus $.99 shipping. I think next season I will just buy the 50 lb bag from Walmart - about $45 + about $22 shipping. It's just a storage thing.
Down to Earth also sells crab shells which you could probably find locally; I can so I'm sure in Orlando you can. D2E is more of a powder so would probably be available to your plants sooner.
I also bought the oyster shells from D2E which is also powder. I use the Oyster shells in my Worm Inn (composting worms) but have used it on the bottom on my Root Pouches when I was out of the crab shells during part of this season.
Here's what they say about chitin:
"Crab Shell is high in Chitin (Kite-en), which promotes the growth of Chitin eating bacteria in the soil. It will help eliminate Ants, Grubs, Fungus and Root Nematodes, because they are all Chitin based in structure. Put around plants, Crab Shell will keep Slugs and snails off."

Barb, I much enjoyed reading your posts and the other posts as well. I believe I will buy some oyster shell and mix it in my compost. Tractor Supply appears to sell it for chickens in 50lb bags for 10 dollars. My oldest Raised Bed was filled with compost 13 seasons ago. I’ve never changed it only added to it. But it gets to a point where very little additional compost is needed. It no longer looks quite like compost. It looks more like soil, but doesn’t bind together like soil does. I can easily push my hands down in to it, which is what I do when I am searching for sweet potatoes. I’ve never added anything to it and only till it with a 3-prong hand tiller. My 10-gallon containers contain compost which is only 3 seasons old. As crazy as it may sound the oldest RB with the oldest compost easily out produced the other RB and the containers. I grew 3 different tomato varieties in this RB and they had considerably more and larger tomatoes than the same varieties in the containers. There must be a reason, but I just don’t know what
it is. Also, only 1 of my containers has been invaded by nematodes since last changing the compost.
Further more, I hope to take Marsha’s advice and solarize my containers this summer.
Thanks to all,
Larry

Thank you so much for the welcome and the link!

[ginger2778]

Of course another reason for solarizing is that you get to reuse that expensive soil for several years, because it is sterilized by the heat. Much less costly than replacing it every year. The only time I replace soil in my Earthboxes is when I think it's been spoiled, because the tomatoes had a weird "off" taste (only happened once), and one time the yard man weedwhacked nematodes into it.(a very freaky occurence,1 time in 1 Earthbox in 8 years)
Most of the time I just replenish the solarize mix with my ferts and dolomite, and top off with some new.

[Barb_FL]

plus a perfectly looking TomatoBerry tomato

That’s a very nice harvest!

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

plus a perfectly looking TomatoBerry tomato

I agree. Looking very nice indeed.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Of course another reason for solarizing is that you get to reuse that expensive soil for several years, because it is sterilized by the heat. Much less costly than replacing it every year. The only time I replace soil in my Earthboxes is when I think it's been spoiled, because the tomatoes had a weird "off" taste (only happened once), and one time the yard man weedwhacked nematodes into it.(a very freaky occurence,1 time in 1 Earthbox in 8 years)
Most of the time I just replenish the solarize mix with my ferts and dolomite, and top off with some new.

Marsha,
Is Dolamite another way of getting the magnezium and calcium that appears to be available in say oyster shells?
Larry

Pouring rain all day so I decided to look at the tomatoes from a few months ago.
Solar Flare XL, Dark Queen, Emerald Evergreen, Cascade Lava.

[Barb_FL]

Very Nice Jane. Any fruit yet?
I bet those fabric pots are handling all the rain really well.

Yes, I have been harvesting for the last 3 weeks or so. Plants are getting very sorry-looking though.
I love fabric pots for growing; something I never thought of until moving to Florida.
Now that the couple of big projects are under control I’m going to ramp up on tomatoes next year.
Can’t wait!

Feedback on taste, productivity and health would be appreciated as I try to winnow down next year’s list a bit.
New for me:
Green Ghost
Deng Ta Fan Qie
GGWT
Star
GWR Wild Thyme (fascinated by Mr. Jeffer’s tomatoes)
Jazz
Russian Rose
Sokolados
Cappuccino
Negrillo de Almoguera
Clear Lake Heirloom
Buffalo Soldier
Jim Dandy
Tsindao
Skykomish
Tar Tops
Lillian Marie
Primary Colors
Purple Smaragd
Chocolate Dreams
Shamrock
Copper River
Cherokee Lime Stripes
KBX

The usual suspects, meaning I usually grow these either spring or fall most years:
Tim’s Black Ruffles
Solar Flare
Carbon
Brandywine Black
Chocolate Stripes