Start Your Tomato Seedlings Now: Later is Better or Different Anyway.

Early blight is on my mind. One strategy I was reading about is using determinate type or early set tomatoes throughout the growing season. I am going to adopt this strategy. Early blight typically creeps in-in July. If I am lucky again, minimal damage. If I am unlucky lots of tomotoes are wiped out by mid August. I still get tomatoes and all that but my plants are gone.  Even If I don't get blight the August heat sometimes wears the plants down and they just die off.

Starting seedlings now or more realistically towards the end of June will give me young plants to put in the ground. Ill probably go with a later July planting of determinate tomatoes. My theory is they will have all of August to mature, miss the blight, have late August and mid Septemeber to set fruit. Frost will eventually kill them but blight time may have passed. All you need is a 60 day tomato. Tomato seed packs will say 55 days to 85 days maturity. That typically means once planted as a transplant. I'll see if I can time it right.  Another experiment.

Planting another round of cucumbers and squash in cups is also a good way to replace your bushes that burn out. The seedling will emerge quickly and can be ready to replace worn out plants in no time. I haven't done this really. I usually pack away all my seed starting stuff about now. This year, I am going to try-out this strategy.

Tomato and Vegetable Test Plants for Sprays and Applications

I was just writing about test plants. I never used them in the past. I have been for a while now. No harm has come to the test plants but it's a good precautionary measure to take. I have 3 test tomatoes for sprays. It is possible a spray or application you use will harm a plant. You don't want to be the pest in your own garden. Test plants are a good idea.

I use wettable sulfur and I'm in the process of making an exact formula vs. my eyeball technique. Sulfur will burn your plants if the concentration is too high. Different leaves can take different strength of sulfur. The grape leaf is different then the tomato leaf that is different then the bean leaf. You need to be wise to your applications.

I don't have a huge garden but have a test plant row this year. Last year I had 1 test plant. I mostly only spray tomatoes, grapes, and cukes. If you cant grow test plants then create a routine of spraying the bottom 3 branches of tomatoes or similiar. In a week if all the bottow branches are fine, continue the spray. The bottom leaves are probably going to be removed anyway.

Test spraying should occur before the spraying time is needed. Test spraying while an outbreak is occuring would delay your spraying by several days to a week.

Solarize Your Mulch for Your Tomato Barrier

I forgot to mention that hardwood mulch can come from anywhere there is hardwood. That means it could just could carry something that what be bad for the garden. The mulch from Home Depot is in a mostly clear bag. Look for mulch that is in at least a bag with 50% clear plastic. Set it in the full sun for a full 24 hour period. It must be 100% full sun in a southern location. If you have partly shady days that won't work. You have to wait for full sun. Timing is everything. This means it sits a full day in the sun and you use it the next day.

I don't have the technical numbers but the mulch must get to nearly 200 degrees. When I put my hand in at 6 pm today it was very hot and it actually steamed when I took it out of the bag. The mulch sat all day Monday and Tuesday in the full sun. If you want to be safe go for 2 days. Not much will survive the heat in the bag. That includes insects and eggs. At least those things that could harm the garden. If anyone has some scientific data please add it.

Prevention Time For the Vegetable Garden

It is June. It is hot. Some humidity is around, so I think I will start early with prevention for disease.

Yesterday, I used water soluble copper to spray my grapes that get the same disease every year. The leaves get brown spots and the fruit follows suit. I mixed 1 ounce of copper per gallon and sprayed the plant. I removed the leaves that are showing signs. Success will be if I get finished unblemished fruit. They are in a place where the spray doesn't reach my other vegetables. I am not spraying the concord grape at this time.

I have my aspirin experiment going on with 3 tomatoes. I will put 2 aspirin (81 mg tablets) in a 2 gallon water can and water down the tomatoes. The aspirin is suppose to boost the immune response. I will also water the rest of the tomatoes with it. It can't hurt.

Today I am going to lay paper down around the base of the tomatoes and cover it with hard wood mulch. The mulch will get covered with grass clipping this weekend. I will also set 6 foot bamboo stakes next to the tomatoes and begin training them. The tomatoes are large enough I can remove a few branches. I will probably go a minimum of 1 foot up the plant to 2 feet (over time) to create a gap between the ground and first layer of leaves. Next week I will probably start with the sulfur spray on tomatoes and cucumbers. Early blight and powdery mildew prevention.

Early Blight: Wettable Sulfur: A Great Article with Pictures

Here is a great article with pictures of tomato diseases including early blight. It talks about wettable sulfur as a treatment. The best thing is the pictures and descriptions of the diseases.


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