Coastal Tomatoes

DIY Biodegradabe Seed-Starter Pots

Biodegradable Seed-starter Pots

Toilet paper rolls make good seed starting pots.

Use toilet paper rolls to make biodegradable seed starter pots.

    * Cut each roll in half and press it flat.
    * Make four, half-inch to three-quarter-inch slices on one end of the roll to create four equal-sized flaps.
    * Open up the roll and fold in the four little flaps like a box bottom. This is your seed pot.

Fill the “pot” with potting soil, plant your seeds and water gently. Put the seed pots under grow lights until they are ready to go outdoors. When you are ready to plant, you can either pull the cardboard away from the soil and put the plant in the ground, or simply unfold the bottom and plant the whole pot — the cardboard will slowly disintegrate.

DIY Biodegradabe Seed-Starter Pots

Use toilet paper rolls make good seed starting pots.

Use toilet paper rolls to make biodegradable seed starter pots.

    * Cut each roll in half and press it flat.
    * Make four, half-inch to three-quarter-inch slices on one end of the roll to create four equal-sized flaps.
    * Open up the roll and fold in the four little flaps like a box bottom. This is your seed pot.

Fill the “pot” with potting soil, plant your seeds and water gently. Put the seed pots under grow lights until they are ready to go outdoors. When you are ready to plant, you can either pull the cardboard away from the soil and put the plant in the ground, or simply unfold the bottom and plant the whole pot — the cardboard will slowly disintegrate.

There is one tomato line. Couldn't help myself, too cute

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats.
2) When your Mum is mad at your Dad, don’t let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don’t hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you’re sad is Grandpa’s lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don’t hurt.
3) Families are like fudge…mostly sweet, with a few nu ts.
4) Today’s mig hty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It’s like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can d o while you’re down there.
4) You’re getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) Its frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don’t believe in Santa Cl aus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:?
At age 4 success is…not piddling in your pants.
At age 12 success is…having friends.
At age 17 success is…having a drivers license.
At age 35 succes s is…having money.
At age 50 s uccess is..having money.
At age 70 success is…having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is…having friends.
At age 80 success is…not piddling in your pants.

Compost Tea Anyone?

2. As the name implies, compost tea is made by steeping compost in water. It's used as either a foliar spray or a soil drench, depending on where your plant has problems.

Bucket-Fermentation Method

“Passive” compost tea is prepared by immersing a burlap sack filled with compost into a bucket or tank, stirring occasionally. Usually the brew time is longer, from 7 to 10 days. This is the method that dates back hundreds of years in Europe, and is more akin to a compost watery extract than a “brewed” and aerated compost tea.

Bucket-Bubbler Method

The equipment setup and scale of production are similar to the bucket method, except that an a  aquarium-size pump and air bubbler are used in association with microbial food and catalyst sources added to the solution as an amendment. Since aeration is critical, as many as three sump pumps may be used in a bucket simultaneously.

With homemade compost tea brewing, a compost “sock” is commonly used as a filter-strainer. Ideally, the mesh size will strain compost particulate matter but still allow beneficial microbes—including fungal hyphae and nematodes—to migrate into solution. Single-strand mesh materials such as nylon stockings, laundry bags, and paint bags are some of the materials being used; fungal hyphae tend to get caught in polywoven fabrics. If burlap is used, it should be “aged” burlap.

Large-scale production of compost teas employs homemade tanks and pumps. An 8- or 12-inch-diameter PVC pipe is cut in half, drilled full of holes, and lined with burlap. Compost is placed in this makeshift trough. The PVC trough is supported above the tank, several feet in the air. The tank is filled with water, and microbial food sources are added as an amendment. A sump pump sucks the solution from the bottom of the tank and distributes the solution to a trickle line running horizontally along the top of the PVC trough filled with compost. As the solution runs through the burlap bags containing the compost, a leachate is created which then drops several feet through the air back into the open tank below. A sump pump in the bottom of the tank collects this “tea” and distributes it back through the water line at the top of the trough, and so on. Through this process, which lasts about seven days, the compost tea is recirculated, bubbled, and aerated. The purpose of the microbial food source is to grow a large population of beneficial microorganisms.

Commercial Tea Brewers

Commercial equipment is available for the production of brewed compost teas (see a list of suppliers below). Usually there is a compost sack or a compost leachate basket with drainage holes, either of which are used to hold a certain volume of compost. The compost-filled container is placed in a specially designed tank filled with chlorine-free water. Microbial food sources are added to the solution. A pump supplies oxygen to a specially-designed aeration device which bubbles and aerates the compost tea brewing in the tank.

Depending on your scale of production and the level of financial resources available to purchase commercial brewing equipment vs. making some kind of homemade brewer, there are several methods to choose from. Research at Soil Foodweb, Inc. in Corvallis, Oregon has shown that differences exist in the beneficial attributes of compost teas, with commercial tea brewers producing the greatest numbers and diversity of beneficial microorganisms.

Hornworm Relief - Chuckle

Found this article and thought you might like this recipe.  It really is good.

I have the recipe for hornworm relief

Friday, July 13, 2007

Early summer is a trying time for gardeners who fancy themselves organic.

About this time of year, we begin to feel an overwhelming desire to do something drastic to our tomato plants. The leaves are dark green and healthy, the fruits are beginning to turn a perfect pink. Something is wrong, terribly wrong. Aren't we supposed to be spraying or something?

As if in answer to our question, the hideous, Godforsaken tomato hornworm makes its appearance on our leaves fat and green but for the little white racing stripes on its side, and the prominent, flametipped horn arising from its posterior extremity.

At last, a big, ugly Satanic bug. Where's the spray?

It doesn't matter that tomato hornworms rarely attack in large numbers. It doesn't matter that once the hornworm is big enough to see, it's already done most of the damage and is all but immune to pesticides. It doesn't matter that we're going to have to risk life and limb on Airport Boulevard to buy a $10 bag of Sevin dust.

Like Ahab, we're going to obliterate that worm if it's the last thing we do.

Now I get just as excited by big green worms as the next guy, but I'll confess: I'm just too lazy to get out on Airport Boulevard and pay $10 for a bag of white powder.

Nonetheless, I've been growing tomatoes in the South for years and have never had any serious problems with tomato hornworms and inevitably end up with more tomatoes than I can possibly eat.

Here's my secret:

Bill Finch's Household Formula for Effective Tomato Hornworm Control

6 lemons

1 quart water

1/2 cup household sugar

The active ingredient here is a powerful concentration of citric acid.

Squeeze the lemons and pour the liquid into a widemouth jar, being careful to strain the seeds. (Some pulp won't hurt, and may even improve the formula's effectiveness).

Add the water and stir in the sugar. Sugar tends to react synergistically with the lemon.

Mix vigorously in the quart jar, and immediately lower temperature to between 3-7 degrees Centigrade, or approximately 35-45 degrees Farenheit.

Move the jar to the garden, being careful not to spill any on the lawn.

When you come in contact with the tomato plant, locate the large, conspicuous tomato hornworms (they can usually be found near conglomerations of their large, conspicuous feces.)

Once you've spotted the worms, knock them to the ground, step on them, and take a sip of the citric acid. If it seems too sour, return to the kitchen and add more sugar.

Repeat until hornworms have been eliminated from the tomato plants.

NOTE: If a little white powder on your leaves makes you feel more like a real gardener, I highly recommend cornstarch. Apply it after knocking the hornworms from the plant. It looks remarkably like Sevin dust, and in the long run is about as effective.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column originally appeared in 1994. Mr. Finch will return next week with new and refreshing columns. As always, he's delighted to answer your gardening questions. He directly responds to almost all reasonable questions addressed to gardens@press-register.com (be sure to include a phone number with your question). In a pinch, you may be able to catch him by phone, at 251-219-5630, but may not be able to return all phone messages.

© 2008 Press-Register © 2008 al.com All Rights Reserved.

This is a link to the article: Press-Register

Bloodmeal and Rodents

If you think bloodmeal smells nasty to you, imagine how bad it smells to an animal that depends on its nose for a living. If you sprinkle a little around your plants, small rodents (including squirrels) will stay away.

To keep it from wearing away or being washed away when it rains, put a tablespoon or so into each of several margarine bowls, add a little water and a rock (to keep the bowl from blowing over) and distribute them around the garden. The powerful smell will keep most rodents away. It'll keep you away, too, if you don't keep the lids so you can cover up the bowls when you're working in the garden.

 

Aphids and Lemonade

If the aphids on your trees and garden plants don’t respond to the old “spray ‘em off with the water hose” method, give them a little homemade lemonade. Like ants, their occasional herders, aphids abhor citric acid, which is a key ingredient in the makeup of lemons, oranges, grapefruits, and other citric fruit.

Lemon peel is especially strong, so grate a teaspoon of it and steep it in a pint of hot water overnight. Then strain it through a coffee filter or cheesecloth, add three drops of insecticidal soap (to make it stick), and put into a spray bottle. The mixture may end up smelling pleasant to you as you spray it on your plants, but it’ll send those bugs packing in no time.

MAXIMIZE TUNNEL GROW SPACE IN RAISED BEDS

Happy New Year!

My passion is growing tomatoes and I would like to invite you to share your expertise and experience (good and bad) with your fellow Master Gardeners. Each month a question will be presented to you in the Brambles and at this website.  Your responses will be summarized in the following month’s Brambles’ publication and in the comments section below. 

It’s that easy. What a great way to share all of those wonderful ideas with others.

If you have a question that you would be interested in sharing, I will post that question as well. We have great minds to pick from. Let’s take advantage of the resources available to us.

Here is the challenge.

I will be erecting a 20’ x 35’ grow tunnel that will have sides that roll up and there will be raised beds inside. The beds will be a minimum of 18 inches in height. To maximize the number of tomato plants that can be grown in the raised beds what width, length and orientation should the raised beds be? The tomatoes will be planted at 4 ft. intervals.

I can think of several ways to place the raised beds:

1.  Three 4 ft. x 34 ft. beds. That will give me three long rows.

2.  Two 8 ft. x 34 ft. beds. That will give me 4 long rows. This eliminates an extra aisle and saves space. But, what kind of problems can I expect with this scenario? Lack of air circulation between plants, increased pruning, etc.

3. How about three 4 ft. x 34 ft. beds with an added row at the far end? This would resemble this shape:  |_|_|

4. Or even two 8 ft. x 34 ft. beds with the square horseshoe shape.

What are your thoughts? What other configurations can you think of? What about hanging tomatoes from the rafters, etc?

I am excited to hear from you. Please contact me as stated above. There is no right or wrong response; this is brainstorming and idea sharing.

Get Your Hands Dirty, Let Your Garden Calm You, and Enjoy!

Hooping It Up: Observations of 3-Yr Study

Hoop House High Value Crop Trials

1997-2007 by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc.

The 3-year Hoop House Trials proves to be interesting reading.  Yes it is somewhat technical, but worth your time to read.  Especially if you want to learn more about growing in a hoop house. I grew tomatoes in my homemade pvc hoop house this year (2007) in raised beds surrounded by rocks.  The rocks hold heat and will help to keep the hoophouse warmer longer.  The yield exceeded my expectations.  It is now November and I still have tomatoes ripening on the vine.  Yum!

There is something to this hoop house (tunnel) stuff.  The article goes into great detail and is very informative.

Enjoy! The article follows:

Kick Start Your Tomatoes Into Ripening

It’s at the end of the growing season and you need to kick start your tomatoes into ripening!

One way to get a signal to your plant that the growing season is coming to an end is to pluck off any remaining flowers off the plant. The flowers then will not start to develop into fruit, and the plant will then be cued to ripen any remaining tomatoes on the vine.

Also, prune your suckers and new growth, if any. This action will direct the plant’s energy into ripening its fruits, redirecting the plants efforts from forming new growth.

As warmth ripens the fruit and not sunlight, you may want to try putting down black or red plastic at the base of the plant to reflect the warmth of the sun back to the plant from the ground. This will also warm up the soil as well.

If you feel frost is eminent, pull up your plants and hang them upside down in any place that you have that is dry, a basement, garage what have you. This is the last resort for ripening tomatoes on the vine, but it works! The plant will then know to ripen the tomatoes.