What the hell?!

It's official. Every single one of my tomato plants are now dead! What the hell?! This makes no sense at all! I had wondered if the pray I made was contaminated with grass killer. However, the stray grass in the same area is just fine and would have been exposed. It's the same formula I used in previous years, so that's not the problem. I've also sprayed other plants with the same spray which are doing fine. 

The only other thing I can think of is that the mulch contains back walnut or something else which is toxic specifically to tomatoes. 

Can't be the soil or immediate area, because  this is the same area where tomatoes thrived last year. 

So, my only options now are to start new seeds, buy a few plants already started and grow in containers this year. Have to clear the mulch out. That's a bummer. 

A couple of pumpkin plants bit the dust from squash bugs. Not a lot of them but they hit the main stem on those plants. Planted some new seeds. I did use some insecticide around the base of the main stems of remaining plants. Keep controlling them manually on the outer stems and leaves. 

Yep

So, one night of really heavy irrigation showed a really positive response. Leaves which were patchy and pale are turning greener and I already see new growth occurring. Leaves that were curled have mostly opened up. So, going to do it again tonight and keep doing this until I see signs that it's becoming detrimental. However, couple more of the smaller plants seem to have died off. I don't have any more started, so think I'll go buy some more small ones and hope they have time to mature and produce this season. On average, tomatoes keep producing here until October or November. Think I'll try some Celebrity variety tomatoes.

Trimmed grass tonight. 

My dill hasn't come up this year at all. Not sure why. Going to try growing some in a container. 

Have to harvest all the lettuce and kale this week. Getting ready to bolt. Should have melons and pumpkin plants coming in soon. 

Intentional over-irrigation

I have been suspecting that salt remains a problem for the tomatoes this year. Looked up pictures and symptoms. It's confirmed. Leaf burn, curl and stunted growth. 

Guess I've made a few mistakes this year. Tilling probably brought sodium back to the surface where I had hoped it had leached deeper than it had. Then I did not flood irrigate as much earlier this year as I did last year for the tomato patch. Now the signs are really there with the plants still small and the current heat level, causing the salt to concentrate in the leaves. 

Not too late to recover. Going to try drastically increasing irrigation for a few consecutive nights and see what happens. If I start seeing a positive response, I'll keep doing it until the plants are large enough to handle it better.

Now, that probably means I may have to increase frequency of acid application. Not sure. Increasing irrigation and decreasing salt concentration may cause a more beneficial pH balance. I'll try just water at first. 

Taming wild ones

Taming the wild tomato plants. I dug up the random tomato plants which were springing up and replanted them where some other plants had failed. So, I'm up to about 15 tomato vines now. Last couple of years, my major crops came from an average of 7 vines. Of these current ones, about 3 are questionable if they'll survive. They're all looking a lot better since I sprayed for white flies. I'm just taking the safe route and spraying insecticidal soap every day. Keeping it isolated to the tomato vines, especially at the soil surface. 

Doing much the same with pumpkin and cucumber vines. Trying to keep squash bugs and cucumber beetles at bay. I haven't seen cucumber beetles but see some signs they're around. No signs of squash bugs this morning but caught two adults this evening. No eggs from them and the adults are now dead. 

I may have to separate the cucumber vines into different containers, to give them more space. 

Haven't planted green beans yet. Have to plant them this week. Going to use containers for them, also. Just to make it easier to keep weeds controlled. It will also help me avoid building large trellises this year. Stick with poles instead. Maybe a ring of containers with poles between them. 

White flies

I rather spaced a problem from previous years. Several of the tomato vines I planted out have died and others have been growing agonizingly slowly. Then I thought about the white fly problem in past years. 

Made up a solution yesterday. Insecticidal soap, nicotine and garlic. Soaked the ingredients, strained them through a disposable paint filter into one of the garden sprayers and sprayed the vines. By this evening, I was seeing a positive difference. I sprayed again this evening. Added more soap but thinned the nicotine. 

Used the same solution on pumpkin plants which are already growing. I've seen one adult squash bug which is now dead. This evening, sprayed a patch on one leaf of baby squash bugs. I'll check that plant again in the morning to be sure I got them all. It would be awesome if I can deter them now, while they are small and susceptible to organic poisons and I only have 4 pumpkins plants growing so far. I planted more which are starting to sprout but not yet large enough to get the attention of the squash bugs. 

Peppers out

Last night, I planted out the scorpion peppers. They've been in the window with lots of sun, so didn't have to be hardened off against sun, only wind. 

Tonight, got the large tomato plant (Park's Whopper) planted out. Had it outside for a couple of days in sun and wind. It showed no signs of scald or other problems, so I went ahead and planted it out. 

Pulled weeds. Almost completely bindweed free! Ones I have found were all small and weak. On the other hand, grass between plants is growing too tall. Only choice is to pull by hand. Definitely going to solarize after final harvest this year. 

Trimmed the grape vines. They're growing new extensions so fast I could probably trim them daily if I had the time. One of the good things about that is that it adds some major amounts of green material to the compost. With the placement of the vine, it results in a complete cycle which will last for years, even if I moved the compost bin. It's near one vine, so the roots absorb the runoff from the compost and then the leaves and vines feed the compost. Grapes on both vines are looking pretty decent, still gaining size and lots of them! I still think the red grapes will remain small, it's just the variety. Green ones started getting big amazingly fast after they flowered. Not as many, though. Red ones will probably make good grape juice, wine or vinegar if I get to it this year. Maybe jelly?

Back yard

Got the grass trimmed in the back yard tonight. Patched the irrigation system (because I knocked some pieces apart with the weed whacker). Pulled weeds manually.

So far, I seem to be keeping ahead of the bindweed. Been able to prevent any of it from setting flowers or seeds yet. Not sure just how long I may win this battle. Seems the seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 30 years. Making the best way to eradicate it to encourage the existing seeds to grow, then pull and poison the plants before they set seed. 

I have other weeds coming up, also but they are less of a direct threat because they don't strangle plants. However, they do consume nutrients and divert them from crops and more desirable flowers. Others are real nuisance plants, various species of goat heads. Trying to keep those controlled before they go to seed. Doing okay so far. 

Had to replace batteries in the dog's collars tonight. Started to walk outside and one of the dogs was in the garden. He had crapped and chewed some things up but luckily I caught him before he did any digging. I walked out there with good timing. No punishment but he started to head toward the garden right after I replaced the batteries and got the idea quickly. (No shock, he turned back when his collar beeped at him.) 

I've started running the irrigation an extra cycle here and there. I may just set the whole system to run an extra cycle each night. Lot of plants are growing really slowly and showing what I take as signs of sodium overload. Curled leaves, slow growth, pale color. Maybe it would help if I ran acid more frequently and in smaller amounts. I think the extra water should help some. The garden grew like crazy last year when we had all the rain. Maybe I should take that as an indicator.  

Seeds located

Found the cantaloupe seeds I had misplaced. At least, one bag. These are from 2009, so I'm not really sure how many will germinate. There was another bag from 2012 which I could not locate. Any way, I did plant some of these out a little while ago. Not sure of whether any are sterile, I planted two for each hole instead of one. 

I also planted seeds for giant watermelon, which are from 2012. Many of those grew last year, though not quite as large as the first year. There could be a lot of reasons for that. 

Last thing I planted tonight was pie pumpkin seeds. I have a couple of giant pumpkin plants growing. I may plant some more because of past squash bug problems killing my giants. 

Trimmed the grape vines. Here's a good thing- as the grapes are gaining size, the vine growth is slowing slightly. The green grapes always mature later than the red ones and in fewer numbers. The red ones already appear to be larger than ever before. Slightly. None are turning color yet, so I'm hoping they're going to keep growing larger. 

Had to get out and spray for weeds again this morning. Same areas keep springing back with huge numbers of weeds but the number is slowly decreasing as the existing seeds sprout and then get killed off. I am keeping ahead of them going to seed for once, so that's a huge advantage. I haven't yet won the war but have definitely turned the tide in my favor. 

Getting frustrated with how late things are getting started, I looked back over years prior to last year. Seems things are pretty much on track for this time of year, for a normal year. Last year was exceptional. Previous years I wrote about things only being a few inches tall at this point, except corn and sunflowers. So, nothing much to be frustrated about. I know from last year that I could plant more seeds now and have at least a partial or small harvest from what I planted now. 

The paper seed containers were a bust. They fell apart before being able to plant them out. Maybe I'll try some brown cardboard instead. I've done that before as separators but not actually trying to make containers. It would be worth a try. Would not expect them to hold together like peat pots but if they hold well enough to contain plants until transplant time, that would be okay. If they fell apart during transplanting that would be okay, too. They could always be composted. 

I'm getting pissed off at the fact that there are mosquitoes in my yard. Absolutely no chance a single one is from my yard. There are no containers holding water in my yard, so that means they are coming from a neighbor's yard. I think the next door neighbor. I'm going to check out his yard while up on the roof this week and see what he has holding water. It's not asking for too much for him to dump the water or spray poison. Hell, I'll give him the damn poison and lend him the sprayer if necessary. 

Misplaced seeds

I misplaced my cantaloupe seeds which I had stored. Rather sucks because I had a couple hundred of them. Tried to go buy some at Walmart this evening but their seed section, as usual, was trashed. This store near me doesn't take care of things very well at all in many sections.

Oh, well. Two options. Buy some at Home Depot tomorrow after I drop daughter off or save seeds from a fruit in the fridge (which would take at least a week to dry the seeds). I'll try both approaches tomorrow and hope for results. Plus keep looking for the bag of seeds I had.

Found the pie pumpkin and giant watermelon seeds. Plant some of those tomorrow.

Temperature reprieve tonight, as low as 63 degrees. Absolutely no complaints here! 

Transplanting

Got around to transplanting things out tonight. Had to divert attention again from daughter's room to something else. Lot of the container plants were getting too big, roots were crowded and they were dying off. It was divert attention or start over and maybe have nothing in the garden this year. 

Pulled the plastic off the area I was solarizing and mulch from the tomato mounds. I did leave some mulch by itself in place at a distance around the tomato plants to help regulate soil temperature and moisture loss (which should help keep the soil more loose). 

Changed around some of the irrigation lines for the flowers I planted out. 

Still have a lot of other things to transplant plus need to plant some more seeds for the year this coming week. 

Phosphorous

Phosphorous was delivered today. Checked the label. I'm probably going to need more. The label says to use as much as 5 lbs per 200 sf. I'm applying to a much larger area than that. But not going overboard. 

I used half the bag, dissolved it in water mixed with ammonia and acid. The ammonia provides nitrogen plus helps the acid along. Then the acid helps the phosphorous absorb. So, I'm expecting to see a big difference very quickly. I ran it through the fertilizer injector. Because of the filter system, I expect any particles which didn't dissolve immediately will get caught in the filter and dissolve more slowly and be applied with subsequent watering. 

Not all of it dissolved (in the time I let it sit), so I saved the part which didn't dissolve and will apply it manually more selectively to the rose bushes and flowers in the front yard tomorrow. Not that it's needed all that much. There are an amazing number and size of roses growing this year! On the down side, they don't last long. They start degrading the same day they bloom. That's because of the salt. Getting better but still a ways to go. It's obvious salt is the problem because of the burned look to the edges, sometimes before the roses completely open. The more water and acid I apply, the less I see the problem. I just don't want to go too far with it and wind up damaging roots. 

One down side I am aware of. Applying the phosphorous will probably cause the lettuce and spinach to bolt faster. But with temperatures hitting 100 degrees or close, it was going to do that, any way. I'm not sure what effect it will have on potatoes but again it's getting so hot I'm going to have to harvest them soon. Hope they got to be a decent size!

On the up side, I'm really hoping it has a positive effect on grapes, tomatoes, apples and so on.

Change of tactics

Tomato plants are not doing so great. Remaining really small. So, I think it was an error to place weed fabric and mulch around them. I think it's stealing nitrogen from the plants and keeping oxygen from the soil. So tomorrow going to pull the weed fabric and mulch from the mounds. Hoping it has been there long enough to help kill off some of the grass and weeds to the surrounding soil. 

Of course, I can't be completely sure. It's a strange year. The Cosmos, which grow at around the same time and rate as the tomatoes are still only inches tall and they're not mulched. Maybe I should wait a few days. Or remove the mulch from a few tomato plants and leave others mulched and see which ones benefit most. 

Going to get up early tomorrow and plant out the remaining tomato seedlings and maybe some pepper seedlings, also. I did note a wild tomato plant or two coming up again where they were last year. Not taking them down but may move them once they gain a little more height.

Because of the heat, I increased the irrigation and made it twice per night in one zone which had been one time per night. Hoping it helps the plants handle the heat better. 

Pulled weeds tonight. Have to trim grass sometime this week.It wasn't completely conscious at first but I noticed today that as I get one kind of weed under control, I am focusing more on other types of weeds. I am getting ahead of some of them. Not all but hoping to get there soon.

Heat has arrived

The hottest time of year has arrived. Over 90 degrees yesterday and today. Expected to hit triple digits in a week or two. So, no question the lettuce is going to bolt. No real harvest this year of lettuce or spinach. Glad the carrots are going. That's it for cool weather crops.

Still one of the worst things about the environment here is how dry it is. Humidity is only 5 percent. That means the temperature doesn't drop very effectively when the sun goes down and there is no such thing as dew in the morning. 

Took a long time for me to realize that the temperature doesn't affect me as much as the low humidity does. Trips out of state and to different areas which were hot but more humid demonstrated that to me. 

Doesn't help in the house so much but for the garden, the irrigation schedule helps simulate cooler temps and morning dew to a good degree. I have timers set for late afternoon and early morning. 

Good side of the increased temperatures are the warm weather crops are perking up more. Not sure we'll see a crop of cilantro at all. Tomatoes are picking up speed a bit. Potted zinnias are gaining size. 

The increased heat helps with the area I've been solarizing. I can pull the plastic off and start planting out this week. May have to harden off a couple of things which have been in partial but not complete sun so far. Have to give them a trial before planting them out.  

Finally got a new filter for the pipe going to two zones which hasn't had a filter for a while. Though when I check the filer still in place, it was pretty much clear. Seems suspending the pipe higher and adding a cap seriously increased the water quality. I did still insert additional material to the center of the filter to help remove as many minerals as possible. 

I'm seeing more effect from the weed killer now. This weed killer can be a bit slow but it's thorough and effective. I'm seeing fewer and fewer immediately evident weeds everywhere. For the moment, it's looking like I may bring the weeds finally under control this year. 

One thing I can state I have accomplished. I have areas which are growing where nothing grew previously. Some of those spots I wasn't completely sure I would ever see grow anything but weeds because it was almost pure clay. Still fighting weeds there and the weeds which are growing indicate the pH is still too high. But that's improving all the time. 

Now I need to get out this week and trim the grass while watching out to not injure toads. I also need to take the chain saw out, trim lower branches of the remaining elm trees. Then take the cordless drill, drill some holes and pour some pure acid in them. At this point, the larger the fruit trees become, the more the elms will limit their growth by crowding roots and stealing nutrients.