T wrote:
....
Never added sulfur. Is there some indication when I
need to?

high pH is the indication you need acidifiers.
humus is a mild acid, not sure what you've done
already or how it buffers.


I have only treat the soil down to about 14". My tomato
plants are five feet tall. That would kill me to
treat that deep!

it takes a while to get things going to that
depth, but once you have worms and plant roots
working for you they can make holes down a ways.

also if you space plants further apart then
their roots can spread out more and not compete
with the neighbors. if you don't have cardboard
or some other mulch you can use flat stones over
the surface to hold moisture in.

other things you can do are grow arid adapted
trees that fix nitrogen (they do exist) and use
all that organic matter for your gardens.


I have backed off on the fertilizer as soon as they
started fruiting.

Romas are determinant so they come on mostly for
a certain period and then are done. so yeah, adding
more fertilizer would be a waste.


I only use organic fertilizers so I can't burn anything
(and not poison my wife).

i can't say much about any of that since i don't
know what's in them or the strength. with you being
in an arid climate that changes how fast some things
happen and if you can grow cover crops afterwards to
soak up anything that might otherwise leach away.


songbird