In article ,
Jeff wrote:
Billy wrote:
In article ,
Jeff wrote:
Billy wrote:
In article ,
Jeff wrote:
Billy wrote:
In article ,
Jeff wrote:
snip
Downey mildew is what all of our gardens get at the end of the years as
the weather cools and the plants get wet.
Got it.
(With this in mind, try not to
wet the leaves on tomatoes when watering.)
Hmmm. I've been watering the leaves when I fertilize weekly,
something I have just started doing. I take it that this is OK as long
as the leaves dry, which they currently do quickly.
Not good, helps set spores for more opportun moment.
OK.
Which brings me to a fertilizer question I've been meaning to ask. I
looked around a bit and didn't see many options, so I took home some
Miracle Grow Tomato Plant Food (18-18-21). It seemed to me that the
organic benefits are mostly in the lack of insecticides. I've been
watering my small garden of cukes, carrots, tomatoes, snow peas,
blueberries, a peach, a grape, cantalopes and one zuchini and one pepper
with this once a week. Is there a better direction for me, this late in
the game?
This is about six times more fertilizer than you need. Chemferts are
salts and salts kill mirco-organisms. Go to organic fish emulsion
I'll look for the fish emulsion, I suspect I'll need to hunt it down as
I don't remember seeing it in the big box stores.
(organic in this case means no mercury, lead, DDT, dioxin, or
polybrominated diphenyl ethers [PBDEs] ) or manure
http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm .
I used a bit of bagged cow manure. But mostly mushroom compost and
whatever soil I had that looked good. It looks like next season that
I'll rake in more cow manure. Or can I just dump this on top?
Thanks,
Jeff
Yes, rake it in (top 2") and water. The nitrogen in manure comes from
proteins (diet and bacterial) that break down. When protein breaks down,
an amine group (Ammonia. w/ perhaps with another group added) is
released. In many cases this is just ammonia. It is a gas that needs to
be disolved in water to make it available to soil bacteria.
--
- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2TzBE0lp4
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050688.html