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#1
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Milky Spore Powder killing tomatoes?
Question for you all. Two years ago I built a garden box and bought
loads of soil, manure, and compost (our soil sucks, so it's easier just to build your own garden). Had wonderful tomatoes, just huge, overgrown bushes. Unfortunately, we had Japanese beetles, which proceeded to eat all our pepper plants, the basil, and a few other things. They ignored the tomatoes, but pretty much devastated everything else. Because we had a number of herbs in the garden, we didn't want to use any kind of pesticide, since we eat the leaves of the herbs. So last year, we got some milky spore powder, which was advertised as a way to keep Japanese beetles out of the garden. You could say that it worked, as we didn't really have any beetle problems. Largely because we didn't have any plants. The tomatoes shot up, but never produced fruit, and the plants just died. Didn't get much in the way of peppers, though, to be fair, the herbs did well. So the question is, did the milky spore have something to do with this, or did I just not fertilize enough last year? I can't imagine that first year could have sucked all the nutrients out of the soil, so the milky spore powder would seem to be the obvious "X factor". Anyways, it's getting near garden time and I'm trying to figure out whether I need to get new dirt or if the old is salvageable. -- ************************************************** *************** Dan Iwerks, slave to the masses, loves Vapor Trails. The fundamental problem with Solipsism is it makes me responsible for the fact that you're a complete idiot. ************************************************** *************** |
#2
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Milky Spore Powder killing tomatoes?
Dan Iwerks wrote:
...last year, we got some milky spore powder, which was advertised as a way to keep Japanese beetles out of the garden. You could say that it worked, as we didn't really have any beetle problems. Largely because we didn't have any plants. The tomatoes shot up, but never produced fruit, and the plants just died. Didn't get much in the way of peppers, though, to be fair, the herbs did well. So the question is, did the milky spore have something to do with this, or did I just not fertilize enough last year? I can't imagine that first year could have sucked all the nutrients out of the soil, so the milky spore powder would seem to be the obvious "X factor".... Milky spore is an organism, not a chemical, so it is not likely to have affected your tomatoes or peppers, since the soil organisms don't get sucked up by the plant roots. Other factors? Hotter than normal summer? Have you been growing tomatoes in the same spot for several years? Milky spore may take a couple of years to really get established. Also, it's not enough to put the milky spore in the garden where you see the japanese beetles. The beetles are strong fliers, so they can easily travel from an untreated area to your garden. You have to tread a significant area with the spore to be really effective. Unfortunately for most people in suburbia, that means your neighbors' lawns as well as your own. On the other hand, every little bit helps. Get your neighbors interested in treating their lots also. There are also pheromone traps for JB. My personal opinion is that they should be placed to attract the beetles as far away from your garden and all your neighbors gardens as possible. If you put the trap in your garden you will attract the beetles from a wide area and some of them will not get trapped. |
#3
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Milky Spore Powder killing tomatoes?
bad year for tomatoes. I barely got any at all. Ingrid
Dan Iwerks wrote: The tomatoes shot up, but never produced fruit, and the plants just died. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. |
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