Beware the Nematodes!
Tomato time of year is finally here ! You ’ve picked your favorite varieties , establish them in a sunny spot , shower them with love , organic fertilizer , and compost , but you find that something just is n’t correct . The plants are stunted or growing ill , leaves and stems are jaundiced , the tomatoes just are n’t well-chosen . The perpetrator could be something you ca n’t see : nematodes .
Finding Nematodes What are they and what do they do?
nematode worm are microscopic louse which live in the soil and provender on the roots of host plant , such as tomato , prevent them from taking up the nutrients they require to rise into healthy , happy plants . Some forms of nematode worm are extremely good to tomato plants , while others can make for total destruction in the garden . Tomato plant nematodes are prevailing throughout the country , but they are most damaging to Lycopersicon esculentum plants in the Southern realm of the United States . The in effect intelligence is nematodes ca n’t travel far on their own , so they can be jolly well-heeled to control . The bad tidings is they can be carry into your Lycopersicon esculentum garden through nothingness , rain , infested tool , and by excess tearing .
alas , the only sure ways to determine whether your tomato flora is infested with roundworm is to pull it out of the ground and learn the root for nodules or test your grunge . Your favorable local Cooperative Extension position can provide information on grunge examination ( enter your metropolis name and “ accommodative denotation ” in your web browser app for more selective information ) . If your tomatoes just do n’t look chirpy and you mistrust that nematodes might be infect your tomato plants , but you just ca n’t bear to jerk them out of the ground , there are a few simple affair you may do to moderate this unseen blighter .
Fighting Nematodes What you can do
• Plant nematode resistant mixed bag , designated by a “ V ” on the recording label .
• spread out your tomato crop every two eld . Planting a impertinent crop in a different arena of your garden will help control the damage . Treat the orbit antecedently inhabited by Lycopersicon esculentum by bestow large total of constitutional matter .
• Give your land a seraphic delicacy . Tony Kienitz , author ofThe Year I consume My curtilage , suggests pass around a half British pound old bag of sugar over the garden and cover it with a thick stratum of constitutional compost . He says the sugar kicks all the good soil microbes into mellow gear , which then help control the damaging nematode . Likewise , try drenching the area you intend to set with a solution of one - one-half cupful sugar in one congius of water . Other rootage say the sugar dries the nematodes out .
• Give your tomato party . grace your tomato plant garden with fellow works that help fight nematodes : Marigolds , Chrysanthemum ( C. coccineum ) , Asparagus , even Borage ( which also discourages car horn worms ) . Be trusted to allow enough blank space between plants for good melodic line circulation .
• Clean your tools ! Using a garden tool that has made contact with nematode infested soil will expect them to other part of your garden . make clean them thoroughly before digging in other areas of your garden .
• industrial plant peppers ! Kaala Bell Pepper or Waialua pepper are unmoved by nematode .
• Let the dirt where you plant your Lycopersicon esculentum dry out between seasons . This may be too much to ask of a gardener , so you must take not what your tomatoes can do for you , but what you may do for your tomatoes!–posted by Debbie ( 4/04/06 )
Tomatomania!™ Meets Middle-Earth!
Samwise Gamgee had returned home from his long journey with Frodo , having help save Middle Earth from certain doom , and contentedly resume his use as Sam the Gardener . Spring was coming , and it was time to help his old Gaffer flora the vegetable mend ; not forgetting plenty of tomatoes .
fondly dab the basis around a young seedling , Sam reminisced about Gandalf ’s amazingfireworksat Bilbo ’s eleventy - first birthday party . There was the glitter of silver stars , cool green showers , and the bigred rocketthat as if by magic change state into a dragon . It seemed so long ago , yet thefantasticadventures border the seeking to put down the One Ring , thatgolden gemof wickedness , which held the destiny of all Middle - Earth in its power , were still tonic in his idea . He shiver slightly as he recalled their escape across theBrandywineRiver , travel to far off and unfamiliar lands .
Staking the loaded vine , Sam recalled the arduous journeying across Middle - Earth and the dreadful struggle in the Dwarf mine . exhibitioner ofsparksflew as Gandalf battled the Balrog to his peril , after which the Fellowship mournfully continued to the realm of the Elves . There they behold the dazzlingwhite beautyof Galadriel , theelfinqueen . Sam smiled , for it was she who leave him the magic territory which aliment his burgeoning tomato patch .
Picking a creamy orb , he recall go under cover of dark with the creature Gollum , who abhorredmoonglowandmorning light . He remembered the punic musical passage over therockyplains of Gorgoroth , always evade the regard of the Great Eye shroud inorange flaming .
Picking asweet clusterof juicy red tomatoes , Sam smile at the memory of his friends ’ tales ; especially how Merry helped Eowyn slay theblack prince . But what ’s this ? A strange fresh variety was turn in Sam ’s garden , possibly the germ of an unidentified variety that steal their way in the box of enchanted soil and now flourished in his luscious garden , blushing in the warm Hobbiton sunlight . It was list for a far - away domain that Sam had yet to sleep with : New Zealand Pink Pear . He wondered if New Zealand was part of the Undying Lands in the West , where Frodo sailed with Gandalf and the Elves .
If the adventures of Samwise the Brave were n’t enough to ensure the lowly gardener ’s place inlegend , at least the bounty of his tomato craw was the envy of all the Shire ; and that was certain to make his old Gaffer proud!–posted by Debbie ( 3/13/06 )
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