Plant health should always be a concern : Lifestyle

Tag : neem meal


Most people garden because they enjoy it, but salmonella may makegardeners out of everybody! Keep your plants healthy and producingwith some of the following tips.

MULCH

If your plants are not mulched don't delay. Mulch today.

Mulch will keep the soil moist and cool so plants grow better. Mulch evens out the soil moisture so you have less blossom end rotand fewer fruit cracks. Mulch keeps weeds at bay and reduces yourwork.

Cottonseed hulls, cured grass clippings, leaves, pine bark, pineneedles, and hay are just a few of the mulches you can use on yourgarden. A three- to four-inch layer is best.



WATER

Water often enough to keep the soil evenly moist but avoid dailywatering. Water enough to wet the soil 8-12 inches deep.

Drip irrigation or soaker hoses work really well. If you use dripmake sure there are 2-4 emitters per plant. Flood irrigation willwork well too, but sprinkler irrigation can cause leaf damage andfoliar diseases.

Check the soil moisture with your finger or a hand tool. Dig down afew inches and feel the soil moisture. If it feels moist and cool,it's probably OK. If you can squeeze it into a ball that holdstogether, it has good moisture, but if it falls apart, it's time towater.

FERTILIZER

If your tomato plants have fruit on them, they will benefit fromadditional nitrogen fertilizer every two weeks. Maintaining soilnitrogen will keep plants flowering, growing and healthy.

Add 1-2 tablespoons of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) to each plant in acircle about 12 inches away from the stem. Other forms of nitrogenare fine too. Blood meal, ammonium nitrate (33-0-0) or urea(42-0-0) can be used.

Slow release fertilizer can be used too. If your plants don't havefruit, don't fertilize them until they set fruit.

PESTS

Spider mites are always a threat to tomato plants. They are tinyarachnids that start out on the lowest leaves of the plant causingthem to look dry and dusty. As their populations increase, theymove up the plant and can really wreck the vine. They suck theplant juices out of the leaves and they even feed on the fruit.They spin minute webs which catch dust and sand particles whichcontributes to the plants dusty appearance.

Mites are difficult to see so use reading glasses or a hand lensand a white piece of paper. Tap a suspect limb out over the whitepaper and watch for a minute or two. If some of the dust grainsbegin to move, you've probably got mites.

Rain is the best deterrent to spider mites because they don't dowell in high humidity, but they thrive in low humidity and heat.

Since we can't order up a dose of rain, consider high pressuresprays of water directed at the underneath side of the leaves.There are watering wands with nozzles that are designed for thisspecific purpose.

They can be used for washing aphids, mites and other small bodiedinsects off of the plants. Insecticidal soaps can help too. Be sureto read the label because soaps and many other insecticides canharm the leaves if they are not used correctly under the rightenvironmental conditions. Bifenthrin is a synthetic pyrethroid,Neem or summer weight oils can also help reduce spider mites.

Stink bugs, leaf footed bugs, fruit worms, horn worms, tomato pinworms and birds are some of the other pests, but they are not astough as mites.

HARVEST

Harvest tomatoes when they are pink. Harvest early in the daybefore temperatures get too high.

Keep tomatoes in room temperatures until they reach full red color.Eat or use soon after. If you need to hold them they can go in therefrigerator, but only after they've turned bright red.

FALL TOMATOES

Fall tomatoes can be planted in July for harvest this October.

Fall tomatoes are best started from transplants, but transplantsmay be a little scarce come July. You may want to see what'savailable right now or grow your own. This early you could sow seeddirectly in the garden.