Fusarium Wilt

[b54red]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Bill have you ever tried the self watering containers? My Earthboxes have a 3 gallon water reservoir, and the overflow spout is 3 inches off the ground, they have a solid bottom so bad things can't get in, and because of the overflow spout, it's impossible to over water them. The plastic comes in white if you want to keep the pots cool, and other colors too, and it's a non degrading plastic, people are getting over 30 years out of them so far. So you only have the expense once, and that have sales with free shipping several times per year. I never have grafted, and nematodes and fusariumarea non issue.

No I haven't. I have read about them and they sound like a good alternative to large buckets and pots which require so much attention down here in the summer heat.

Bill

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Nematode

There is some semi promising research using myco's to fight fusarium.
Don't think its ready for prime time, but might be better than nothing.

And here's some links about that.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...k1.rD0ZbE78yUw

And now the direct links

https://www.google.com/search?q=myco...&bih=790&dpr=1

Carolyn

[VC Scott]

There has also been research concerning the bacteria strain "bacillus amyloliquefaciens" as a biocontrol agent against fusarium. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?s...t=0,5&as_vis=1

There are several products on the market containing a strain of bacillus amyloliquefaciens which are not expensive. I have ordered some for the possible benefit against gray mold and early blight.

[AlittleSalt]

There is so much I could write, but for now, I want share some pictures. This is our Texas garden today between storms. It adds to the confusion of what to do next. I don't like to half... do anything. Whatever way that I grow differently from what I'm doing now needs to be an improvement.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by b54red

No I haven't. I have read about them and they sound like a good alternative to large buckets and pots which require so much attention down here in the summer heat.

Bill

Bill so far my tubs are doing great with no worries about watering so often.
I have yet to see them get so dry I need to water.
Nor do they show any signs of too much water.
The only Earth Box I have ever seen in action was a disaster.
It was the person not the product.

Of course my other method of putting part of the container in the soil is out of the question.
Worth

[Father'sDaughter]

That's a beautifully set up garden, Salt! I hope you do find a way to keep using it.

Self watering containers were on my list of possible solutions after I finally faced what was really wrong with my plants. What stopped me was the need to invest in enough boxes to grow the number of plants I want to grow, then invest in the stuff to fill them with, then fill them, then find a place to put them...

After I researched grafting, I realized that if it worked, it would be a cheaper and easier way to keep using my already set-up and filled raised beds.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

That's a beautifully set up garden, Salt! I hope you do find a way to keep using it.

Self watering containers were on my list of possible solutions after I finally faced what was really wrong with my plants. What stopped me was the need to invest in enough boxes to grow the number of plants I want to grow, then invest in the stuff to fill them with, then fill them, then find a place to put them...

After I researched grafting, I realized that if it worked, it would be a cheaper and easier way to keep using my already set-up and filled raised beds.

Thank you. That is a wonderful compliment.

I agree with you. I'm in the same boat. Grafting is making more sense to me too.

Cost is very important to me because I'm not the one working for the money to pay for the changes. Jan does not like tomatoes as much as I do, and that is part of the decision/s that I have to make. She is 'very' interested in raising chickens and maybe a few rabbits. The 45' x 45' main garden is fenced and would make for an excellent chicken pen. It will cost money to add some chicken wire to the lower part of the fence, but it would make her happy. We have all the materials to make a chicken house. Besides, chickens eat insects and deposit fertilizer.

I have a lot of raised beds and 10 acres to grow tomatoes and vegetables. As long as I grow a bunch of cherry tomatoes our 4 year old grandchild will be happy He loves cherry tomatoes. Most of the rest of our extended family does too.

[ginger2778]

The cost was why I did only 3 at a time. The good things that they last so long you only have to spend it once. It is what has worked for me, and it continues to be easy and worry free. Mine are not a disaster at all quite the opposite. Without them, in South Florida's 9 month long season, you won't get more than 3-4 months and much less produce.

[Rockporter]

I too have earth boxes, but I had to stop using them as self watering containers because my arthritis just can't handle it. The removing all the mix and loading it back in, laying the ferts. Setting them into place. I can't work on the ground, I can't bend to the ground so it was just too difficult to do the job of reloading them. Plus I required my husband to do all the heavy lifting because I can't do it.

Now I use them like regular planters and if there is too much water it just drains out where the overflow hole is. I've been growing onions in them and I have my cantaloupes in them growing very well right now. For what it is worth, the fact they are holding up so well to the Texas sun they are well worth getting in the long run.

As far as containers getting too hot out there I was thinking of using some Flex Seal spray on the outside of the containers in white to help reflect the sun. I should have done that with the new containers I bought at TS recently. It would have been much easier when they were new and empty.

http://www.asseenontvandbeyond.com/F...-TV_p_212.html

Sorry about your plants Salt.

[jtjmartin]

Salt:

What a beautiful garden! I love your trellis system and raised beds.

This year was my first year to graft. It was easier than I thought it would be and not very expensive. Most of the materials like clips are reusuable.

Next year, I'm going to grow out the rootstock plant and root cuttings to use for a fall garden too.

[b54red]

It is only expensive if you don't shop carefully for your grafting products. I think NE Seeds is reasonable for the RST-04-106-T root stock seed and for me they are near perfect because they are tolerant of FFF, RKN, and BW. All of those are killers here. I wait to graft until my root stock are large enough to root the top portion to use later in another batch. Link below.

The most expensive thing annually is the larger grain DE from O'Rielly Auto Parts that really helps with the success of the healing stage for me. It is reusable so after the first bag it can be a while before I need another. Another big cost but one I recommend you incur is getting a good selection of grafting clips from 1.5mm to 2.8 mm. They are not so expensive but you have to buy 100 of each size but since they are priced at less than a nickel apiece it works out to about 5 dollars a bag per size plus whatever the shipping is. They also have an amazingly low price on tomato clips but you have to buy a lot of them. I have been buying mine from Hydro-Gardens here is a link to their grafting clips.

https://hydro-gardens.com/?s=grafting+clips

You could get some clips and just practice with any cheap seedling this fall and by winter be ready to start for real with the good root stock. I practiced like that until I got fairly good at the mechanical part of grafting. It was the more subtle things that I had to figure out to get my survival rates up in the healing process. I posted it a while back and though it seems a bit of bother it does make a huge difference in the success rate for me.

Bill

Bill

[AlittleSalt]

I found a site for EarthBox https://www.amazon.com/EarthBox-RB-E...9784480&sr=8-1

A sight that shows info and pictures of EarthTainer https://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/ but I haven't found one for sale. I'm guessing they would cost about the same?

I can't afford to spend that much - unless I quit eating

About Grafting - I was wondering if I could buy any variety that has FFF,N in it - or are there certain varieties better than others? I'll use these as examples:

Amelia VR Hybrid VFFFNTSt Packet (10 Seeds)
Dixie Red VFFFNAStTswv Hybrid Packet (10 seeds)
Mountain Merit Hybrid VFFFNTswvEbLb Packet (10 seeds)

Those are at the Seeds N Such site.

I forgot to add, after over 3" of rain, there is another plant wilting due to the Fusarium. That answers one question I had -
No, you can't foliar feed and water a plant infected with Fusarium.

[Worth1]

Salt if my idea works you can use anything then the cost would be the soil which is expensive on it's own.
Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Worth, that's why have been reading every post in your thread. I talked to Jan about it. If your system works, we could buy white 5 gallon buckets, perlite/vermiculite, and the soil mix spread out over the rest of this year. I would also change the raised beds by removing the infected soil and rebuilding the 2 x 12 frames to include a solid bottom and frame it to where the buckets cannot turn over. The land there isn't level so drainage isn't a problem. I would put in weep holes on the lower end. My idea would hold 11 plants.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I found a site for EarthBox https://www.amazon.com/EarthBox-RB-E...9784480&sr=8-1

A sight that shows info and pictures of EarthTainer https://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/ but I haven't found one for sale. I'm guessing they would cost about the same?

I can't afford to spend that much - unless I quit eating

Earthtainer would be much cheaper to build but will not last near as long in our climate, believe me I built them and the sun just obliterated that plastic within 6 months. The five gallon global buckets we built held up really well though, I am currently using the outside buckets for planting and they are about 6 years old now. The inside buckets with the holes drilled in the bottom are sitting on my patio, I was thinking of passing them on to someone who wants to make global buckets. All they would need is a new 5 gallon bucket to set them in. I even have the wicking containers for them we made from a plastic water bottle.

You won't need casters on the Earthbox, so this one would be about $20 cheaper and even less if you buy three from them. Three would be $89.95 + tax and shipping. If you wait until a free shipping code comes up you can get them for just the cost plus tax.

https://earthbox.com/earthbox-system...tem-terracotta

Don't get caught up in the Earthbox Jr. It's too small for what you are doing.