Root Knot Nematodes (RKN)

[dmforcier]

Nice looking dirt.

Too bad it's got bibbits.

[AlittleSalt]

DM, Thank you.

It was a long day of tilling the soil. Tomorrow brings less work. I'll be working on the raised beds.

The nerve disease is telling me to stop moving, but my mind still thinks my body is 17, and I'm finding it difficult to go to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow, if my body allows, I'll work on the raised beds more than we already did today. They still need mulch mowed and tilled.

[dmforcier]

Tell your body about the rewards in the spring and summer.

For some reason last night I couldn't get to sleep. Went to bed because I was tired and just lay there for hours. Minnie took the occasion to find a new nest for each of my positions, some of them on top of me. That was cool, but I prefer sleep.

Of course, as soon as I type her name, here comes the little beast. "Yes, I'm coming to bed in a minute!"

[AlittleSalt]

Here's how we're preparing the raised beds. First picture shows the amount of oak leaves added. The second picture is what it looked like after mulch mowing. The last two pictures are the results after tilling and raking.

The raised beds have Elbon cereal rye, handfuls of 10-10-10 fertilizer, Garden tech Sevin granuals for grubs, cutworms, etc. And oak leaves.

[AlittleSalt]

This is the root system of Elbon Cereal Rye. It is more of a weed now. We tilled it under a month ago. A couple weeks ago, I turned under survivors with a shovel. Today, I'm pulling them out like weeds.

If the Elbon rye does as advertised (Roots trap and kill RKN) there's a lot of roots to do it.

[matereater]

Hope it helps !!

[WLeClair]

Yes, definitely, let us know how it goes. That dreaded pest is like the proverbial cockroach after the bomb.

[oakley]

You have been through a mess but taking it in stride is the best way. Study it, try things, solve it and grow what you can.

Asparagus was mentioned. If that is so, i have a fresh packet of seed. From a commercial supplier. I have way more than i need. A friend has challenged me to grow it for both of us as he had no luck sprouting. Mine looks great. I'll take a pick. It just takes a lot longer to produce but we lost our patch a few years ago as did my friend and crowns are expensive.
I'll send you some seeds fi you want to try. No postage needed.

[AlittleSalt]

Thank you Oakley. I will PM you.

I planted our (84 in total) tomato plants out March 16-20th. It took me 4 days. Today is April 1, and some of the 67 plants in the main garden have not shown much difference in size - but about half of them have doubled in size already. There are many varieties, colors, cherry up large slicers. One plant got mowed down by severe winds and then a cutworm.

In a raised bed about 80' from the main garden, I planted out 17 tomato plants - they have doubled and tripled in size since plant out. All 17 of those are cherry types.

Comparing the growth in the main garden to the growth in the raised bed is a little difficult. Cherry tomato plants grow faster here. But if someone who doesn't know anything about tomato plants or gardening would easily say the ones in the raised bed look bigger and healthier than the ones out in the main garden.

[oakley]

Just potting up now and the cherries are tiny frail compared but they do catch up once
in the garden soil. Hurry up Spring!

Here is the asparagus. Took forever to germinate, maybe 4 weeks, then tiny shoots came
up just like their thick edible brothers, but Barbie scale. Interesting. Glad i did this.
New to me, starting from seed, but i took the challenge. Patience.

I've been reading up and need to get them into a tray situation and give them room!

[oakley]

better pic...
That is a ton of seed. I know somewhere they said 4 per household member but that
was never enough. Just a garden fresh snack...never made it into the house.

I'll send it out tomorrow. Holmes is a good seed company. I planted very shallow and
probably too thick but good germination once it took.

[AlittleSalt]

I just planted 15 okra seeds with tail on them in one of our raised beds that didn't show signs of RKN last year.

Then I planted 23 of the same okra variety seeds out in the worst RKN hit area of the main garden. About a third of those seeds had a tail on them. The other seeds have been soaking in warm water today only.

Why plant okra in the RKN infested area you may ask? Because through my experience, Okra plants with RKN in their roots show symptoms much faster than tomato plants do. What our okra has done in the past two years is grow to about a foot tall and then it stops growing. Even with the right amount of fertilizer, water, and sun - it just stops growing.

At least half of the RKN infected cherry tomato plants produced tomatoes before showing signs of RKN last year.

Who knows what they will do this year, but if the okra germinates and mimics what it has done the past two years - I'll know more of what to expect from the tomato plants. At least, that's my thinking.

[b54red]

I can certainly vouch for okra showing signs of RKN before tomatoes usually do and another plant that shows early is cucumbers. The infected ones will wilt early on hot days and also produce far less cukes.

I have found that even in infected areas putting down a heavy layer of mulch under plants will delay the onset of RKN damage somewhat.

Bill

[AlittleSalt]

This evening, I can finally post a couple positive pictures. These tomato plants are planted exactly where others were planted last year. The ones last year grew about 14" tall and looked scraggly and were there for 3 months.. The ones in the pictures are almost 18" tall and they look healthy. Forgot to add - These were planted March 16-20th and today is April 9th.

[4season]

They look great but you will need bigger cages.