The EarthTainer "Farm" Update - June 1 - "Clean and Green"

[rnewste]

Haven't used that phrase since my CB days of 30 years ago.

So far this (early) Season, not a yellow leaf in sight. I attribute that to both the addition of 1/2 cup Bat Guano into the EarthTainer Combo Mix when planting, as well as periodic spraying of Daconil.


Barlow Jap............................................... ....Gary'O Sena
These two plants, put in 62 days ago are now reaching over their 76 inch tall cage system. Will have to start topping them in a couple of weeks.
.



JD Special C-Tex


Jet Star


Applause



Both Tastywine and Caitydid have set numerous fruit. Thick stocky stems.

Big Bertha and Colossal Peppers are now topping their cage:



Nice sized fruit on the Colossal plant today:



This is the earliest I've ever had Peppers.

The Gotta-Have-It sweetcorn has gone crazy over the past 2 weeks, more than doubling in height:



Silks are now developing and I have started hand pollination as an assist:



The second batch of corn planted at 3 week intervals is developing nicely:



And the Sweet Success cukes have more than doubled in size over the past 2 weeks:



So, barring the onset of Locusts or other plagues, this Season is off to a promising start.



"10-4 Good Buddy"

Raybo

[z_willus_d]

Very slick Ray. What is your dilution ratio for Daconil? So far, I've held off spraying with it, but I'm now getting yellow leaves up to the center half several of my vines, so I guess my Actinovate/Excel combo isn't entirely up to the task.
-naysen

[Sun City Linda]

Thanks for taking the time to post, they are sure pretty! I think you supplement during the season with various ferts like seaweed, Growbig, etc. When you get a chance, would you please post what you are using as total ferts in a growing season for maters. I think your are using TomatoTone as the base, correct? Thanks.

[rnewste]

Naysen,

The recommended dosage of Daconil is 1 Tablespoon per gallon of water for tomatoes.

Linda,

My primary fertilizer is 2 cups TomatoTone in the fertilizer strip. Later during the year, I will give a soil drench of Grow Big, then followed up in a few weeks later with TigerBloom.



Raybo

[Sun City Linda]

Thanks, surprised me you are not using more. Earthbox is smaller and their rec is 3 cups if using organic. It is obvviously working well for you!

[Riceloft]

Excellent Ray! What sort of media mix do you use for the corn? I recall a post where you said the 3-2-1 didn't make the corn very happy. I'm interested in giving that a try next season.

[rnewste]

Linda,

I am using a 50/50% blend of the "Old" TomatoTone along with the "New" TomatoTone. So that equates to 2.5 cups of the (organic) New Tomato-Tone. The liquid supplements make up for not using 3 cups Organic to begin with.

Riceloft,

You have a good memory! For the corn and celery, I am using a more dense, 5:1:1 ratio of Sunshine Advanced Mix #4, Microbark, and Perlite. Corn and the celery seem to like wetter grow media than tomatoes or peppers.

Raybo

[babice]

Wow - Raybo - those are amazing results! Very awesome. Glad the bat guano had good effects. I know you said you were experimenting with it this year. I've been using Buddha Grow with the toms and will begin using Buddha Bloom when I get them planted (fingers cross I intend to plant them this weekend).

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Naysen,

The recommended dosage of Daconil is 1 Tablespoon per gallon of water for tomatoes. Raybo

And that's what I just used having just finished spraying the killing fields. I had to cull out around 20lb of tomato leaves today. It's insane how quickly things can turn from good to 99% good to 30% bad. I hope I got in front of it. I just wish my computer hadn't croaked with my data on which plant is which variety. (As it stands, I have only pot #'s.) I wanted to be able to deprecate varieties that fail me and advance those which did well. Perhaps I'll be able to identify a good number of vines through resources like your post here. For instance, I'm growing Barlow Jap as well, so I can compare leaf shape/size, fruit color, and other characteristics.

Thanks,
Naysen

[rnewste]

Naysen,

I am now capturing the layout, varieties, Combo Mix components, and additives in electronic form (Powerpoint), then I email a copy of it to my AOL email account to archive.



Like you, I was "burned" in the past when my handwritten list somehow disappeared mid-Season. Still blame Dear Wife for throwing it out with the trash.

Raybo

[Chrissykin]

Everything looks so great. I am always so impressed.

[DogsandDirt]

What beautiful, healthy looking plants! The amount of work you put into your garden obviously shows. When do you use the Big Bloom?

[BLTLOVER]

Wow......super! Proffessionally done!

What do you use for soil in the tubs?

[sprtsguy76]

I'm just realizing this but is seems you are staying pretty organic in most of your Tainers. I've gone back to experimenting with organics in containers myself. Any way looking very good as usual Ray!

Damon

[rnewste]

D&D,

This Season, since the plants really took off on their own with the new Combo Mix plus Bat Guano, I haven't yet applied either Grow Big nor Big Bloom / Tiger Bloom. Will likely do so in another couple of weeks.

BLT,

The Combo Mix is described in the EarthTainer Guide at www.earthtainer.org.

Damon,

I just bought a 40 pound bag of PlantTone as well as a 20 pound bag of TomatoTone at Ozbo.com for like 60 cents per pound, so I am eliminating the 14-14-14 CRF Osmocote I use with the celery and cukes, and instead will use these Espoma organic ferts from now on.

I highly recommend folks experiment with Bat Guano in their containers as it has made a significant improvement for me this Season:



I've also got to figure out how to introduce Azos and CalCarb in to the cycle this Season.



I am planting my final 6 tomato plants today, so maybe I will focus these additives on those plants only for trial.

Raybo