What, Methods, Applications and Techniques worked for 2016

[whoose]

What were the best and worst changes that you tried for the 2016 season and what will you do for the 207 season based on you experiences?

Positives:

Raised beds with low tunnels
30+% increase in production form container. The results are so striking I just installed a second raised bed/low tunnel.

Mid-Level Watering
Very much deeper roots and larger roots for tomatoes with mid level watering. Will continue in 2017.

Water wall addition.
Finished the water wall and added reflective silver insulation. This will stay in the greenhouse for 2017

Use of green house specific seeds.
These seed do not need to be pollinated by bees or other insects. Great results with cucumbers. Will add more next year.

Addition of two new fans.
One interior circulation fan and one gable end whole house fan greatly increased the air movement and allowed me to keep the indoor temp below 100f despite the 90f outdoor temp. They were added to the two existing fans. Great edition in terms of temp control and general circulation. Left off shade cloth. The new fans allowed for the deletion of the shade cloth.

Negatives:

Too many varieties for tomatoes. I will reduce to the best production/taste.

Too small of tomatoes. Will try to prune next year to increase size.


2017 season

Build better soil with mulch and continue organic practices.

Use all the new techniques and procedures I have been working on for the 2017 season.

[Chosemerveille]

What worked:

Proactive spraying of Daconil. Knock wood, I've been doing well on the disease front this year, and while it's never like it is down south, by this time the past two years I was battling septoria for the better part of a month already.

Single stem pruning. I tried this with one of my Orange Wellington plants, and it has been working a treat. Larger fruits, lots of air circulation. I'll be doing more of this next year for sure.

Adding La Crosse rain meter to my yard. I now have rain measurement down to the hundredth of an inch, plus rain history. This allows me to be much more precise with my watering.

Watering tomato plants by hand. Although I have drip irrigation throughout my beds I decided the best way for me to deliver my TTF was at the roots. I have been more consistent with my watering and fertilization, and the health of my tomatoes shows it.

Hanging blank CDs around tomato plants to deter birds. 'Nuff said.

What didn't work

Bird netting. What a PITA. I tried this on one of my tomato plants I was growing in a cage. As an experiment I tried bird netting on one plant while hanging CDs on the others. Yes, it kept the birds away, but it also worked a treat as a sail. The 8ft tomato cage almost blew over on multiple occasions. Pass.

Didn't plant enough pollinator loving flowers. Like an idiot, I skipped on cosmos and the like this year, and many of my pollinators didn't show up.

Plan for 2017

Redesign long bed for more tomatoes. I'm going to build a trellis that runs the length of the bed, so I can plant more tomato plants.

Single stem pruning, combined with tighter spacing. I'm still kicking it around but I'm thinking of ten plants, each pruned to single stem trained to lines.

Building of small(ish) cherry tomato "wall". 6ft, running n-s, on the easternmost edge of my garden. Growing of cherry tomatoes on single plane.

Planting cosmos. The bees and hornworm killing wasps LOVED my cosmos. I was a fool not to grow them this year. They'll be grown from now on.

[MissS]

This is a very nice thread. I've enjoyed it. It's nice to hear that some people do learn from trial and error.

What is the hutch next to your hose?

[SharonRossy]

Too lazy to take a photo but here's my list:
What worked:
Two 10'x3'x18" raised beds filled with Pro-Mix and nutrients directly over soil, no landscaping fabric.
My plants are healthy and huge. I have also sprayed with Serenade and found a small packet of Messenger that someone sent me a few years ago. I decided to try it, and I have no idea if it worked but the plants are really healthy.
I also didn't over fertilize and have been vigilant about watering.

What didn't work:
I planted too many plants too closely. As a result, all the foliage has slowed down the fruits from ripening and hindered developing fruit.
I didn't prune down to one stem and now it's a jungle and out of control. So lesson learned for next year.

Netting - the gosh darnoodley squirrels are having their way with my tomatoes, in spite of all kinds of netting, fencing, etc.

2017 Plan:

Less tomato plants - I need to narrow down the list to a reasonable amount that will fit into my new raised beds that allows for better air circulation and sun exposure.

More aggressive pruning - maximum two stems.

Better staking - and protection for my plants. Think I'm going to try the CD's! And possibly getting one of those Yard Sentinel machines. It's been a frustrating growing season watching half eaten tomatoes all over the ground.

[Gardeneer]

It is not just what you do that matters. Climate / weather are bigger factors than what you do. I know if I were gardening in a more clement growing conditions I would have gotten a much better results.
Having said all that, i have gotten poor results despite improving my experience and efforts. I planted early and got a real head start. I gave more garden space to may plants than ever before, I fed them according to the soil test recommendations, ... my plants have been as healthy but have been way behind the previous years.

[Susan66]

What worked:
Started many kinds of plants from seeds myself this year. Better variety, more types of vegetables, and an earlier start.
Built two raised beds and filled them with composted manure. Will probably put different kinds of plants in them next year, (i.e. salad stuff instead of tomatoes and peppers, but the plants in them are doing very well, in spite of being too close together. )
Point well taken, Gardeneer. A drought year here is a better season for growing than a rainy one (last year). And I seldom, if ever water but track how much water plants are getting. As long as I average 1 inch of rain a week, I just check to see if plants are stressed, and water ones that wilt or have curled leaves. (That could mean 1/2 inch one week 1 1/2 inches the next.)
Mulching with newspapers and grass clippings. Time consuming to start with, but worth it for water retention and keeping weeds down. Last year I used black plastic. It also worked, but had to come off before I could work the ground this year. A pain, for sure.
What didn't work:
Started too many of some things, not enough of others. Need better planning.
Tried some companion planting, need to do more. Back to the planning issue.
Will continue to experiment with varieties of various plants.Susan

[AlittleSalt]

For me, the negatives and positives tie in together.

I would like to get the negative part over first - I learned that Root Knot Nematodes can mess up months of carefully planning and planting, buying the right kind of fertilizers and other helpful things, and doing everything I know is right for my garden.

The positive things - even with the RKN problem, I still grew a heck of a lot of tomatoes, onions, and peppers. I still have tomatoes and peppers growing in raised beds without the RKN. It has been 101F the past 3 days and the tomato plants are looking good

How they tie in - for my first time ever, I'm going to plant an overwintering Elbon Cereal Rye crop in our RKN infested 45' x 45' garden. By what all I have read - it actually kills RKN and repels it. For the first time, I'll be turning in green manure/cover crop that should be beneficial in many ways. Also for the first time, I'll be gardening all year long.

If it doesn't work - I'll face that when it happens and move on from there.

[Douglas14]

I went with two plants(for the most part) between T-posts, instead of three plants.....using the Florida Weave method. My plants are better supported IMO. I think three plants between T-posts may be too heavy for indeterminates.

I usually don't put any additives in the tomato planting holes in the garden, when planting. This year I mixed in a handful of alfalfa meal with each plant. It could be a coincidence, but this may be the best looking tomato plants I've ever had at this point of the season. Tall(indeterminates anyway), healthy looking, good fruit set, and very little in the way of foliage issues.

I've had deer issues in the past. And some early in this season. I followed this deer deterrent method I found on YouTube, and its seems to have worked well for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URXR5gdjETY

[b54red]

What helped:

Single stem pruning
Very heavy layer of cypress mulch
Regular applications of Texas Tomato Food
Drop line method of support and tomato clips
Regular application of fungicides
Use of the diluted bleach spray when needed
Staggered planting dates


What made things tough:

Summer was just too hot and dry
Inability to spend enough time in the garden due to the heat
Spider mites that invaded en mass
Bird pecks

Bill

[MadCow333]

Worked: Dilute bleach spray got rid of mildew, fungi, and insects. Neem spray is good, too. Got good deals on Jobes spikes and starter pots buying very early in season. . Got better prices on stakes and tomato cages by waiting until July-August. . Bought neem concentrate and Bonide copper concentrate really early in season, before they disappeared. Nice price, plus i had those on hand before diseases got started.

Didn't work: Had probs with BER that i attribute to cold snap in May. Pepper seedlings grew too slow due to cold weather. Cherokee Purple had to be grown from seed which got started late because I couldn't even find the seed here. Early Girl and FM Sow-Easy Independence Day were a total bust, slow, LATE, small hard tomatoes, not better than grocery store taste.

Change: Would like to build a big deep raised bed for next year, instead of having so many contsiners.

[Ricky Shaw]

Went from raised beds to caged containers for tomatoes, and while not without problems, my best gardening move ever.

This year and last.

[NarnianGarden]

Learned: add enough fertilizer in the beginning. Adding more later works, but there has to be enough to start with so the leaves don't suddendly turn pale. (happened w/ mother's Azoychka - it is doing well now, after some spoon-feeding and IV treatment)

Learned: our birds are attracted to bright things, as yellow and red tomato fruits. They also have the audacity to come and steal cherry tomatoes. We were told this usually happens in early morning ours, so mom begun to cover her tomato row at night.

Which can aggravate another problem.. mold and fungi.
A humid summer is an invitation for diseases.
Next year I'll start earlier with spraying... I have so far used a bio fungicide and aspirine solution. Plants have survived those concoctions, but diseases probably need another dose..

Another lesson I learned:
Cherry tomatoes, especially determinate varieties, are dependable and hardly let you down. Whereas slicers/ beefsteaks with the same treatment and nutritional regimen can give you anything .. sometimes the same variety grows and grows, sometimes it just stops producing. The location and conditions are the same, plants just react differently.

[garyjr]

Whoose, I have similar containers with same PVC as you but I let it go down to the bottom of the pot, and then put holes in the container sides about 3-4 inches up. My plants in those 2 pots struggled a bit. I think the water reservoir may have been too deep and my roots stayed wet. Might move to the middle like you have. Where have you placed your holes, how many, and how large? Are those pots about 18-19 gallons? Thanks, Gary

[Chosemerveille]

Originally Posted by MissS

This is a very nice thread. I've enjoyed it. It's nice to hear that some people do learn from trial and error.

What is the hutch next to your hose?

It's a cold frame I built a few years ago. It is heated and insulated. I typically grow lettuces and other greens year round in it.

[bower]

What worked:

I suppressed the weeds outside my greenhouse windows, and in spite of humid weather that usually infests the tomatoes with mildews and leaf mold I had no problem with those diseases this year.

Lettuce and celery in big containers planted low down. Stayed moist, and rabbits out!

Paper wasp nests... too many! And though I moved one finally decided to just learn to coexist with a big nest under the ledge of one container. So far no stings.... and the ants aren't invading the greenhouse any more. Now and then I see one on the screen, then a big wasp swoops down....

Garlic looks to be doing great in the soil I cycled out from my tomato containers last fall.

What didn't work:

Soil purge wasn't an insect purge. Ants were still around all spring (see what worked!) and still had another tiny bee living it up in the greenhouse. My bad I had a Eucommia tree moved outside last summer and came back in for the winter... with friends I guess.

Don't even want to comment on the soil mix so wrong for containers. It also arrived late, ferts arrived late, root massages, after amends... well it is working for some but nearly all the plants in 5 gallons have been too stressed to produce as they should, for sure.

Omitted the cold treatment for seedlings. Leggies worse than ever.

Started late and felt frustrated and disappointed when fruit were also late - especially when I got a 'gap' with blossoms dropping in hot weather.

Too many plants in the greenhouse as usual. Not a good configuration, some plants had little chance being stuck in the shadows!