2019 garden, better living through chemistry

[Gerardo]

So far so good.



Some BER here and there--one variety in particular showed its stripes--, has forced me to be more disciplined at weighing powders out.



As if by magic, BER is no longer an issue.


Hit them with Neem/Karanja/Exalt yesterday, after nearly a month of rest from all insecticides.


Some minor EB on lower leaves of most determinates and a few indeterminates, I'm gonna call this normal growth.


They've received weekly foliar Neptune's Fish Emulsion + SeaGreen + MadFarmer Cal-Mag, so practically all are happy.


No new deaths to TSWV or other causes.


Superhots are coming along well in two lots. The first one is being grown in smaller volumes (NC-3s) and dry, the ones in these pics have larger volumes (5+ gal) and receive generous doses of the tomato baby formula. I've tried a few from the first lot and they're hot, really hot.


Granadero F1 is setting lots of fruit, BHN-1021 too. The heart is Zaragozano de Utebo.


Dropped seeds for Mountain Magic and Green Tiger, freshly arrived from Johnny's. Each variety will have a 10 gal box with 3 plants sharing the real estate. Should be plenty to keep me in salad heaven.



In the next week or two these will be germinating as well:


Bear Creek
Black From Tula
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Daniel Burson
Dora
Faworyt
Gary OSena
Indian Stripe
JD's Special CTex
Liz Birt
Malachite Box
Mikhalych
Nicky Crain
Russian 117
Stump of the World
Tennessee Suited (fingers crossed!)
Terhune

Should be ready by Thanksgiving.

[Barb_FL]

Very Nice pictures; Plants look so nice and green (and short - yeah). Your cocktails are keeping away russet mites too.

Tomatoes by Thanksgiving with ones sowed now and the next couple of weeks sound good. I always try for December 1st, but sow late in August or Sept 1.

Is Zaragozano your last picture?

Which pictures are Grandero or BHN-1021?

[AKmark]

Very nice, keep up the good work and enjoy a bountiful harvest.

[Gerardo]

@Barb: 1021 is the 1st one methinks, Zaragozano the penultimate, and Granadero at the end. Short is good for me, some longer ones I snake along the top of the stainless wire, it gets interesting later on. And yes, the cocktails appear to be working. I see lots of arachnids and pollinators, so it must not be too lethal.

@AKMark: thanks Mark. I think of your setup and performance as BJ Baldwin in a Trophy truck, my little Baja Bug is humming along. It should be a good harvest.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Very nice, keep up the good work and enjoy a bountiful harvest.

Before I saw your post, I was thinking that his plants reminded me of yours, in that they look so great.

Nice work, Gerardo.

[Gerardo]

@Cole-R: Thank you! It seems in this case, unlike most others, the more $$ you throw at it the better the results. The difference this year has been premium potting mix, improved management of the powders, and investing in latest generation insecticides.



If you need micros let me know. I bought a 25 lb bag and only use 0.06% by weight each time I make a batch, so at my consumption rate, I have enough for at least a century.

[Gerardo]

Fruit is ready to blush, almost


the first one, BHN1021 F1, illustrates the BER I mentioned, seems to have remedied itself with a) being higher up on the plant b) using the scale.



There's Tyazheloves Sibiri (the PL), then Plum Regal F1, a few Rosado de Aracena large ones, and the Zaragozano de Utebo hearts.



The peppers are VERY happy, best ones I've yet grown. Naga Morich and many others that are hot hot hot.

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Gerardo

@BarbFL: I've been hitting them often. Neem/Karanja about once every 10-15 days, this is the main defense.

Spinetoram once a month is the projection, I've used it 3 times. I'm going to skip this month as the yellow sticky cards indicate all is well.

And flonicamid I've used once, at 3-4 weeks after planting to coincide with flowering. It gives you a 28 day window free of thrips, aphids and whiteflies. I doused everything in my garden, and I mean everything. I'll use it again when I plant out my fall plants. The directions say no more than twice a season.

Your plants look amazing! I looked up the latter two products, because I didn't know them. Curiously, the Spinetoram seems to be the active ingredient in the topical Cheristin we use on our cats (via our vet) for flea protection. Do you use a particular brand of it?

Flonicamid I haven't yet found in a retail product. Are you able to say where you obtained it and under which brand name?

Thanks. I am in Zone 9B in Orlando, where it's still too hot and humid to start, but I'm hoping for some earlies by Christmas, then others carefully overwintered for our few frost warnings for early spring. The bugs and fungus got me the last time I grew tomatoes. New home, new start. - Ann

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

Your plants look amazing! I looked up the latter two products, because I didn't know them. Curiously, the Spinetoram seems to be the active ingredient in the topical Cheristin we use on our cats (via our vet) for flea protection. Do you use a particular brand of it?

Flonicamid I haven't yet found in a retail product. Are you able to say where you obtained it and under which brand name?

Thanks. I am in Zone 9B in Orlando, where it's still too hot and humid to start, but I'm hoping for some earlies by Christmas, then others carefully overwintered for our few frost warnings for early spring. The bugs and fungus got me the last time I grew tomatoes. New home, new start. - Ann

Thanks Ann. I understand Floridians get two good windows, and the first one is right around the corner, relatively speaking.

Yes indeed, spinetoram is used as a vet product.

Spinetoram is an analogue of spinosad and is considered to be toxicologically equivalent, it just has a few minor changes in the molecule.

The active ingredients in Spinetoram are spinosyn J and L.


Spinosad has the A and D.

The version I use is called Exalt, by Dow Agrosciences.

A few years ago, on my first visit to the agricultural area stores, helpful "agricultores" who were buying their own stuff overheard my gripes on thrips,
and immediately pointed to the brand new product called Exalt. It was too pricey for my blood then and I went with alternatives, which did NOT work.

This spring I returned to the exact same store, and a similar scenario unfolded.
And as another gentleman overheard me inquire about Exalt
he detected my noob status and asked what my problem was and what I grew. To which I responded tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, and related how a few years back it had been recommended as a solution at that very spot.
--They'll break through with that.
He then directed the people behind the counter, with amazing authority I might add, to give me X product
--We're all out.
Sucks on teeth and breathes in heavily...--Then give him the Beleaf. The small bottle. Yes, that'll do you right.
--Is it systemic?
--It is, and I use it on all my cucumbers.

--Thank you Sir, much appreciated.
--Yeah, tell the person creating your program to fix it, they're no good.
--I'm the one creating it, it's just me and my backyard.
--Aaahhh, then use this, and the Exalt, and the Neem, the flowers, and the glue traps. But use this [the flonicamid], it'll give you 28 days free of thrips, enough for your flowers.
The gentleman left, and I waved my thank you. The people behind the counter informed he has an insane amount of hectares of arable land.


I followed instructions and the yellow card shows 30 days post Beleaf on all plants in the garden, + 3 applications of Exalt. The card has been hanging for 72 hrs. This time of the year that card would be filled with thrips, whiteflies, fungus gnats, and other assorted insects within 24 hrs.

The patent on Beleaf belongs to a Japanese company, https://www.iskweb.co.jp/eng/product...flonicamid.pdf



It's a powder you hydrate and spray on, about 1 gram per gallon. I made up a total of 6 gallons and just imbued every plant on the property.




It's in a class of its own, the 1st in a new category of insecticide. It works, and is relatively innocuous.

[kilroyscarnival]

Wow! What a great story. I am picturing your benefactor as "the most interesting man in the world" from the beer commercials.

The BeLeaf seems to be quite hard to find in the US, and the one online item I saw was about $300 US dollars. I do see a product called Aria that contains flonicamid (not to be sold in NY State, but I see flo- has been cleared for use in Florida citrus crops, so that may be a lead.) The Aria's still $166 and way out of my league for the small number of plants I'll be dealing with.

Exalt doesn't seem to be readily available here either. I found a DOW document and it says it releases under three brands: Trade Names
 Delegate® WG insecticide
 Radiant® SC insecticide
 Exalt™ SC insecticide

Radiant is available at a thousand dollars a gallon. Mmmkay. Something called XXpire is in the $300 range. Priced and packaged so only Big Ag can afford it.

Maybe I can find someone who will sample me a thimble-ful...

Thank you for your great documentation!

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks for the insecticide tips.


Is this the link you were talking about, kc?

https://www.keystonepestsolutions.co...8ffdef8a98ffb2

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Thanks for the insecticide tips.


Is this the link you were talking about, kc?

https://www.keystonepestsolutions.co...8ffdef8a98ffb2

That’s one of them. Some more moderately priced stuff at a store called doityourself.com. But nothing on the BeLeaf there.

[Shrinkrap]

@Gerardo, I agree; your plants are AMAZING, especially for what I imagine your climate to be. I think you may have given me good advice about spinetoram .

I hate to admit it, but I think I've grown a little apathetic about my tomatoes (but not my peppers!) here in No Cal (but probably because); it's been a great year.

I've been making a LOT of tomato and basil, or parsly, or pepper shrub.

I hope you will continue to keep us updated.

[Gerardo]

Both products are pricey as hell on the US side.



The Exalt was quoted at close to $250 for 1 L a couple of years ago, that's why I said no thank you.



This time it was in the Benjamin Franklin range for the one pictured above, which is quite acceptable considering the dose per gallon is approximately 12 mL. I've provided 50 mL alliquots to friends and family receiving plants. Have plenty for quite some time.



The 150 g bottle of flonicamid was the smallest one sold, now that I think about it, Aria is the product the guy asked them to provide. Cost for the bottle pictured was around 40-50 USD. Given the 1 g per gallon consumption rate, and the 2x per season limit on usage, I have enough for at least a decade.



I'd like to say I can send it to you guys, however, CBP doesn't look kindly on powders, irrespective of their composition.

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Both products are pricey as hell on the US side.

I'd like to say I can send it to you guys, however, CBP doesn't look kindly on powders, irrespective of their composition.

Ha, indeed! I ordered a few seeds from a supplier on Etsy, who was in Ontario, Canada as it turned out. I didn't think much of that until two weeks had passed since they'd mailed. The supplier said that with customs, it could take weeks. Of course, the day I asked her about it, they arrived. Then, funnily enough, I see lettuce-leaf basil seeds for sale at the Lowe's a few miles away, which was one of the things I went to Etsy for.

For what it's worth, the spinetoram works very well on our cats. We recently made the screened porch into a "catio" with welded wire fencing and shelves, so they're more flea-adjacent than before at the apartment... and I haven't seen one flea. Maybe I can station one of them under my tomatoes.