The EarthTainer "Farm" Update - June 1 - "Clean and Green" - Page 2

z_willus_d · June 2, 2012

Ray, you're wise to rely on the cloud over any personal archival system. That is assuming you have no qualms about sharing your plant schemes with the world, which I assume is the case. This is a lesson I've learned long ago, but I fell prey to a creeping accretion of important data on a laptop that I wasn't properly vetting or safeguarding against the inevitable disaster. Computer systems, like tomatoes, have a way of always succumbing to the baddies that abound.

I'm looking forward to following your trial results and reading their conclusion summaries. I've found often the plant that seems healthiest or happiest at point A may not remain so down the line at point B. The point I'm making is what I really want to know is which plant under the same conditions produced tastier, higher-quality and more fruit. I know you can distill all the results into your best assessment, and that's what I'm eager to read.

Thanks!
Naysen

rnewste · June 2, 2012

Naysen,

I also back up all of my computers making a "clone" drive on USB HDDs monthly, using a program called TrueImage from Acronis. This has saved me so many times over the years when I come home from China, and I have been hit with viruses from the hotel or airport connections while there.

Well worth the small cost from a peace of mind perspective.

Raybo

chalstonsc · June 2, 2012

Raybo,
Remember you saying you were trying removing lower leaves early and maybe that has made a difference....it has in my garden.

Pandorae · June 3, 2012

Ray, are you still going to trial Grower's Secret Pro?

Thanks,
Pandorae

rnewste · June 3, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandorae

Ray, are you still going to trial Grower's Secret Pro?

Thanks,
Pandorae

Pandorae,

Sorry, but I've got too much on my plate to trial this Season. I still have a new bottle of Thrive which was sent to me for experiment last year - - and I couldn't even work it in this year.

Now that my Combo Mix formulation trials should be finished at the end of this Season, I will be able to devote time to some of these other products like Grower's Secret Pro. I hope others are also experimenting with these additives and will post their results.

Raybo

Dewayne mater · June 3, 2012

Raybo

Did you mix the guano throughout the tainer mix or more in the top like the fertilizer strip? Healthiest looking plants yet. Impressive!

Is this the first time you've used Mancozeb? That is widely available and I've thought about it as I'm now fighting a second round of gray mold. We had 3 nights of rain in a row and I hit everything with daconil before and after that (along with various times of Agrifos, serenade and actinovate). I haven't done the Man stuff and wonder if that would be a good arrow in the quiver.

Dewayne mater

rnewste · June 4, 2012

Dewayne,

I disperse the Bat Guano evenly throughout the Grow Media when putting it into the EarthTainer.

Regarding Mancozeb, it is really potent stuff (you can't go in the Field, nor eat tomatoes for a period of 4 or 5 days after application). My strategy is to use it very early in the Season before fruit develops. As the fruit begins to set, I will down-shift gears to use less potent products like Daconil, then Serenade and Exel LG, as the Season progresses.

I use these products with an abundance of caution, as the family's health is far more important than optimizing yield. Therefore, I would not recommend using Mancozeb this late in the tomato cycle you are in.

Raybo

remy · June 4, 2012

Looking good Ray! I sure hope they stay that way for you.
Remy

z_willus_d · June 4, 2012

Ray, are you concerned that once having sprayed with Daconil/Mancozeb, covering the leaves with that milky white substance, that subsequent sprays of Actinovate will fail to take any effect? I wonder if the Daconil might shield the leaves from the beneficial microbes/bacteria in Actinovate, perhaps even kill them? I'm not sure if anyone has answered this question elsewhere on the forum, but perhaps you've contemplated it and come to some conclusion.
-naysen

rnewste · June 4, 2012

Naysen,

My final spraying of the Season with Mancozeb was on May 16. The bottle is now in the storage cabinet until next April.

Regarding Daconil, I have read posts from other TV members that it washes off in the rain, so it needs to be re-applied weekly. I also think the morning dew would tend to break it down over time, so I am not that concerned about it preventing penetration of Exel LG and Actinovate later in the Season.

Strange, but a 70% chance of rain here in San Jose today. We NEVER get rain in June.

It is very welcomed, and I will be out dancing in it later this afternoon in the garden!

Raybo

Henri · June 4, 2012

Raybo,
I think this is the first time I see corns grown in a small container like yours, can you grow Silver Queen in those EarthTainers? At the end of the season, can you show us their root systems? It looks like you really pack them in there!
Henri.

rnewste · June 4, 2012

Henri,

The was the Gotta-Have-It corn last year, this stalk with 2 ears:

I have planted many varieties over the past 4 years in EarthTainers, and the two I have settled on are the above, as well as Tendersweet 277A.

Raybo

z_willus_d · June 5, 2012

I hope my Gotta Have It corn gets there. Oh how sweet and delightful those ears look to mine eyes. I'm really pushing the spacial boundaries with my InnTainer corn grow-out. A while back, I had to pull 3week old corn seedlings in the InnTainers and redistribute. I was amazed at the surplus of long, white stringy corn root tentacles the young seedlings had produced. They are certainly root heavy. I wonder whether the grow media will just be one solid block of root by end of the season. Can't wait to find out. The corn is my favorite crop to look upon on the burb farm here.
-naysen

Henri · June 5, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by rnewste

Henri,

The was the Gotta-Have-It corn last year, this stalk with 2 ears:

I have planted many varieties over the past 4 years in EarthTainers, and the two I have settled on are the above, as well as Tendersweet 277A.

Raybo

OMG!

homegardenpa · June 5, 2012

Looking great. I've read your posts here and on other forums, and I've always been impressed. It gave me a new perspective on container gardening and gardening in general. I now do some limited container gardening, mostly for eggplant and peppers, since in my zone I find they yield a lot more and sooner when in containers. I used to always grow peppers in the ground and the soil temps rise so slowly in my area that I'm lucky to see peppers by late August, and then they're stagnating by September / October. Now I get peppers by early-mid July.

I found out about some of the Fox Farms products last year at a local nursery. I tried the grow big fertilizer for my containers because I liked that it's "organic-ish". I had great results with it and it's sort of become my stand-by liquid fertilizer for containers. For a granular fertilizer, I too use tomato-tone - I've thought of using Bat Guano, but at least at my local nurseries, the stuff is pretty pricey.

As for preventing foliage diseases, I've been using Actinovate and Serenade, but I've been being a lot more vigilant about removing the lower leaves and suckers and I think that's made the biggest difference. It pains me greatly to pull off such lovely looking deep green leaves, but I just tell myself it's all for the best, lol.

June 4, 2012	#23
remy Buffalo-Niagara Tomato TasteFest™ Coordinator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Z6 WNY Posts: 2,354	Looking good Ray! I sure hope they stay that way for you. Remy __________________ "I wake to sleep and take my waking slow" -Theodore Roethke Yes, we have a great party for WNY/Ontario tomato growers every year on Grand Island! Owner of The Sample Seed Shop

June 4, 2012	#26
Henri Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Santa Ana, CA Posts: 16	Corn, Raybo, I think this is the first time I see corns grown in a small container like yours, can you grow Silver Queen in those EarthTainers? At the end of the season, can you show us their root systems? It looks like you really pack them in there! Henri.

June 2, 2012	#16
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Ray, you're wise to rely on the cloud over any personal archival system. That is assuming you have no qualms about sharing your plant schemes with the world, which I assume is the case. This is a lesson I've learned long ago, but I fell prey to a creeping accretion of important data on a laptop that I wasn't properly vetting or safeguarding against the inevitable disaster. Computer systems, like tomatoes, have a way of always succumbing to the baddies that abound. I'm looking forward to following your trial results and reading their conclusion summaries. I've found often the plant that seems healthiest or happiest at point A may not remain so down the line at point B. The point I'm making is what I really want to know is which plant under the same conditions produced tastier, higher-quality and more fruit. I know you can distill all the results into your best assessment, and that's what I'm eager to read. Thanks! Naysen

June 2, 2012	#17
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Naysen, I also back up all of my computers making a "clone" drive on USB HDDs monthly, using a program called TrueImage from Acronis. This has saved me so many times over the years when I come home from China, and I have been hit with viruses from the hotel or airport connections while there. Well worth the small cost from a peace of mind perspective. Raybo

June 2, 2012	#18
chalstonsc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: sc Posts: 339	Raybo, Remember you saying you were trying removing lower leaves early and maybe that has made a difference....it has in my garden.

June 3, 2012	#19
Pandorae Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 30	Ray, are you still going to trial Grower's Secret Pro? Thanks, Pandorae

June 3, 2012	#21
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	Raybo Did you mix the guano throughout the tainer mix or more in the top like the fertilizer strip? Healthiest looking plants yet. Impressive! Is this the first time you've used Mancozeb? That is widely available and I've thought about it as I'm now fighting a second round of gray mold. We had 3 nights of rain in a row and I hit everything with daconil before and after that (along with various times of Agrifos, serenade and actinovate). I haven't done the Man stuff and wonder if that would be a good arrow in the quiver. Dewayne mater

June 5, 2012	#28
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	I hope my Gotta Have It corn gets there. Oh how sweet and delightful those ears look to mine eyes. I'm really pushing the spacial boundaries with my InnTainer corn grow-out. A while back, I had to pull 3week old corn seedlings in the InnTainers and redistribute. I was amazed at the surplus of long, white stringy corn root tentacles the young seedlings had produced. They are certainly root heavy. I wonder whether the grow media will just be one solid block of root by end of the season. Can't wait to find out. The corn is my favorite crop to look upon on the burb farm here. -naysen

June 5, 2012	#30
homegardenpa Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 14	Looking great. I've read your posts here and on other forums, and I've always been impressed. It gave me a new perspective on container gardening and gardening in general. I now do some limited container gardening, mostly for eggplant and peppers, since in my zone I find they yield a lot more and sooner when in containers. I used to always grow peppers in the ground and the soil temps rise so slowly in my area that I'm lucky to see peppers by late August, and then they're stagnating by September / October. Now I get peppers by early-mid July. I found out about some of the Fox Farms products last year at a local nursery. I tried the grow big fertilizer for my containers because I liked that it's "organic-ish". I had great results with it and it's sort of become my stand-by liquid fertilizer for containers. For a granular fertilizer, I too use tomato-tone - I've thought of using Bat Guano, but at least at my local nurseries, the stuff is pretty pricey. As for preventing foliage diseases, I've been using Actinovate and Serenade, but I've been being a lot more vigilant about removing the lower leaves and suckers and I think that's made the biggest difference. It pains me greatly to pull off such lovely looking deep green leaves, but I just tell myself it's all for the best, lol.