Quote:
Originally Posted by ginger2778
Root aphids, wow. That's a new one for me. I will have to Google that. Pyrethrins or permethrin(synthetic pyrethrin) will most certainly help.
I cut down the last of my tomato plants yesterday. Per Barb's advice, I am not breaking things down all at once. There us time, so I am doing about 1/4 of the garden each day.
The mangoes are going gangbusters, with all the rain we had my new pomegranate has established itself and is putting out new growth shoots.
Barb- 100 heads wowee! And they were huge, and delicious. Very special. You and Larry are amazing gardeners.
Barb,you don't solarize your EBs anymore?
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My Kent tree looks great too; so much new foliage over the mangos. I will have <20 Mangos; they are very big already.
Did you eat any pineapples yet?
I'm just going to solarize a few of them that had all new mix this spring season; my reasons actually thinking as I type.
1. I used MasterBlend formula since early fall; the drain part of my boxes is very salty and nasty looking. This is the biggest reason.
2. We had the house painted in February and I need to get the pool deck painted. The deck is the best place to do the solarizing.
3. I want to have much fewer plants so starting over with mix and keeping the cost reasonable (my attempt at being cheap) will ensure that fewer plants will actually happen. For me, it's $15 per Earthbox just for ProMix. If I skip the loaf, then down to $10. I did skip the loaf this spring with new mix and saw absolutely no difference; probably b/c I used liquid fertz.
If I refill with Lambert's Organic Mix (sold here at HD - About $15 for 3 Cubic Gallon loose) and I skip the loaf, can load an EB for $7.50 - If I include the loaf, then $10.
Walmart sold this for a short time in the 1.5 C Gallon bags and I filled one EB (no loaf) and used it this spring. Very happy with it.
4. I had more nematode damage when pulling plants. In recent seasons, I had no nematode damage and also had none for the plants that I pulled after the fall. Was it b/c the plants were not elevated? or b/c when I mixed the MasterBlend in the 27 G container in the backyard , I sometimes got a little dirt (sand) in while scooping the bucket. (the dirt/sand was on the bottom of the pouring bucket - not much at all but could this make a difference?). On the EB that had Nematode damage, they also had those grassy weeds growing in the cover holes. Could weeds bring in nematodes?