2015: Tomato HOA Rehab journal

Vespertino · January 11, 2015

2013: City-Slicker Texas Terrace Container Tomatoes
2014: Broken Knee Tomatoes

So a quick recap:

In 2013 I moved to Texas and started an itty bitty container garden on my patio.

in 2014 I bought a house with a teeny bit of land, but broke my knee. Family helped me get most tomatoes planted and I healed enough to take it from there (with lots of limitations), but the bugs hit hard and the tomatoes contracted TSWV and curly top! Oy!

So now it's 2015 and my knee had been on the mend for a while now. Last year made me realize how sick the environment in HOA land was before it came under my stewardship. I'm hoping to continue to rehabilitate my sickly, postage-stamp sized chunk of HOA land into a healthy, balanced ecosystem.

This year I'm going cherry and dwarf heavy.
Summertime green dwarf
Rosella purple dwarf
Dwarf arctic rose
Sweet scarlet dwarf
Dwarf kelly green
Caspian Pink
Green Zebra
Kentucky Beefsteak
Sungold
Rose Quartz Multiflora
Black Cherry
Green Zebra Cherry
Pink Bumble Bee
Green Doctors
Tscalma
Evans Purple Pear
KBX
JD's Special C-Tex
Vorlon

I'll also be growing sugar ann snap peas, delikatesse cucumbers, striata di italiana zucchini, genovese basil, thai basil, and lemon basil. There may be other things I'll give a try but those above are certain to be in the garden.

This year I've finally upgraded to a light system for germinating seedlings:

It's just a basic T8 ballast, and alternating 5000k/6500k lights with a timer. I already had the shelving lying around.

My seeds were planted in jiffy pots on 1/4/15, I'm using Lady Bug Germinator.

Yesterday the sugar ann peas broke through the surface and I was getting impatient because I didn't see a single tomato peeking up. I was wondering if I'd screwed up and killed them off somehow. Today, BOOM, about half the tomatoes popped overnight.

That is certainly fungus on the pots and label sticks, but I'm not worried right now. My germination mix had this same fungus on it last year and it's not the kind that causes the seedlings to dampen off. In fact the seedlings did really well in it. The germination mix is not a sterile one, but is is organic and my tomatoes have always been happy. Good mycelium is icing on the cake. Once the rest of the tomatoes pop I'll remove the plastic tray covers and the tops will dry out a little.

As for the sick environment in the yard, this year I'm prepping for the bugs with biological countermeasures:
1) Beneficial nematodes
2) Lacewings
3) Ladybugs
4) Predatory Mites
5) And my "BFG" Stagmomantis carolina, The Carolina Praying Mantis. The ootheca are dormant in the fridge, I will probably hatch them around Easter.

Last year I had a deluge of Thrips, Cucumber beetles, Whiteflies, Oleander Aphids (these destroyed by milkweeds), Green/Black Aphids, Tomato Hornworm, Leaf Miners, Cutworms, Spider Mites, and Grasshoppers (so many they chewed my iris plants down to the ground). Despite such a smorgasbord, not a single lady bug or whitefly to be found anywhere. What I did stumble across was one teeny little carolina mantis who grew up strong, healthy and fat. Later a mature yellow garden spider set up shop and caught many big grasshoppers. I need more of them in 2015 along with other beneficials.

The soil was also very poor: clay-laden, nitrogen and phosphorous poor. I'm putting down bone meal along with lots of other goodies in the planting beds (green sand, blood meal, ground up oyster shells, crushed egg shells, cotton burr, turkey compost, hardwood mulch and dolomite lime) during the winter and hope that it improves things for springtime.

Wind and crazy temperature swings were problems last year as well, the wind almost killed my seedlings, and if it weren't for family helping me create makeshift windbreaks I would have lost them all. This year I'm putting in covered hoop rows, that should take care of temperature swings and short cold snaps.

That's the general plan for 2015. Hope you all have a great tomato year!

January 11, 2015	#1
Vespertino Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Southlake, TX Posts: 743	2015: Tomato HOA Rehab journal 2013: City-Slicker Texas Terrace Container Tomatoes 2014: Broken Knee Tomatoes So a quick recap: In 2013 I moved to Texas and started an itty bitty container garden on my patio. in 2014 I bought a house with a teeny bit of land, but broke my knee. Family helped me get most tomatoes planted and I healed enough to take it from there (with lots of limitations), but the bugs hit hard and the tomatoes contracted TSWV and curly top! Oy! So now it's 2015 and my knee had been on the mend for a while now. Last year made me realize how sick the environment in HOA land was before it came under my stewardship. I'm hoping to continue to rehabilitate my sickly, postage-stamp sized chunk of HOA land into a healthy, balanced ecosystem. This year I'm going cherry and dwarf heavy. Summertime green dwarf Rosella purple dwarf Dwarf arctic rose Sweet scarlet dwarf Dwarf kelly green Caspian Pink Green Zebra Kentucky Beefsteak Sungold Rose Quartz Multiflora Black Cherry Green Zebra Cherry Pink Bumble Bee Green Doctors Tscalma Evans Purple Pear KBX JD's Special C-Tex Vorlon I'll also be growing sugar ann snap peas, delikatesse cucumbers, striata di italiana zucchini, genovese basil, thai basil, and lemon basil. There may be other things I'll give a try but those above are certain to be in the garden. This year I've finally upgraded to a light system for germinating seedlings: It's just a basic T8 ballast, and alternating 5000k/6500k lights with a timer. I already had the shelving lying around. My seeds were planted in jiffy pots on 1/4/15, I'm using Lady Bug Germinator. Yesterday the sugar ann peas broke through the surface and I was getting impatient because I didn't see a single tomato peeking up. I was wondering if I'd screwed up and killed them off somehow. Today, BOOM, about half the tomatoes popped overnight. That is certainly fungus on the pots and label sticks, but I'm not worried right now. My germination mix had this same fungus on it last year and it's not the kind that causes the seedlings to dampen off. In fact the seedlings did really well in it. The germination mix is not a sterile one, but is is organic and my tomatoes have always been happy. Good mycelium is icing on the cake. Once the rest of the tomatoes pop I'll remove the plastic tray covers and the tops will dry out a little. As for the sick environment in the yard, this year I'm prepping for the bugs with biological countermeasures: 1) Beneficial nematodes 2) Lacewings 3) Ladybugs 4) Predatory Mites 5) And my "BFG" Stagmomantis carolina, The Carolina Praying Mantis. The ootheca are dormant in the fridge, I will probably hatch them around Easter. Last year I had a deluge of Thrips, Cucumber beetles, Whiteflies, Oleander Aphids (these destroyed by milkweeds), Green/Black Aphids, Tomato Hornworm, Leaf Miners, Cutworms, Spider Mites, and Grasshoppers (so many they chewed my iris plants down to the ground). Despite such a smorgasbord, not a single lady bug or whitefly to be found anywhere. What I did stumble across was one teeny little carolina mantis who grew up strong, healthy and fat. Later a mature yellow garden spider set up shop and caught many big grasshoppers. I need more of them in 2015 along with other beneficials. The soil was also very poor: clay-laden, nitrogen and phosphorous poor. I'm putting down bone meal along with lots of other goodies in the planting beds (green sand, blood meal, ground up oyster shells, crushed egg shells, cotton burr, turkey compost, hardwood mulch and dolomite lime) during the winter and hope that it improves things for springtime. Wind and crazy temperature swings were problems last year as well, the wind almost killed my seedlings, and if it weren't for family helping me create makeshift windbreaks I would have lost them all. This year I'm putting in covered hoop rows, that should take care of temperature swings and short cold snaps. That's the general plan for 2015. Hope you all have a great tomato year! Last edited by Vespertino; January 11, 2015 at 09:31 PM.