Our weather here in Southern KY has been shall we say different, now we have only lived here for two plus years so we don’t have a lot of history with the area but the neighbors tell us this is just strange! We got the expected heat in June & July hovering around 100 degrees no rain for weeks then, a monsoon (I call it that anyway) right around the first week of July, if I remember correctly we got 8 inches over about 4 or 5 days. Now it is supposed to be the brutal month of August, but what we have gotten so far is just beautiful days in the 80’s, we are getting about an inch or two of rain every week. It should be 100 to 105 everyday! On a personal level, it’s great, I love it. I am knocking on wood, so it doesn’t change….
We planned for lots of heat and dry weather and planned on doing lots of watering and mild plant feeding in the garden and that’s the schedule we kept. Well except for the watering....
Well big mistake, our tomatoes are not happy!
You can see some of the blight mixed in with the new growth, I need to do some more pruning
We were harvesting 20 to 30lbs of tomatoes every two or three days, now we are lucky if we are getting 10lbs a week. We got hit with some blight that killed a couple plants and beat up about ten others.and we have found some big fat tomato worms. Chickens like them!! So we have pruned back the affected areas, some of the plants look naked now! And we are feeding with the following combination.
This stuff is kind of expensive $16.00 a box! Good thing it is 30% Calcium
Powdered milk, each plant gets 2T of powdered milk. They appear to be calcium deficient and this is the fastest way I know of for replenishing it. You will get blossom rot what your plants are calcium deficient.
Epsom Salt, each plant got 1T of Epsom salt, tomatoes use a lot on magnesium and that is what Epsom salt is and we feel it works great.
Ash saved from our wood burning stove
Pot Ash, we save the ash from our wood burning stove all winter and add it not only when we first plant but when we feed also.
New compost added around plant trunk
And last but not least, compost, every plant received a healthy pile of compost stead around the trunk of the plants. Our screening process is primitive but it works great!
Screening Compost
Our compost screen and wheel barrel set up
And look how they have responded!
Our late plant tomatoes have bright green new growth with blossoms!!!
Check out the new growth on our older plants, new bight flowers too!
This weekend we will prune back all the plant material that is not producing to get all the plants energy moving to the new growth!Now, those tomato worms mentioned above. Wow, can they do some damage!
Tomato worm damage
I would not mind if they ate a tomato or two but they don't need to take just one bit out of all of them! So added to our chore list is hunting tomato worms, the chickens like them so it works out....
If you have a natural way of of getting rid of or preventing tomato worms from inhabiting our bounty, please feel free to advise.....
Well, that is it for today, I hope this has been informative and has given you some ideas for your garden tomatoes.
Until Next time, Y'all have a great day!
Bob & Colleen Browning
Serenity Valley Farms
Monticello, KY
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Found two Worms!
Look at the damaged tomatoes..... Sad
Cedar/peppermint oil mix sprayed on the tomato plants seemed to deter them for a couple days. but still finding that there is no substitute for checking the plants twice a day for those fatties. Also, spiders seem to enjoy it when they "fall" into their webs...
I had not heard of the combination before.... i will give it a try! Thanks for the advise....
Very interesting article. Last year, I got some tomatoes but not many. This year, I have so many and on a lot fewer plants. Other than pruning early on, I have done nothing but water them.
Thays great! Ours will bounce back, hopefully...
Interesting article @svfarms definitely one I'll be referring back to in the future!
Thanks!
Didnt see tomatoe problems like this. I grow tomatoes in my balcoon (7th floor in flat) and they are small but in good condition. You can see my post about being city farmer :p
These worms are tough, they just might climb that high! Just kidding, good luck you can grow great things in small places.... Thanks for the comment!
Nice....👌 Following you for more 👍💐💐