Snafu Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 When I moved down here I brought about 15 different varieties of heirloom tomato seeds with me. I have a rather large square foot garden and through the years tried to grow the different varieties but had problems with each one. Many diseased easily. Some that grew had very few tomatoes and always small. Several years ago, Super Lake had large green tomatoes at the checkout stand which I bought and saved the seeds. These were the tastiest tomatoes I ever had but growing them was a problem. They always got leaf curl and bugs were attracted to them. A while back, I bought a very large red beefsteak tomato from the vender at the Tuesday fair. He’s the guy with the crates of unusual veggies, straight back as you walk in the door. While the vender grows hydroponic, I planted eight plants the first time, placing seed directly into the ground, and got over 200 very large tasty tomatoes. There was no leaf curl, no disease, no bug problems. Each tomato was perfect. Each subsequent planting has resulted in the same perfect plants. I use compost but don’t add any fertilizer while the plants are growing. If you’re looking for a good tomato for this area, I think this is it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryB Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 Many times the problem is the soil fungus. Put the dirt in a black plastic bag and cook it several days out in the sun to kill undesirables Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 Many times the problem is the soil fungus. Put the dirt in a black plastic bag and cook it several days out in the sun to kill undesirables All 27 tons of it? Maybe if you're growing in pots, but this is a large garden and that just wouldn't be practical. I think it's more of a case where certain varieties of plants do better in certain areas. I thought I was a pretty good gardener till I moved here, then it was like starting over. After years of trial and error, I've found the varieties of all the different veggies I grow that seem to do real well. No disease problems, no bug problems, except ants, but they don't eat the veggies. Also, things improved dramatically when I discovered Char. These plants grow three times faster and I've never seen healthier plants since I started growing with Char. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgh Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 ok what is Char? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joco Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 I will know soon if I have solved the fungus, soil and nematode problems by grafting heirlooms onto Maxifort disease resistant root stock. Supposedly up to 3 tomato varieties can be grafted onto one root stock. Growing heirlooms is difficult anywhere and very difficult here. I'm sure the hydroponic farm is growing disease resistant hybrids. http://www.hydroenv.com.mx/catalogo/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=85_87_98 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLIN Posted August 24, 2014 Report Share Posted August 24, 2014 Yes the soil here never gets frost, so many things don't get killed off. That is a good link that Joco sent, I still order from Seedman. See his comments on his "tomato" page, especially the link for growing tomatoes. http://www.seedman.com/tomato.htm Notice the seeds "manalucie" and a new one from Japan "tropic boy hybrid" - sounds like they would do well in our zone 9 or 10 climate. I have some manalucie seeds if you or Joco want to try them, I was going to plant them more towards the hot months. Throw some lots of mulch into the soil, cover with a black plastic tarp, it should "cook" at 130 F for a couple of months. Then you have to reintroduce worms to their new home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 I may have soil fungus. I have white round things shaped like a pencil lead, maybe a little bigger in diameter. If that’s what soil fungus is, it no longer makes any difference to my plants. It’s not bothering them at all. It’s probably because of the Char. Char is the common name, also known as Biochar or charcoal. It’s not the Kingsford Briquette type charcoal, it’s the real stuff made from hardwood and readily available at the stores here at Lakeside. Charcoal is unusual in that it soaks up it’s surroundings, be it contamination in water, or chemicals in you, or in this case, nutrients in the soil. Once the charcoal is charged, it starts supplying the plants with nutrient dense material. If you’re a gardener and you haven’t heard of this, it will change the way you garden forever. Your plants will grow 3 times faster and be incredibly healthy. Here’s a link to get you started, after that, just http://startpage.com “BioChar” for a ton of information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrDOLx57KUU This is a Tedtalk but there’s a lot more, especially on Youtube. You’ll see the difference in plants grown in compost and plants grown in compost with Char. There’s a ton of info on the web, read it. One warning, the charcoal needs to be charged, loaded with nutrients the first time you use it. If not, it will pull the nutrients out of the soil and your plants will not do well until the second year. This only needs to be done the first time you add it to the soil. A comment to Joco. I think, and I don’t claim to be an expert, that your idea of grafting 3 different plants to the same stalk will end up cross pollinating the varieties and you’ll end up with one variety of unknown quality. Also, and this is just my opinion, while baking soil, replacing worms, grafting plants, spraying garlic or chile spray and the multitude of other things gardeners typically go through, I think gardening should be trouble and work free, except for watering, and I’ve even automated that. The raised square foot garden pretty much eliminates weeds and most bugs. Next, finding the right plant for your area and nutrient dense soil eliminates all other problems. Example: My only fruit is Carissa’s and I have a lot. It’s my favorite and they yield year round. I wanted Red Raspberries so I planted the seed from some I bought locally. The plants came up but soon were covered with white flies. Yes, I could spray the plants and fight this forever but nothing else in my garden had white flies. The answer, for me at least, don’t grow Raspberries. Find something else. Growing your food shouldn’t involve a fight, it should be trouble free. Whether the tomatoes I’m growing are hybrid, I don’t know, probably. I’ll ask the next time I get to the Tuesday Market. They sure are tasty. Hybrid isn’t a dirty word, it just means it was cross pollinated by hand instead of by a bee and it hasn’t been around for 50 years. Kind of like what you’ll be doing if you graft several different plants to one stalk. The biggest thing you could do for your garden is learn about char, it’ll change your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joco Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Hybrids don't usually bred true because they have different parents. An F1 is the first generation seed and people will keep breeding them until they become stable. Some do and eventually after a few decades they become heirlooms. Join our garden club. We can use someone with information. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1489823371240855/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Facebook won't let me on without signing in (not a chance). Any other source for the garden club. Like your signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joco Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 I sent you a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakeViews Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 We will be amending our soil with some biochar... Charged biochar of course. Thanks to snafu for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joco Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 We will be amending our soil with some biochar... Charged biochar of course. Thanks to snafu for the tip. Are you buying it here or making your own? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakeViews Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 We will buy some locally, not sure where yet. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Walmart has larger bags, about 60 pesos. The Mercado in Chapala has smaller bags for 20 pesos. I haven't figured out which is cheaper. Either place has really good char. The problem you'll have is crushing it. I've tried a lot of different things to powder it, finally gave up and left some chunks in it. Seemed to work anyway. If you come up with a good way to powder it, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joco Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 You are using regular charcoal? Everything I've looked up so far is about making the bio charcoal and not using the charcoal grill type charcoal. If that type works, great, because it is easier to buy a bag. http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/making-biochar-improve-soil-zmaz09fmzraw.aspx#axzz3BQMESr1K From a NASA site: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/biochar.html How NOT to make biochar. Don't use smashed up charcoal. Briquettes can contain harmful additives, and burned ones have very little active carbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Don't use smashed up charcoal. Briquettes can contain harmful additives, and burned ones have very little active carbon. That's true Joco, don't use Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes. The stuff they sell in Chapala and even Walmart's brand, Best Value, or whatever the Walmart brand is, they're both made from hardwood and are good quality Char. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparks Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 Is the ash from burning yard waste anywhere near similar? It's pretty fine usually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafu Posted August 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 No, this is not ash. It's hardwoods burned in the absence of air. It's what's left after all the gases from the heated wood have burned off. It's charcoal, not ash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Sorry, posted in error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojama Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 not sure if this is the correct spot for this question, if not I apologize, Does anyone know if it's possible to buy the wisteria plant here? I believe the translation is glicina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillenparadise Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 I will return to my home at the beach in late October with a report on my bio-char experiment....10 bags of Walmart charcoal without accelerant, crushed, and soaked for two months in a slurry of high dollar horse poo, free to me, from my neighbor Hernan, who has 50 magnificient Percherons. Rodo, my fabulous gardener, made at least 30 trips in my pick-up for loads of the poo....I expect a wonderful return on our efforts, since we just got the Imanta account! Makes Four Seasons ...ooh, forgot comparisons were especially odious on this forum! Mea Culpa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeborahM Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Snafu, GREAT post and discussion, thanks loads! Re ..." the charcoal needs to be charged, loaded with nutrients the first time you use it..." could you post how you do that? Googling is teaching me that either the charcoal needs to be burned first, or ground and mixed with other agents...ie horse manure. I have a tiny outside garden, making it impractical to do a burn, but would love to learn whether it's possible to purchase a small amount for my tiny garden somewhere...perhaps from a local gardening expert...already "charged." Thanks so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakeViews Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 We planted with bio char and our plants are quite happy. We charged with a mix of mineral and biological fertilizers. We chopped up the char into small pieces with a shovel and added it to buckets of our charging solution. We soaked for 3 weeks prior to mixing it into the soil. Good stuff thanks for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babyface Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Ok, so if you buy the bag of hardwood charcoal at walmart you need to 1.crush it And 2. charge it?? or is it ready to go in your garden? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdmowers Posted August 16, 2015 Report Share Posted August 16, 2015 Chillin, how do you get seeds from Seedman down here? They don`t ship to Mexico. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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