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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 8, 2009 7:57:36 GMT -5
is that they are full of disease and pests. I've encounted Colorado Potato Beetle, some sort of pea weevil, blight on tomatoes and potatoes and wilt on beans and squash plants. Ironically, as I weed seldom, the disease spread seemed slower at my plot but I won't be renting it out again next year nor saving the seeds from those plants.
One interesting thing is that my Tomato/Cherry plant with thorns (what is that called again), Morelle de Balbis is one name, seemed to attract the Colorado potato beetle in hordes making for easy pickings.
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Post by PatrickW on Aug 8, 2009 11:32:02 GMT -5
You do tend to inherit other people's problems...
On the plus side, after a few years of tender loving care, it becomes as good as you make it. You might consider hanging on a little longer.
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Post by hiven on Aug 8, 2009 17:17:10 GMT -5
I truly agree with what Patrick said !
In our new garden now, we inherited a lot of bad soil insects such as wire worms, white grubs, cutworms,etc ,but I am very sure they will go away after several years of cultivations.
Your lottie will improve gradually after years, give it more chance.
All the best!
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Post by robertb on Aug 8, 2009 17:46:36 GMT -5
Blight and onion white rot are endemic on my site. White rot doesn't affect me much, but blight problems have got a lot worse the last few years, and I'm convinced it's overwintering on the site in accidentals. I'm not looking for resistant varieties for next year, as that seems to be the only chance. I'll have to stop trying to grow outdoor toms as well, I'm losing them every year.
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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 8, 2009 19:00:40 GMT -5
I would be happy to keep it but it seems that everyone's plots are striken. I think I'm going to try an allotment closer so that I can give it more tender loving care. In some plots, there tomatoes are almost dead with blight.
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Post by robertb on Aug 9, 2009 15:00:29 GMT -5
I'm currently looking for resistant potatoes varieties; there are plenty of maincrops, but I'm having trouble finding earlies. I noticed this year that the blight was all over my chrlotte, which I won't be growing again, but it barely affected the Cara when I cut it down, and hadn't affected the Pink fir Apple at all. The latter wasn't any good anyway, I'm not sure what went wrong there, but a lot of the plants never came up, and not many of the ones that did were at all strong. The stronger ones were in specific spots so the problem was probably to do with soil conditions, as I suffer from waterlogging. I haven't come across resistant toms, unfortunately, so they'll have to be grown under cover in future.
My other problem is the waterlogging. It's always affected the plot, but after the last few years, I'm planning on putting in rased beds. We have a scaffolder on the site now, so we get deliveries of planks now and then, which will help! To look on the bright side, the flooding and waterlogging is the reason why the site has avoided being built over for the last 160 years or so.
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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 10, 2009 20:40:58 GMT -5
There's water logging here too. Good to hear your reports about which seem more resistant.
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Post by michaeljohnson on Aug 11, 2009 0:15:34 GMT -5
From past experience - I have found the best way to deal with a new allotment, from which the previous tenant usually leaves it covered in weeds, is to wait until about mid May time, then spray the whole of the allotment with (Roundup) and wait about a month or more for it to do it's job-it will then be fairly weed free for the rest of the season, then spread a good bag of lime over the whole area and dig it in, this usually takes care of all the wireworms, and beetles etc, and many of the other pests, by that time is reached you can only plant Autumn or fall sown crops for that year, but the following year you can start with spring sown crops. and it is usually not too bad after that time,
The biggest single problem though-that I find with allotments, is thieves stealing your produce, it is fairly common on allotments over here in the UK for vegetables and fruit to vanish over night, and mindless yobs getting onto your allotment and doing lots of damage to crops and sheds etc.
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Post by grunt on Aug 11, 2009 2:24:39 GMT -5
Michael: Next time you feel the need to use roundup, try using a mix of agricultural or pickling vinegar and some form of citric acid (lemon juice is usually available). It will kill the weeds and leaves no harmful residue in the soil.
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Post by PatrickW on Aug 11, 2009 5:22:17 GMT -5
Either a layer of black plastic or several layers of decomposable material like cardboard will also get rid of the weeds, and in the case of the latter you can also put dirt on top and plant directly into it.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 11, 2009 6:32:24 GMT -5
I find that cardboard, flour sacks (I get the 50 lb size) animal food bags, etc. are a really good way to temporarily hold the weeds back. We make skirts for seedling and young trees and lay it down to "clear" grass and weed patches for first time plantings. I find it starts and stops working with about the same cycle time as round-up making it an equal in the match. What makes it better is the fact that you are recycling, saving some money, reducing land fill material, and did I mention, CHEAP? I love my garbage!
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Post by robertb on Aug 11, 2009 7:09:42 GMT -5
If you do use weedkiller, you have to follow up and cultivate. It doesn't kill everything, and I've seen plots sprayed, the more vulnerable weeds killed, and the tougher ones come back and take over. It then ends up worse than it started. I don't think it's the best way, but it is one approach. It isn't the complete answer.
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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 11, 2009 8:13:23 GMT -5
I don't mind the weeds per se, except as they might be resevoirs for disease, as we've been hacking them back weekly. My cultivated rows are planted through plastic so they're not so bad, it's just the pathes. I intended on doing the cardboard and soil thing but I didn't have the cash to buy some descent soil this year. I was dreaming of growing covercrops for a season or two.
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Post by michaeljohnson on Aug 11, 2009 9:19:40 GMT -5
Dan-I didn't know that Roundup leaves any harmful residues in the soil, according to the makers it dissolves away into broken down harmless chemicals and you can re-plant plants on the same ground within a couple of weeks if desired,
I very rarely use it at all, only if I have a lot of trouble in the past with docks and dandelions and nettles and thistles etc, all in the same patch in the beginning. as roundup kills the roots also.
Funnily enough you can't buy agricultural vinegar over here in the UK, only small bottles of table vinegar.
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Post by PatrickW on Aug 11, 2009 10:03:49 GMT -5
Scientists have identified a mechanism by which Roundup could cause cancer. While it hasn't been proven beyond a doubt yet, it's likely within a few years there will be clear evidence it's carcinogenic.
And yes, when it first came out Monsanto said it was biodegradable, but they've since retracted that claim. Fundamentally RoundUp is a hormone that makes plants grow so fast they die. Hormones are tricky things, even across species.
It's certainly not something you want in your food, and it's not true it breaks down and doesn't leave any traces in the ground.
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