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daniel_ny

Are you happy with your 2014 crop yield ?

daniel_nyc
9 years ago

I... am not !

Early tomatoes were / are late, but mid / late season were / are somehow ok.

Most produced very few tomatoes with decent / good taste. Nothing fantastic.

How was your year ?

Comments (61)

  • nugrdnnut
    9 years ago

    Overall... good.

    Opalka and Cuostralee produced well and are still producing. 1884, Mortgage Lifter(RC), Paul Robeson, Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple did very well early season, but really slowed down with the (unusual) heat... 12 -15 days over 100 with the hottest being 108.
    My Sungold cherry tomato was nothing like last year's. If I didn't have last year's memory of how good it was, I don't know that I would grow it again.

    Keepers for next year include: Cuostralee, Opalka, Sungold and 1884 and/or Paul Robeson. Want to try Brandy Boy, Rutgers, Marianna Peace, Neves Azorean Red, Mortgage Lifter (Estler's - if I can find seed), and Kellogg's Breakfast next year.

  • don555
    9 years ago

    In central Alberta, Canada (53.5* north) I have been thrilled with this year's harvest. A warm, sunny summer for these parts. First ripe tomatoes picked July17, and it has been going gangbusters ever since. My main garden crop is from a half-dozen plants of Stupice (early, cold tolerant heirloom), which this year are 6' tall (vs. 4' last year), and have probably produced about 400 golf-ball sized tomatoes so far. Chocolate Cherry is producing great (in pots), Latah (in garden) did well too but will be replaced next year with something new. In a cold year, the majority of the crop is picked green when frost threatens, and ripened indoors, so a year like the current one is to be cherished.

  • brandon05w
    9 years ago

    Horrible year for me! Lower temps and a wet start didn't make for a good season. I honestly thought that a milder summer would produce a better garden. Go figure!

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Am wondering if summer temps reflects on what varieties you grow. Here in Chicago summer was mild as well, no usual rows of 90 degree days, however I have not seen any problems for my plants. OTOH I do make sure no primadonnas are growing in my garden and attempt to go for plants that could work for variety of iffy weather Chicago provides. What growers in zone 7 rave about or does great in Mediterranean climate is unlikely to do well here.
    On the plus side- Brandywines do well here with early planting dates especially.

  • John A
    9 years ago

    Not a good year for me in south-central CT. Mainly because of the critters. I thought it was deer at first and have been spraying Deer Fence regularly. Now I think it's squirrels or raccoons stealing all of my tomatoes. I'm starting to take them before completely ripe, before the critters get them. They've also stolen ALL of my sweet peppers. Any other suggestions to keep them away???

    My other problem was ending up with 2 crossed toms. Black Krim is big, delicious and tastes like BK, but it's red. KBX turned out to be something completely different and useless.
    John A

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    > Tomatoes grow best when the daytime temperature is between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. They stop growing above 95 degrees Fahrenheit. (How Stuff Works)

    > Researchers have found that the ideal ROOT temperature for tomatoes is 70ðF.. (Hum Gardens)

    Optimum tomato-growing temperature (GardenWeb)

    This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 11:16

  • jerseyjohn
    9 years ago

    They're coming out of my ears down here. Even Early Blight, which I had to fight on all plants with daconil, didn't stop production. More than ever, BIGGER than ever, and lots of greenies remaining.

    Weather did it....all plants were from past seeds. Low to mid 80's in past 2 months. Thanks to the lord above, lots of people sharing our crop, lots of sauce, lots of ongoing dehydration, and lots of profits for those that sell bacon, mayo, and romaine lettuce !!!!!!!!!!

  • donna_in_sask
    9 years ago

    I put my plants in fairly late, around June 6-7th. My tomatoes are wonderful this year...a bit of early blight that I've been able to control with judicious pruning, other than that, no signs of disease. I had BER on my Big Beef last year but this year not one tomato has had it.

    The tomatoes are huge and prolific; only the Big Beef and a few cherries have ripened so far. Can't wait for the Black Krim, CP, Paul Robeson, JBT and Persimmon to be ready. Rutgers and Indigo Rose are also doing well. I've never grown IR before...the plant is loaded with tomatoes, just not sure they are any good as far as taste.

    I don't remember a better tomato-growing year...hopefully I can get some of the OP ones to ripen before frost.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    June 6-7 is late in zone 2b? Of course, you've got a really short season so I guess you have to get them out early, but do you have to use WOWs or row cover or something even to set them out the first week of June? We were still have lows in the 40's at the end of May.

  • donna_in_sask
    9 years ago

    ^It was only about a week or so later than my usual time. I was out of the country so didn't get them in then. I don't use WOW's or row cover. We had pretty good growing conditions in early summer. I know some years I put the tomatoes out and they sulk for a long time in the cold before they take off.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Wow, your usual time is our usual time - 23rd-30th of May?

  • missrumphius
    9 years ago

    For me it was a terrible year for tomatoes. I blame the weather - I'm in the Finger Lakes area of NY where it was very cool (edging on cold - low 40's last night) and wet. Septoria did in most of my plants. Interestingly Defiant (from Johnny's) which is supposed to be highly disease resistant was one of the worst effected. OTOH, BHN-871, also from Johnny's was my best full size variety this year. The cherry toms were healthier - Sun Peach did particularly well both for taste and productivity.
    I think I would be happier if it was just me but a friend with a large farm stand told me if I want to buy tomatoes for canning i need to do it immediately because they are going to be scarce.
    Elaina

  • Illinois_tomatoman
    9 years ago

    YEP! Best year in last five. Plants are 8 foot plus. Best single plant is a Better Boy with 27 large fruit. We are doing A LOT of adding supports and tying up droopy branches.

    I'm in Chicago area.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thnx to the beautiful weather we had in September, here in Long Island (NY) things are going very well; actually better than ever !

    A few tomatoes I picked up this Saturday, September 13, 2014:

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Can I change my mind? I'm drowning in tomatoes now! Just picked more (hours this morning) before the rain and didn't even get them all picked. I'm filling coolers now b/c I ran out of bins and buckets.

    Most of the plants still look terrible and tomorrow night is supposed to be 41 (37 on Thursday night) so this may be the last hurrah but all the varieties (except Black Krim - those are done) have been ripening the past 2 weeks.

    The red cooler is full of blushing heirlooms picked today, the 18 gal bin underneath the cardboard box is half full, another 3/4 full, and I have 4 more white bins plus the buckets I posted on the "jungle" thread (a 5 gal, 2 2-gal and a 1 gal plus 2 gal thermos jug) full.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Lots of green cherries, ajs. I know you are a market grower.

    I have just 2 cherries: Sun Gold and an Unknown large red. I Also have an unknown yellow grape.
    Unknown, because I got seeds from Trader Joes Heirlomms.

    Anyway, back to subject: Thanks to beautiful August and Septembet weathe (so far) , I am getting a lot from my limited plants (~ 25 ). Sharing and even making some sauce for winter.

    For the first time ever, i have green tomato (GZ) and yellow pineapple kind. I need to grow a nice ORANE color too. I don't like pale sick looking colors. Got to be a real nice color.

    OK. What can I say ! I am happy.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago

    Not happy with the 2014 yield. One tomato that stood out was Fourth of July. The first few tomatoes were not that tasty, but then everything we picked was very good. It started to ripen early and has produced a steady supply of tomatoes all season and we're still picking some. Better yield that anything else we grew this year, including Sungold. They are a small tomato, but pretty good tasting and very productive. The foliage stayed healthy almost the whole season with a few lower branches that didn't look so good.

    We also grew Champion, Sungold, Moskevich, Church, and San Marzano. Church was recommended to me and it was the worst. Only one that had significant foliage issues. Still haven't gotten one ripe tomato from it. The flavor of Champion was a big disappointment. Not so crazy about San Marzano either. Moskevich, I haven't had a ripe tomato from. Sungold and Fourth of July were the only tomatoes I will grow again.

    Still looking for a large eating tomato with great taste that is productive. Not sure I will keep growing paste tomatoes.

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    I have more yellow cherries than green but yes the Green Dr are new this year and DD loves them (DH also had a guy at work order 2 lbs of them - of course DH told me this after I'd picked and mixed them all together so I had to pick them out!).

    I only have 1 plant each Sungold and Black Cherry but will be buying seed for next year. I'm undecided on the yellows - Galinas is very productive and DD loves them but I think they're bland, Dr. Carolyn is probably the front-runner though it started producing a little later than Galinas.

    If you want to try a nice orange try Orange Minsk the color and flavor are great (dark orange) but as I said I've had problems with catfacing and BER. I think I want to try Orlov Yellow if I can find seeds next year but I don't know if that stays yellow or turns more orange.

    Oh, and the green cherries in the bin to the right (on top of ripe salad tomatoes) are not quite ripe, we picked before rain yesterday so I picked the Green Dr not as ripe as usual - I don't know if they'd split but didn't want to take the chance. I have to put those (a few unripe Black Cherry and others too there) away to ripen so I can set up my table(s?) in the garage and have only market-ready ones out today.

    prairemoon - I don't know how large is large, and taste is subjective, but try Cosmonaut Volkov. It's been very productive, this year the fruit has been huge, and it tastes good esp. since it's (usually, this year was strange) one of the earlier ones. I don't know if you're into the dark tomatoes, but again this year Cherokee Purple has been phenomenal (nice and round, no catfacing, though Black Krim was earlier). Then again so has Brandywine and that's usually not this productive. Though I wish it was earlier. I was set to try Prudens Purple next year instead but after this year I definitely have to plant BW again next year.

    This post was edited by ajsmama on Sun, Sep 14, 14 at 8:43

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Grown Green Drs last year, am just not fond of anything GWR, cept Malachite box. Yeah, Orlov Yellow is a bit on orange side, but I had no catfacing, KBX which is another outstanding is orangey as well. I think Pork chop is just yellow, have not grown it though.
    Ajsmama, how many varieties do you grow a year?

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    I usually grow just a dozen or so, but this year I have 28 - only 1 each of Black Cherry and Sungold though. 4 of Sophie's Choice, only 2 Ester Hess, but generally 6 of each except some I have a few extras. 213 plants, 200 of them in the ground. But I have some I haven't even picked off of - planted late, BER, LB, etc. And I'm not too diligent about watering and fertilizing pots so those plants aren't as productive as they could be - I don't think I've gotten a single Kootenai off the ones in pots.

    I'll trial some of the other Dr. Boe varieties I bought seed for, but I'm going to cut back next year. I want to take some of the beds out of rotation, they've been in nightshades too long so will plant other things in my older beds.

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Kootenai was not as early as I expected but yeah, I am not diligent about whatever pots I have, plus I have shade near the house. Moravsky Div was the best, I just got last few red ones and it was first to ripen.
    Have you grown Blush? Not that I know anything about selling it but it was great looking and super tasty for me, everyone loved it, did well in pots too...

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Once again, I cannot complain. It has been a pretty good season up here in the NW corner of the US of A. The season started cold. At the the night of The 4th celebration in the park, everybody was shivering. That was the coldest 4th of July I could remember in many years. But then it got to a nice start.Our September (so far) has been better than July. August was just fantastic for tomatoes. So even my latest of the lates, (Pineapple) has come back from behind with large maters. The worst performer is RC Mortgage Lifter (in my zap list).
    This all good results have been despite the fact that my garden gets 4 to 5 hours of direct sun.

  • billyberue
    9 years ago

    YES *
    15 varieties, 80 total plants, all did as well or better than expected.
    * Except Cherokee Purple. Always one of my tastiest, earliest, longest, healthiest and most productive. Planted 10 of my 80 this year and they were the only negative. My production would have been over the top had they performed as they have the last 7 years. Not complaing tho.

  • aegis1000
    9 years ago

    I'm very happy with the results I've gotten this year, though there's always room for improvement.

    I got plenty of tomatoes this year ... around 75 from (6) plants, which was enough to satisfy our tomato appetites ... and have some tomatoes left over to gift to workmates, friends and family.

    I've harvested at least medium-sized (35) Bush Goliaths, ... and at least (35) larger Mr. Stripeys from (2) vines of each.

    My least prolific vines were the (2) brandy Boys, which yielded some (20) mid-sized fruits.

    Photos of fruits in the kitchen window through the season are attached ...


    Early August harvest


    Late August harvest

    The Mr. Stripeys were a delight due to their range of color (yellow, orange, red, mixed) and were the best-tasting of the fruits harvested to my palate. Plus, at least a dozen of these fruits were in the pound+ category. I'll definitely grow them again next year.


    Tomatoes for distribution to friends and family (plus 2 green fruits for frying) ...

    This post was edited by aegis500 on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 9:34

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    As I said in my first message: I am NOT happy with my 2014 crop yield.

    I mean yes, I had enough for my family, a few friends, and some neibors.

    But... BUT, everything was soooo late. I started picking up in the second part of... August. ThatâÂÂs too late for me.

    Some of the late and mid-season tomatoes were somehow in time, a few, earlier than I expected, but most were late. And the early-season tomatoes were very, VERY late.

    Also, some varieties - such as Mortgage Lifter - were smaller than I expected - but excellent taste, though.

    Some varieties that I tried this year - German Johnson, Rose.. - were larger than I expected.

    Some Brandywines produced less than I expected, but the taste... THE TASTE was OUTSTANDING !

    Anyway, last Friday night was supposed to be very cold - close to the freezing point - so I picked up almost all my tomatoes. I left the cherries.

    Now I have a few ripped tomatoes, some with blushes...

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    ... and many greens.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Some were pretty big - well, imo.

    The ripe tomatoes were pretty meaty / tasty - I didn't water in the last 2-3 weeks. Before, many were watery.

    This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 8:18

  • bigpinks
    9 years ago

    I had 81 plants of Bear Claw, Mr Stripey, Big Beef and Cherokee Purple. Best yr ever even with early blight still a bad problem. I had several tomatoes over 2 lbs and the productivity was great....esp Big Beef. I had 17 CP and some were over a pound. I also had 3 container plants started from suckers and I still have a few fruit on them. Great yr for me.

  • donna_in_sask
    9 years ago

    As I said earlier, I have a bumper crop this year and the tomatoes were more or less blemish-free. The only issue I have is that they are quite watery this year, not nearly the same flavour as previous years. Maybe I should have held off watering them a week or so prior to picking them. If I grew heirloom tomatoes for the first time this year, I would have wondered what all the fuss was about...

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Great year overall here too. We have had a warmer and drier season, statistically speaking.
    My worst performer was Mortgage Lifter (RC). I will drop that . It was a waste of real estate. I will add Brandy Boy and Big beef instead.
    The rest did pretty good and still going strong.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Donna.in.Sask wrote:

    > The only issue I have is that they are quite watery this yearâ¦

    I had the same problem. I stopped watering and the taste improved... A LOT.

    > Maybe I should have held off watering them a week or so prior to picking them.

    IMHO, one week is not enough. At least 2-3 weeks, of course depending on you local situation - you mulch / don't mulch, rainy weather, drip irrigation, manual watering... Try not to water for a longer period of time. The plants will give you signs when they are thirsty.

    Out of 100+ plants this year, I had 2 plants - a Rose and a German Johnson - that when it was time to water, one branch, ONLY ONE branch / sucker of each plant, ALWAYS the same, went... LIMP.

    I watered and everything was fine again. Than 2-3 weeks later, again, same thing.

    I freak out when I see limp tomatoes in my garden. In the past I had VERY bad experience with limp tomatoes. To make the story short, they simply wilt in few days. Most of the time it's too late to do anything. But it's true, there was no mulching and no spraying fungicide from day one.

    I learned my lesson and this year I used mulch and I sprayed fungicide religiously, weekly, since day one.

    Thanks God, no problem whatsoever.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Daniel, I wondered why you picked all those green tomatoes so early ! Your weather is nice and you have a good cover system.
    I am just letting go. Our temps will be in 64-70F (highs) and 44 -54F (lows) for the next 10 days. Where is that fat lady ? hahaha

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    seysonn, I explained why, in my message posted Saturday, Sep 20, at 21:18, in this How's the weather ? thread.

    > Your weather is nice and you have a good cover system.

    Last Friday, was not that nice. And the cover is only for some of my tomatoes. The tomatoes in that area with the 12â x 10â frames are not covered⦠this year. Will be next year.

    > Where is that fat lady ?

    DonâÂÂt know and she can come⦠when IâÂÂll call her.

    Btw, more flowering, and more new healthy branches / suckers. Lots of cherries.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Daniel wrote:

    >>Btw, more flowering, and more new healthy branches / suckers. Lots of cherries. Are hoping to get anything out of those ? I mean ripe fruits.
    From flower to ripe fruits take over 40 days under normal temperatures. .

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    seysonn wrote:

    > Are [you] hoping to get anything out of those ?

    Yes, I think in the covered area, I might get 3-4 oz. green tomatoes. And maybe, just maybe, 1 oz. tomatoes from the ones outside. It all depends. A few hours of cold air from Canada, in the 30s, could easily end the season. It can come any day now.

    Meantime the green tomatoes I picked up last week are ripening nicely in my basement.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Picked up today Tuesday, October 14, 2014

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Mine are done - even ones I picked last week to ripen in garage (frost warning) are showing LB lesions. Time to pull the plants this weekend when it dries out.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Picked up this morning - Wednesday October 29.

    I cleaned a section of my garden.

    There is more...

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Surprisingly good that you picked so many ripe tomatoes off the vine, this late in the season.
    So are you happy or not ? hehe

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    NO, IâÂÂm notâ¦

    Early tomatoes were either very late or very, VERY late - many mid-season and even some late-season tomatoes were earlier than the early tomatoes I grew (6 varieties.) You want to know when I picked up the FIRST Stupice tomato ? September 1. Obviously, unacceptable.

    This year the tomatoes I grew, produced much less than I expected and - with few exceptions: Brandy Boy, German Johnson, Rose⦠- the fruits were smaller than I expected. Especially Mortgage Lifter was smaller than the previous years, but the taste⦠excellent.

    Luckly, LUCKLY I had a looooong season and I had some decent crop, otherwiseâ¦

    So, NO, IâÂÂm not happy with the crop in 2014.

    Now, 2015 will be errr⦠different.

    IâÂÂll take care of that.

    This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Wed, Oct 29, 14 at 10:41

  • tjinpgh
    9 years ago

    I more or less answered this in my request for locals to give the same info.

    Fairly disappointing year for me. I put in 46 plants and needed to buy tomatoes to do most of my canning.

    Always interesting to see the varying results that one sees from an area not all that far away, like central Ohio vs. Western PA.

    In general, it would seem that the season was fairly bad for people in this area over-all. The Penn State Master Gardeners of Allegheny Co. group nearly had to cancel it's annual tomato tasting because they didn't know if they had enough for people to try at the two locations they have for it.

    As it was, the selections were pretty slim.

    My 4th of July did very well. I got them in about a week late (end of May) and they were ripening before the end of July. Not bad.

    My Roma Grande did well also. Good production, good size and flavor was about what I expected.

    Cherokee Purple did ok, I guess. Maybe a little less than I'd hoped, and a little smaller. Not bad though.

    Those and the above two I'll grow again.

    Most of the rest did poorly. Mortgage Lifter (forget which one), Super Sioux, Bush Steak and Bush Ace Heirloom were all major disappointments. The Better Bush did so-so.

    I will not bother with any of these again.

    This is now two seasons in a row that I can literally count on my fingers the number of times the whole season that I needed to water my garden because of the amount of rain we got. Not really sure how to combat that.

    I do everything in raised beds which helps.

    Next year I'm going to go with more early season varieties. I'd also like to try some that are more cold tolerant if I can find some that are at least somewhat adaptable to warmer areas in case we start getting some warmer summers like we used to.

    Maybe some Kosovo since people have grown them in Texas as well as colder areas.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Now the 2014 growing season is becoming history here too. My Mortgage lifter was also a disappointment among six others. But Bush steak did pretty good in my garden.

    Talking about unwanted rain water:
    I cover my beds with Black plastic about 6 weeks before plant out date. When it is plant out time , I cut an 8 inch diameter circle in the plastic (for each plant), make a hole and plant in it. Make the area next the hole higher so that no run off water can get in it.
    The black plastic stays there till late July when it does not rain that much. With this method I control the rain water and keep the soil warmer. I just water manually when needed.

    BUT all in all I had a relatively good season here. Temps were above average and less rain with more sun.

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Tjipng, look into covering your beds with lots of dry straw, when a bit of compacted those slices do protect from water overload very well.
    I had to water few times in the summer as well but I have high humus content and mulch well so my plants stay moist well without watering well enough. We did have rains but nothing outrageous here in IL. Best summer harvest for many.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    tjinpgh wrote:

    > This is now two seasons in a row that I can literally count on my fingers the number of times the whole season that I needed to water my garden because of the amount of rain we got. Not really sure how to combat that.

    I control the rain on a section of my garden with this simple small hoop houseâ¦

    Currently I still have tomatoes in that hoop house, ripening nicely. It's not very tight - it was not designed for cold times, only for rain protection - but it is still better than without it. I mean with direct sun, if outside is 60s inside is 80s, which obviously my tomatoes love. Even with 50s outside, I still can have 70s inside. During the night the temp inside is 5-10' higher than outside. If the hoop house was TIGHTER, those numbers would be much, MUCH better - especially at night.

  • tjinpgh
    9 years ago

    Seysonn, lindalana, Daniel_NY,

    All good suggestions and I have already given thought to implementing much of it for next season. My hope is to get an earlier start so black plastic and hoop houses have already been on the to do list.

    I have not done anything with mulch, previously. Although, my beds do have high hummus content as well.

    The rain, from a moisture perspective, has not been a huge problem. It's the lack of sun and the cooler weather that it has brought with it that has been the biggest problem.

    Although, the excessive rain made it difficult to keep up with feedings with miracle grow, and no doubt flushed much of it out when I did use it.

    I will probably move toward a granulated fertilizer next season.

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Tjipgh, off topic but I find keeping high humus content is a hard work, so in view of that applications of MG is probably not only waste of time and $$$ but also harmful to your soil. Humus/compost only works when there is active biology life in them and with good ones there is everything they need to provide nutrients for the plant.
    Here in IL we often have cooler unpredictable weather so I choose plants that do well with early fruit set, setting fruit in cold weather, champs at tolerating weather changes etc. Growing wide variety of tomatoes has been good choice for my garden strategy.

  • tjinpgh
    9 years ago

    lindalana,
    I grow everything in raised beds with a modified SFG method. Since crop rotation is not an option, I amend my beds with fresh bagged hummus, peat and composted manure every season.

    Although, admittedly, the stuff I get is probably the cheapest available and my well not be top quality. That said, I read a gardenweb faq that said there was no nutritive quality to humus. So, why wouldn't it need some kind of food added to it?

    This was the first year I've done the MG treatment and, with the amount of rain we got, I can't say whether it had any impact or not. In previous years, I've done a granulated fertilizer once during the season and it always seemed to do ok.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Tjipgh

    With humus soil mix ( which I think is excellent) and lots of rain (not so good) , you'll need more fertilizing , more often. And again because of that I thing granular and time release fertilized might be a better option. But if you choose to use water soluble type, (as I do supplement) Use 1/3 strength once a week or every other week. You have to feed/fertilize your plant, rain or shine. Actually have to do it more often when the keeps pouring.

  • tjinpgh
    9 years ago

    seysonn,
    That was has more or less been my thought process for the last several years that I've been doing raised beds with the general mix I mentioned. Prior to that, I did have a more traditional garden where I planted in ground.

    This was the first year I abandoned the granular fertilizer for the MG. Which, I just followed the directions on the box with respect to strength but not frequency due to the rain.

    It seemed like such a waste to do it in the rain when I figured it would just run out the bottom of the beds. I guess I had that part wrong and perhaps it contributed to my poor production on at least some of the plants.

  • sheltieche
    9 years ago

    Humus gives advantage of holding all your nutrients in right place. It is pretty hard work to keep humus content above 4% in the soil.
    There is difference between feeding the soil and feeding the plants. Ferts like MG are meant to feed the plants, humus feeds soil and all creatures in it which in turn feed the plants...

    Here is a link that might be useful: humus