Garden Failures

[Richard Myers]

Disease, drought, and pests are a real threat to our gardens. We must learn to consider what is our part in working with God to produce healthy plants amid the disasters of these last days. We must understand our dependence upon God. He will do what we cannot do. He wants our gardens to be a witness of His ways.

Let us share our failures that others may learn the lessons we are learning. God still pours forth the sun and rain on the wicked and the just.  But, not for much longer. I am seeing disease that I have never seen before. Troublous times are coming.

[colporteur]

God still pours forth the sun and rain on the wicked and the just.  But, not for much longer. I am seeing disease that I have never seen before. Troublous times are coming.

I have had a tough time growing tomatoes the past few years. Some of the problem is extremes in weather either drought or heavy rain and humidity. Grasshoppers are plague like again this year. I think some of the reason is we have GMO crops on all four sides of us with heavy use of Round Up. The grasshoppers that survive that hit my garden with a vengeance.

[Richard Myers]

I have never had blight in my tomatoes, but this year it hit most all of my tomato plants. It is horrible. Even the few hybrids are suffering.

[Dorine]

Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear about your problems with your tomatoes. I've had blight in the past and yes Richard it is horrible. I've had a strange thing happen with mine that has never happened before. I'm so glad I planted over a hundred tomato plants because only the first bottom blossoms produced tomatoes. The rest of the plant grew but didn't produce anything. I have to say I have some beautiful huge clusters of tomatoes on the "bottom" of each plant.

Richard and CP will you get any tomatoes at all?

[Richard Myers]

On some plants I have controlled the blight somewhat and will get some tomatoes.  It is a lesson learned for when we must not allow such things.  I believe the compost I purchased is responsible. We must depend almost entirely upon our own resources, rather than buying from others.  I knew the risk, but had taken what I thought was  good enough precaution. The seller was not honest with me. I found out from others that he had another source for his compost that he did not tell me about. One lesson learned is that I will never rely upon one source of material for all of my garden any more. If I had used the compost

[Richard Myers]

When we first begin to improve our soil, we are in hurry to do it. It seems that there is danger in attempting to rush the matter. A smaller garden may be the answer until we can produce our own compost. It is a serious matter purchasing composted material. How do we know what is in the material? I had begun this year with land not farmed for 40 years. But, now I have placed compost with blight in a large area of the garden. 

Using wood chips for much and compost material presents a real risk. We must do more research on where the material is coming from. Dead trees can carry disease. Composted material from the recycle services can contain poison oak and other hazards such as pesticide and herbicide sprays, and many plant diseases. People dump their diseased plants and trees into the recycle bins, as well as poison oak after it has been sprayed with roundup.

[Mimi]

This is very bad news. I am so sorry.

[Richard Myers]

Thank you for your concern, Mimi. It is for our good that these things are allowed. We have lessons to learn while we still can. And, more important, we need to have our characters refined. After laboring in the hot sun for many weeks, it is good to be reminded of our need of Jesus continually, else we think we are the reason why our gardens are so productive. It is a combined effort. God does the most of it.   If we don't believe it, then just look at the failures that can come when we err. Putting that infected compost into my garden was my doing.

[Mark W]

Richard, sorry to hear of your garden trials and wish you lived closer for I have so many, i am just letting them rot. Was a good year around here for not only me, but others as well. hard to even give away tomatoes right now. Same with green beans, could give you several bushel if you could pick them.
On your blight problem, if indeed it is blight, then I would not worry about your soil, for early and late blight are wind blown diseases and usually play havoc in humid climates. I have been hit by both this year but many varieties weather the storm better then others. Here the heat has finally been turned on and it is taking a  tole, but yet a great year.
Rotating crops is the best disease prevention you can take. I never grow nightshades in the same place consecutive. Will get disease most every time. Copper spray is said to help, but have never tried it and there might be a few other remedies out there. Hope things get to looking better for you, Mark. 

[colporteur]

Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear about your problems with your tomatoes. I've had blight in the past and yes Richard it is horrible. I've had a strange thing happen with mine that has never happened before. I'm so glad I planted over a hundred tomato plants because only the first bottom blossoms produced tomatoes. The rest of the plant grew but didn't produce anything. I have to say I have some beautiful huge clusters of tomatoes on the "bottom" of each plant.

Richard and CP will you get any tomatoes at all?

Dorine;

We are getting tomatoes but have plague-like grasshoppers. I think with all the chemical nailing them out in the fields they feast on my garden. It is open season there. They not only eat the leaves of the plants but take small bites out of the tomatoes. The tomatoes heal but the quality is diminished. Also we have had a lot of rain and humidity this year. I am getting a fair crop of tomatoes but between the blight and grasshoppers eating the plants many of them are sun burned. We have plenty to eat but I'm not sure how many we will have to can. I used some diamataceous earth on the plants but it takes a fair dusting and the rain washes it off. It is too big of a job to dust them with this and my hand sprayer tends to plug and one has to keep the spray agitated all the time. Sorry to hear about your crop. That sounds strange. Tomatoes can really grow fast and produce alot but they also have a lot of liabilities too. Blight is always a problem in my garden even when crops are rotated. I think the grasshoppers spread it as well as they are constantly all over the place. I am going to have to come up with something to nail them. If I use a lot of diatomaceous earth it will kill all the insects and the earth worms and bees as well. I really don't want to do that.

[Marelis]

Wow. The grasshoppers sound dreadful. It's been a few years since I saw a grasshopper plague. Let us know if you find a grasshopper deterrent, Colporteur.