What did you do today? - 2021 version

[Souschef]

Dug the second hole for my tomato plants. I will transplant them tomorrow. Do not want to leap into things.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fancy free Look into sterlizing with boiling water or by putting your soil into an oven if your spouse is okay with it.

Fusarium fungus has more than 20 species, and affects many plants and crops. It's tough to treat, and there's no chemical to control it. I found some articles on soil solarization to control Fusarium, which is basically covering the ground with a plastic film to raise the soil temperature to as high as 60C (140F) at a depth of 6". That depth is really pathetic, so I don't know how useful this method is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby Did you start them indoors and transplant out or direct sow?

I sowed the peas directly into pots.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I sowed the peas directly into pots.

I ask because I have always sown peas directly in the ground and have never had a problem with them. I know they don't transplant well.

If you do have a fusarium problem, you may need to get new pots or sterilize the old ones with bleach (also sterilize your gardening tools), and get entirely new bagged potting soil. Throw away the old soil somewhere distant. There are also fungicides that can help. A google search should find them.

[NW-Bound]

I have been doing a lot of research on the Web regarding Fusarium Oxysporum, and have not found any reference to an easy treatment. Fusarium attacks a plant through its root, then moves up through the stem and chokes off its sap flow and kills off the plant. I used fresh potting soil in new pots, and that did not help. There may be spores in the bagged soil already.

I found a research article mentioning a solution of methylbromide and chloropicrin as an effective fungicide, but it looks like availability is limited to commercial growers.

PS. One thing I will do next year is to look for fusarium-resistant peas. Another thing is to start the planting earlier, so that the flowering and fruiting occurs in the winter (it's not cold here). Fusarium infection of plants occurs when it gets warm, and that's what I saw happening. My pea plants were doing so well, then they started wilting from the base going up to the top. It coincides with the time when the night temperature got up to 50-60F and the day up to 80-90F.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I have been doing a lot of research on the Web regarding Fusarium Oxysporum, and have not found any reference to an easy treatment. Fusarium attacks a plant through its root, then moves up through the stem and chokes off its sap flow and kills off the plant. I used fresh potting soil in new pots, and that did not help. There may be spores in the bagged soil already. I found a research article mentioning a solution of methylbromide and chloropicrin as an effective fungicide, but it looks like availability is limited to commercial growers...

A bit more reading shows why the above chemicals are not for sale at Home Depot or through Amazon.

Quote:

Methyl bromide is an odorless, colorless gas used to control a wide variety of pests in agriculture and shipping, including fungi, weeds, insects, nematodes (or roundworms), and rodents... Agricultural growers inject methyl bromide about two feet into the ground to sterilize the soil before crops are planted... Methyl bromide is highly toxic. Studies in humans indicate that the lung may be severely injured by the acute (short-term) inhalation of methyl bromide... Along with other countries, the United States has phased out production and consumption of methyl bromide with important exceptions for critical uses...

Quote:

Chloropicrin was manufactured for use as poison gas in World War I. In agriculture, chloropicrin is injected into soil prior to planting a crop in order to fumigate soil. Chloropicrin affects a broad spectrum of fungi, microbes, and insects. It is commonly used as a stand-alone treatment or in combination / co-formulation with methyl bromide and 1,3-Dichloropropene.

[Walt34]

Mowed both front and back with a half hour or so break in between each half. The last few days have been too wet, we get a break of somewhat dry weather today, and then the rain starts up again tomorrow for the next several days. If I hadn't done the mowing today I'm not sure the mower would have been able to take on full width cuts if the grass was any taller.

[Gumby]

I transplanted my celery and parsley seedlings out to the garden today. Also planted my onion sets (Walla Walla, Red Zeppelin and Yellow Spanish), along with the shallots. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Monday, which will be good for the new plantings. That will also give me a chance to bottle my latest batch of beer, which is just now ready for it, and to fix a seat leak in my bathroom sink faucet.

[Time2]

We had strong weather pattern run through around 8am this morning. 60+ mph winds. It blew down a dead 35ft tree, broke one of my wife's papaya plants and while looking out the kitchen window, I was watching the roof ridge cap on my shed flipping up like it was about to take a ride. Thankfully, the high winds last less than 1/2 an hour. We had lots of traffic lights out and 20,000 people lost power, we didn't although the lights blinked a dozen times. There was a tornado less than 10 miles away. It was the type of weather that the weather man lives for. After the weather was done I preheated my sauna and spent 20 minutes in there, then took a cold shower.
Later in the afternoon things were dry and I put all the screws in the ridge cap, like I promised the inspector I would do when he said he would pass it for the inspection, two years ago. Took a long nap, had a bag of popcorn and later split part of a Pomelo* (that fell of the tree in the high winds) with my wife.


* From wiki, Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis (I like that, they are huge)

[Gumby]

Bottled 5 gal. of newly brewed beer, cleaned up everything, then drank one of my last batch to celebrate. As usual, I also did the NYT Spelling Bee and the Crossword (I'm on a 223 day streak).

[GalaxyBoy]

What Gumby said. Except I kegged my brown ale and my NYT crossword streak is much much shorter. DW and I are hooked on the Spelling Bee game, and we have a routine to compare answers over lunch each day.

Made sourdough, took a walk, and pilled the cat. That last one was by far the most strenuous.

[Dawg52]

Took the mutt on a walk on the golf course this morning and cleaned the house afterward. After lunch went for a walk/run around a pretty lake across town. I mostly walk but incorporate some jogging to get the heart pumping. What a beautiful day too.....sunny and mid 70's. Later watched the last few holes of the Masters on tv. Oh yes....bathed the mutt after our morning walk. That's a chore in itself. Ha.

[skyking1]

Yesterday we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National park.

Dungeness spit in the distance from about halfway up.


Today we packed up and headed home, driving down 101 along Hood Canal.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyking1 Yesterday we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National park....

That's a beautiful drive. The young wife and I drove up to Hurricane Ridge and had a snowball fight on the 4th of July, 1984.

[street]

skyking1 >> beautiful!! We have been getting some much wanted (moisture) snow, over the last 40 hours. A white cover this morning of snow will keep me close to the house today. No turkey hunting, fishing but may go check minnow traps today.

[fancy free]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I used fresh potting soil in new pots, and that did not help. There may be spores in the bagged soil already.

Unfortunately even fresh potting soil needs to be sterilized to be safe.

Here's a nice link about sterilizing potting soil: https://www.senior-gardening.com/how...tting_mix.html

[Yoheadden]

Not what I did, what I heard. My accountant just called me with good news. The new tax legislation just saved me $5,800.
Instead of having to pay, I’m getting back over $700.
Now this is a good day :-)

[Yoheadden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyking1 Yesterday we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National park. Dungeness spit in the distance from about halfway up. Today we packed up and headed home, driving down 101 along Hood Canal.

Beautiful pics

Thank you for sharing

[Gumby]

So far today, I disassembled one of the faucets on my bathroom sink, took the leaking cartridge out and went to our local plumbing supply store for a replacement. After about a 20 minute search, turns out they don't have any. But the guy did tell me what to order from Amazon, which I thought was very nice of him. I also installed hooks on the back of a kitchen closet door so that I can hang up all my baseball caps (and my wet raincoat when necessary). It's raining again, so the garden is out today.

[pacergal]

Put together 11 foot cantilever umbrella for the front deck, helps keep the house a bit cooler by keeping the afternoon sun out of the window and doorway. We used a sunbrella fabric shade in the past, but it finally bit the dust.
The deck is an odd shape and I have been trying to find a ready made deck cover/gazebo. I think we will need to either make one ourselves or hire it out. The umbrella probably will not last more than a couple of years.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fancy free Unfortunately even fresh potting soil needs to be sterilized to be safe. Here's a nice link about sterilizing potting soil: https://www.senior-gardening.com/how...tting_mix.html

Yes, spores of Fusarium fungus are everywhere. As mentioned in my earlier post, I found quite a few scholarly papers about "solarization" to kill the spores. Solarization is just a fancy term for covering the soil with a plastic sheet and let the sun ray cook the soil to kill fungus spores.

Surprisingly, the spores of Fusarium Oxysporum can be kept in check at temperatures higher than 60C. That's a mere 140F. Here in the Southwest, the ambient temperature can get up to 120F in the shade. Inside a closed vessel put out in the sun, you get to 160F easily. The surface of my PV solar panels was clocked at 160F, and they are exposed to ambient air.

The problem is "cooking the earth" in situ does not let the high temperature penetrate very deep. For planting in pots, I should be able to sterilize the soil more thoroughly. I have been thinking about something like a cement mixer barrel painted black, put out in the sun and rotated by hand slowly each day to "roast" the damned fungus spores.

Who says a guy does not have anything to do if Covid keeps him from traveling? Heh heh heh... I can spend some time in the summer to bake soil for winter planting.

PS. By the way, I did harvest quite a bit of snap peas this past season. However, the pods were small because the plants struggled to get the sap flowing to nourish them. And the plants died off one by one while in their prime and peak production, starting from the base going up to the top. Exactly as shown in so many YouTube videos. It enraged me, and I have declared war on Fusarium Oxysporum.