Have never, EVER grown determinant...

[David from Dothan]

I've always heard that Epsom salt placed at the bottom of the hole, with a layer of dirt between it and the roots of the mater plant, is supposed to be a surefire way of killing nematodes

 

[DirtMechanic]

Nope. You could use shrimp meal, because the various bacteria and fungi that would consume the chitin in the shrimp shell would love to get their enzymes on the chitin of a nematode skin. They say everything tastes better when it is fresh. Another deep way is sugar, but that is more of a feed it all and increase the competition route I suspect. Nema go too deep to get to them, but they do not move to far per season either. I can suppress them but still see RKN evidence at the end of the season. I have not tried the anti-nematode nematodes or anything else since my thyme oil trial. I tilled it in again this year.

 

[David from Dothan]

"Busting the Epsom Salt Myths"........(and like Abraham Lincoln once said, "You can always believe what you read on the internet".

Busting the 6 Biggest Myths about Epsom Salts for Plants in the Garden

Are Epsom salts for plants in the garden all they're cracked up to be? Here's why you should take those miracle claims with a heavy grain of salt.

morningchores.com

 

[TomatoNut]

Crushed egg shells are supposed to help add calcium to, I believe.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I have even used whole eggs, where amino acids from the protein are useful after they are broken down. While the eggs disappear over the course of the season, they are not immediately useful, which is off the point of what I want in the intitial planting hole.

 

[TomatoNut]

I cannot use a whole egg; it would attract the mice and rats. I save the egg shells up, crush them and sprinkle them around in my garden.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I cannot use a whole egg; it would attract the mice and rats. I save the egg shells up, crush them and sprinkle them around in my garden.

We have to lime so its really not much of an issue.

 

[David from Dothan]

First taste test results.....This IS a "keeper".....IMHO, a 10 on the International Tomato Taste Chart....

 

[DirtMechanic]

First taste test results.....This IS a "keeper".....IMHO, a 10 on the International Tomato Taste Chart....View attachment 54017

And that is the Pheonix? They are a yellow or still changing?

 

[David from Dothan]

And that is the Pheonix? They are a yellow or still changing?

It is the Pheonix. They ripen to a red. The picture was taken as they were starting to turn.

 

[David from Dothan]

YEP.......the determinant (Phoenix) tomato is a GREAT choice, IMHO.......REAL tomato taste, plants that grows straightt upwards (not outward in EVERY direction). Well WORTH the "trouble" of successive plantings.