From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   Drew Lawson wrote:   
   > songbird writes:   
   ...   
   >>  the tomatoes here get some kind of blight each   
   >>season but they still bear fruit and we get enough   
   >>so i've never treated for it.   
   >   
   > Untreated, the varieties I grow just keep losing leaves until they   
   > die.   
      
     that's what happens here too, but it is usually   
   late enough by the time the plants are done anyways.   
   perhaps planting more would work where you could   
   get the earliest crop and then just be done with   
   them before they get worse?  the reason why we don't   
   go for other varieties is that we get between 20-40lbs   
   of fruit per plant so we get enough even with the   
   blight.  it doesn't look pretty but i'm good with   
   how it goes.   
      
      
   >>  i would not use copper sulfate for long as the   
   >>copper can build up in the soil.   
   >   
   > It is a pretty light usage.  A pound of powder lasts me a couple   
   > years.   
      
     i tried babying the grape vine one season with it   
   to see if it made any difference.  decided that once   
   i found a major flaw in the plant to just remove the   
   vine instead of continuing the spraying.  i still   
   have the copper sulphate granules on the shelf with   
   the few tablespoons removed from the package.  being   
   someone who has a hard time throwing things away i   
   should get rid of it but haven't yet.   
      
      
   >>  have you tried finding more resistant plants?   
   >>i have here but Mom is very fixated on what she   
   >>wants to grow so i gave up.   
   >   
   > I doubt that modern hybrids would have any problem with it, but I'm   
   > hooked on my Black Plum tomatoes.  And my wife fully endorses the   
   > resulting pasta sauce.   
      
     yeah, i understand that...   
      
      
   >>  the troublesome weeds here are horsetail and   
   >>sow-thistle, but i've found out they can be   
   >>removed by manual methods and smothering once   
   >>you've got the worst of them cleared.  you just   
   >>have to be sure to keep after any new ones that   
   >>may show up before they get going again.   
   >   
   > I am a magnet for invasive weeds that spread beneath the surface.   
   > I used to believe that mulch could cure everything, but bermuda   
   > grass and creeping thistle have convinced me otherwise.  Still,   
   > mulch makes it easier.   
      
     we have pretty hard clay soil for subsoil so   
   when the sow thistle gets going it can take   
   quite an effort to track it down to remove it.   
   the larger thistles aren't much fun either but   
   at least their roots are larger and easier to   
   find all the pieces.   
      
     mulch makes a lot of things easier.  :)  i   
   like how when the wood chips we use finally   
   break down they turn into the dark humus that   
   goes well in the veggie gardens.  if i'm   
   lucky enough i can get enough to use in the   
   worm buckets as they'll recharge that and i   
   also mix in some garden soil to help give   
   the clay something more to bind to along with   
   all that organic matter.  it makes for some   
   really nice fertilizer at the end of a year.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)