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Post by datgirl on Oct 4, 2015 17:30:10 GMT -5
I use the store bought cages. I had terrible blight this year so I just wipe them down. I don't know if it helps but I feel better. Anyone else clean tomato cages?
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 4, 2015 18:10:56 GMT -5
I have done that, but they are "stored" in the garden over winter. It didn't help.
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Post by octave1 on Oct 4, 2015 20:52:29 GMT -5
In the morning I picked all of my Bolitas! I did not shell them, I thought they can wait a bit. I also cut down the plants at ground level, and shredded vines and leaves. That bed will be devoted to garlic next. After lunch I hung out with kids and their friends for a while, then went for a walk, but it did not seem like enough time spent outside, so hubby and I grabbed our bikes and went for a long bike ride. The weather was fantastic, it was impossible to resist. We stopped at a sign that said "Fresh Duck Eggs", and got some. That became our dinner tonight (the eggs, not the sign ). It was a lovely day.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 5, 2015 8:02:36 GMT -5
Anyone else clean tomato cages?
Wiping down the cages certainly can't hurt but I have never seen a reference that spores can live on cages. My cages sit outside in the freezing temperatures and the wind, rain and snow. I don't think that spores can survive that.
I am more vigilant about removing debris from tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from the garden and disposing of them. I do not compost any of that garden debris. Any of this debris can be a place for blight and other foliage diseases to overwinter.
I also try to rotate tomatoes and potatoes each year since I know that the spores will probably be in the soil.
Early Blight and Septoria leaf spot overwinter in plant debris and the soil and late blight can only overwinter in a host like potatoes or tomatoes in the compost pile. That's why I always rip out volunteers because they can be possibly infected. My gardening season is not long enough for me to risk growing infected plants.
octave1 so glad that you got bolitas. I think that you will like them and will be growing them again next year. Sounds like you had a wonderful Fall day.
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Post by wandak🕊 on Oct 5, 2015 10:17:12 GMT -5
I had heard to rotate crops in the beds but I hadn't heard to wash my tomato cages. Another job to get done on a sunny day.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 5, 2015 13:39:52 GMT -5
Alright then. I won't be so serious about wiping them down anymore.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 5, 2015 18:37:56 GMT -5
Alright then. I won't be so serious about wiping them down anymore. I was thinking about this posting as I was removing tomato cages and gathering up the tomato plant debris today. The plants touch the cages but hundreds of leaves and probably millions of microscopic spores fall to the ground from the plants. The ground was just littered with leaves and I picked up as much as I could but I didn't even come close to removing them all. I think that any spores that might possibly be on the actual cages would be miniscule compared to what has fallen onto the ground and I don't see that they could survive on metal cages anyway. Wiping down the cages certainly won't hurt anything but I don't need any extra work and I don't see that it will be a real advantage.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 5, 2015 20:20:56 GMT -5
Whew! One less thing to think about doing. Thanks BR- I won't add this to my fall tasks. My cages also sit out in the garden area all winter. I place them on top of mulch to help it not blow away in the winter winds.
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Post by claude on Oct 6, 2015 6:37:05 GMT -5
I think if you leave them out in the elements..nothing will live through the ct winters. But when mine had blight I dunked them into a bath with some vinegar water and let dry in the sunshine. I rarely use bleach these days.
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Post by octave1 on Oct 6, 2015 9:04:28 GMT -5
datgirl I'd use a soldering torch rather than bleach if the tomato cages are not vinyl coated. More fun too.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 6, 2015 11:10:28 GMT -5
Hmmmm might have to try that.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 6, 2015 16:33:01 GMT -5
Winding down after 4 days off, gotta go back to work so I can rest! >:( Today was a little slower, dried some zukes, froze some jalapenos, took donation to food bank, took donation of old towels to vet/groomer. Trimmed back some perennials so I can find the Asiatic lilies, gotta divide those this Fall.
Out of steam! So many things to do, my mind won't quite working overtime!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 6, 2015 19:22:15 GMT -5
In the short amount of time I had to work out there, after getting home from work, I pulled all the tomatoes and tomatillos from my 36' fence, as well as the 8 I had in cages. Peppers and some eggplants are still producing, so I'll clean out that area and get it ready for the garlic and shallots. I'll also pick my green peppers that I freeze for Indian and Mexican. Many are full sized, but green, which is perfect for those types.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Oct 6, 2015 22:22:41 GMT -5
About all I had time to do today is freeze a bag of ripe jalapeños. I have been working nights on a road paving project for the last two weeks but tonight should finish it. Good thing because my dog Waldo still tries to get me up at five am even when I went to bed at four am. I did get up in time to try the new Jamaican restaurant today, chicken curry.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 7, 2015 14:16:51 GMT -5
Acupuncture...then to the pool at the Y....then lunch out....I'm really needing a snooze. And I hear the weed whacker calling my name....maybe I'll get out there and whack some weeds in the windbreak.
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