Karen - You may be thinking of the use of an early Fava beans cover crop (chopped into the soil before flowering) to reduce Verticillium/Fusarium wilt and (maybe) other fungal diseases in tomatoes. I haven't read the research on this one yet, but the idea is that certain amendments to the soil promote the growth of beneficial fungus/bacterial that then protects the tomato against pathogenic fungus. I've been experimenting with several other amendments and have read quite a few (scientific) journal articles on other studies. Some of the research is really interesting, especially what is coming out of Spain. I've been experimenting with amendments for a few years and have had very good luck reducing wilt damage. I've used the addition of beneficial microbes (root zone and rootshield) at planting with shrimp shells and crab shell compost. Last year, I believe these amendments also protect my plants somewhat against late blight. My plants got late blight much later than my immediate neighbors and stayed alive and produced (admittedly, at a reduced level)for about a month and a half. Some plants remained completely alive all season. If you want to try any of these amendments, please be aware that they will not work with chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers inhibit the growth of beneficial microbes and their association with the plants I talked to someone recently who uses the fava bean method with good success against wilt. I am planning on trying it this year. He suggested using the bell favas available from Territorial Seeds. You will need to plant them very soon. I don't know if this method will work against early blight, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Good luck with whatever you try, Bellatrix

I so wish the local animal control, or fish and game would come take care of the skunk I accidentally caught in my life trap (intended for cats that kill the yard birds). Anyway, I called local, state, fed. and they all said the same, "good luck." So this poor skunk is slowly starving/choking to death, because I'm cowardly and don't want to get sprayed or have the front yard stink for a month...so I have to find a way to deal with this! If the law, which I doubt, says I can't "relocate", then I'm left with killing the poor thing! This is going to haunt me in my nightmares! As for Kimmsr and her "well written" and well-researched input: state laws vary widely, it's best to call and find out if they'll help you before doing anything! If your state, like mine, won't help, here is a Youtube video that I think is the most humane I've seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9F16vTJXbk  

I've been feeding them with compost tea when I water twice each day. Like most tap water, mine has a a fairly high pH, so minerals may not be as available to the plants as they should be. I try to avoid all toxic stuff, but I do use non-organic fertilizers when my compost for tea is either used up or washed out. I mainly compost maple tree leaves and grass clippings that I bag with the mower each fall. I gave the plants dose of Epson salts and bought a small package of Miracid fertilizer with trace elements. I'm going to try adding a small bit of this each day with their water to lower the pH and supplement their feed now that I am running out of compost that is not already washed out. The rate of leaves dying has slowed down a bit, so it looks like the plant might survive to give me a fall crop after the weather cools down a bit. I am not sure if the improvement is because our temp for the past week has finally dropped from over 100 to the high 80s. It may also be that the sick leaves are the left over ones from before I got rid of the last few aphids and mites. I cannot find a single aphid or mite anymore. It cannot tell for sure which growth on the plant as emerged since the final bugs were beaten. I did take some of the leaves and hold them up to a flash light last night to see if there were any pin-holes. The leaves that have any yellow all seem to have some tiny holes that light would shine through, but the newer mature leaves do not have any holes or yellow. Thank you for the suggestion regarding the magnesium. Between the Epson Salts, more balanced pH, lower temp, and beneficial bugs, I hope somethings works. If I can get this problem with leave drop fixed, I think I can get a good fall crop. The plant's basic stems and roots seem to still be very healthy and there is enough new growth with leaves to still produce a good crop once our night temps drop back below 70 so my blooms will set fruit. Knoxville is near the mountains, but down in river valley, so our cool fall temps are moderated. Last year, I was able to cover my plants with a sheet at night for the first 3 or 4 frosts, and then we got a warm spell without more frost until mid November. After I gave up and picked the green fruit before our first really cold night, I had ripe tomatoes until nearly Christmas. Between tress and my 4 dogs which love to dig, I had a hard time finding a good place to grow a couple of tomato plants, so I've grown 2 or 3 in pots for the past few years. I read about the Topsy-Turvey tomato planters that a local man had invented, so I decided to try the idea 2 years ago. For anyone that wants to grow tomatoes next year in a container, I recommend the idea highly. I don't have to stake them and the plants are clean and dry up off the ground. I'm disabled and living on social security, so I try to make do with things I can scavenge whenever possible. For my planters, I use a 5 or 10 gallon bucket. I tied a strong nylon rope around the top of the buckets, because I did not trust the handles to be strong enough to support both the bucket's contents and the plant's growth. I drilled a 2 inch hole in the center of the bottom of the buckets. When I transplant my seedlings, I sit the bucket right-side-up on the edge of a table with part hanging over the edge so I can get to the hole in the bottom. I slide the plant's roots up from the bottom through the hole in the bucket and then wedged soft sponge-like foam around the plant's stem to keep it from falling out and keep the dirt from running out when I add it next. After the tomato plant is in the hole with its foam collar, I reach in the top of the bucket and pull the plant's roots and stem up into the bucket until only the top stems and leaves of the plant are hanging out of the bottom of the bucket. I then add enough dirt to hold the plant in position. Pause before adding so much dirt that the bucket gets too heavy to lift up to hang. Warning, this thing will get heavy, so a simple cup hook screwed into the overhang will not be enough to hold it once you get it full of dirt, watered, with several feet of foliage. While it is somewhat clumsy to put together, if you have a place to hang it that gets lots of sun, it works great. I was lucky in that someone in the past had already put up a mounting for a swing on the porch. The porch is so sunny, it lends itself better for container gardening than it does for a porch swing, so I use the heavy hooks intended for a porch swing with two adults, to instead support large hanging tomato plants. After I have the pots hanging, I then finish filling the buckets with a mixture of compost and potting mix. I use fresh potting mix each year and wash the buckets with bleach each spring to avoid soil borne diseases and pests from the prior year. In full sun and heat, I water the plants each morning and afternoon. As the stems grow, they will tend to curve back upward in graceful "swooping" arcs that almost hide the bucket they are growing in. Once the plants are heavy with full-sized fruit they will hang more straight, so try to put the pot as high as you can, and still be able to reach up to water it from the top. Cherry tomatoes plants make a very beautiful hanging plant when grown this way. The graceful arcs of lush green leaves are accented so well by the clusters of ripe fruit, you would be tempted to leave then on the plant for decoration, if they weren't so tasty. They are so good, that many of them never even make it inside the house, because I cannot resist picking a few to eat fresh from the vine, every time I go outside and walk past them. While they don't produce bragging sized fruit, I always plant a cherry tomato plant because they are so predictably productive. For me, they always seem to be the most disease and pest resistant and best at continuing to set fruit during the hot summer. Greg

Dear Amy, Thank you very much for your inquiry. My suggestion for removing the zoysiagrass is to target a seeding for early September. In mid August apply Round up to the zoysiagrass (and about 3-5 feet outside and apparent area). Flag the area in the form of a square or rectangle for ease of operation. After seven days, cut the rectangle out with a sod cutter and perform any soil changes you need. In the week prior to seeding check the area for regrowth. If there is any, apply Round up again. (You can actually apply this up to and during the seeding process with no ill effect on the seed. The roundup only affects living tissue, the seed by definition is still dormant until it imbibes water and starts the germination process. This can be an effective way of controlling a difficult grass like zoysiagrass or bermudagrass.) Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more. Respectfully Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com