by bacterial wilt.
there is no treatment...not that we were planning any.
the plants wither away over a week and starting from one branch it moves onto the entire plant.
till date we have lost around 20 plants.
and ouch....many had just started to fruit.
oh...it has hit some of the potatoes too.
from the high of the planting, we are now down to 2 very decent growing beds, 1 average growing bed and 1 almost wiped out bed.
and in spite of the extreme winter reported from many locations across the world including north india, the duration of our winter out here has been severely restricted.
from the time we announced the arrival of winter in early december 2010, we have seen increasingly warm days since mid jan 2011. so just around a month of cool climes.
a majorly curtailed period for vegetable growing. and many organic vegetable growers are getting hit.
looking ahead to a real scorcher of a summer this year.
6 comments:
When the weather gets unpredictable, it may be better to grow veggies under shrubs or trees - for sun as well as frost protection. The yields may be lower but the plants have a better survival rate. Try castor for a fast growing, tree-like being. Planting these seeds in empty spaces will give you great leverage later when you want to work on these spaces. And it improves the eco-system of a tropical set up dramatically.
sad. i can now imagine the plight of farmers whose sole income depends on plants like these.
can't complain any more, if they go for a heavy dose of pesticides to save their plants.
ss - no pesticide would work in this case...
and if they did (in another situation) most likely that they would still make a loss.
in another post - will try to explain the economics of farming...it is not only about profit/loss it is about cash flow...
Are the bacteria thriving in the mulch and causing the wilt? Maybe the mulch requires a jeevamrutha drench, so that harmful pathogens don't thrive? Just guessing, but on our farm, I didn't like look of the grasses that we cut and laid as mulch . It dried out, but seemed to have some powdery layer of fungal spores, that didn't feel right.
looking forward to your post on farm economics - ie about cash flow. when ever I have approached prople on this most are vague or afraid I am asking about profits they are manking. I basically want to understand the economics of farming so that some planning for the amount of money needed can be made.
As for the tomatos maybe too much of rain ???
madhavi
anon - cant say for sure.
we checked with bernard and he said that nothing can be done :-) they have stopped growing tomatoes at pebble garden...
m - we planted much after the rain.
and farm economics will take some time to write.
if one buys a farmland at today's rates, it is IMPOSSIBLE to make money if the cost of capital is included in the economics...
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