I have had what I think has been fusarium wilt attack my tomatoes in every location I have planted my tomatoes. This year I have a new field that had no former tomatoes on it. I have dug a trench and put leaf mold (I guess that is the right term for incompletely decayed composted leaves and horse manure thrown in around January and February)4-6 inches deep.
Question: Should I mix the leaves in with some dirt with the tiller and plant in the mix or
turn some dirt over the top of the leaves with the bottom plow and plant in the dirt and add some more leaves on the top to keep the dirt from splashing on the or
should I put the root ball through the leaves to the ground and build up the leaves higher to support the plants?
No, there is a technical difference between "leaf mold" and "leaf compost"!
Leaf mold is 100% decomposed leaves. All browns. No greens.
Compost is a decomposed blend of greens and browns. Leaf compost is a compost made from mostly leaves.
No leaf mold nor leaf compost will totally help you, my friend, against strong fungal diseases! You need more beneficial microbial help in the soil and on the plant's foliage, in order to digest and overpower these bad fungi that cause these fungal diseases.
I would recommend using a lot of corn meal or corn based products (i.e. plain corn meal, cracked corn, cattle feed products, etc.) for extra fungal disease control. Corn is the only grain product, that not only adds more N and P to your soil from the grain proteins like all grain meals do, but also is a generic universal fungicide.
You can use the corn meal dry, and bury in under your mulches or mix it in the soil, near plant roots. Or you make a tea out of it, and spray it on the foliage as a foliar biostimulant.
Another good remedy, is any aerobic compost tea, loaded with extra milk products, or garlic products, for extra fungal control. You can use it as both a foliar or soil drench.
If you plant in leaf mold you will grow tomaotes that are nutrient poor and probably have real problems with Blossom End Rot. The minerals that are in soil will be missing or unavailable.
Isn't there something about there's a fine line between the right amount of cornmeal in the soil, and too much, will not only stop fungus, but retard the growth of plants? I can't find it right now, but I thought I read that somewhere.
But I did find a site with all kinds of things cornmeal is good for!
Well, the truth is, any uncomposted, undecomposed, high nitrogen or high protein matter, can cause issues with seed germination or plant growth! If used too much or in a non-wise manner.
The reason is that the soil microbes spend most of their time and energy trying to digest the uncomposted organic matter, instead of releasing a balanced level of soluble nutrients to the plant roots. If this happens too much, plants can suffer from a temporary nitrogen or carbon deficiency, until the microbes' and earthworms' appetites are met or balanced! (LOL)
When compost is matured (dark, cool to touch, crumbly, pleasant smelling, and mostly homogenous), the organic matter has decomposed to a stable level, so that now soil microbes spend most of their energy feeding plant roots, not making compost!
That is why fully mature compost or humus is best for mixing in the soil near growing plants.
However slightly uncomposted organic matter or heavy carboneous "browns" make a perfect mulch, on top of the ground, and will not effect soil pH, or root nutrients uptake, as long as the soil underneath is either plain dirt or rich in humus or mature compost.
When we talk about using corn meal or any other protein fertilizer or soil amendment, we are only talking a small, light sprinkling. Only enough to supply a little extra nitrogen/proteins for the existing healthy soil microbes and earthworms, already thriving in mature compost in the soil, or on top of natural mulches made from browns.
Composting, in any form or fashion, is all about balance and moderation. Soil microbes have to be fed, and our plant have to fed. Microbes first, then plants. Some of the nutrients in the compost are soluble while others are not. All we as organic gardeners can do, is speed up or moderate this balance in an effective way so that everybody wins.
> I have had what I think has been fusarium wilt attack > my tomatoes in every location I have planted my > tomatoes. This year I have a new field that had no > former tomatoes on it. Ken, Have you tried growing tomato varieties that are resistant to fusarium? In the description that would be the F. First Prize VFFNT, Big Beef VFFNTA, Celebrity VFFNTA, Goliath VFFNT are but a few examples. Two Fs mean the tomato variety is resistant to 2 types of fusarium. I grow many varieties of tomatoes each year and my disease resistant varieties always do the best. When I loose plants it is usually the non resistant varieties. This season I lost my Amish Paste and Black tomatoes while the disease resistant once growing next to them are all fine. Hope that helps and good luck.
Zone 9 Melbourne, Fl. Gardening is a class in continuing education. Enjoy!
That flake is about the only person in the world that still maintains corn meal is a fungicide, sweetpea. A one time report from Texas A & M indicated a protential for this in a field of peanuts, but subsiquent research at Virginia Polytech and the University of Georgia Failed to support what the researchers at Texas A & M thought they saw. I wouldn't use him for anything abut gardening except maybe what not to do.
