Steve1 wrote:
Hi Moon, Just out of curiosity - any mulch or organic matter added recently? the literature on fungal mycorrrhizal vegetable/plant association
Yes .. the soil was pretty hard and sterile so I've mixed 3 way vege soil mix, cow manure, seasol and pea straw The pea straw was the last ingredient that I added. The soil is pretty good now. I haven't had aphids .. but have had heaps of white fly. I was using a mix of potassium soap, garlic and hot chilli .. which only seems to piss 'em off and then they land back on the veges. After giving them a squirt .. I noticed what looked like a tiny praying mantis. Probably wasn't but similar look .. only 1cm long. I figured it might have been a predator of the white fly .. and haven't sprayed since. The plants have grown enough for the white fly to not be a problem. They are all over the carrot tops .. but that doesn't matter. They were a real problem for the mint .. and have cut it all back to the ground for a fresh start. Apart from the mint .. they love the Capsicum plants, lettuce, beans, radishes, coriander .. and to a lesser degree, tomatoes. I've just added a layer of cane straw mulch .. to help keep the surface moist and save on water over Summer. The soil in this vege patch is currently good enough to get by on .. and will improve over time .. along with some more organic matter being added over time. My other (original) vege patch is being rested this season. It had Tomatoes that had a bug that was affecting a lot of tomato plants around Melbourne. I've only just pulled out a number of plants that pop up each year. The soil is very rich and I've been putting a lot of compost in it. I have a few beans in there .. only anything else gets attacked quickly. A few of the beans took a hit .. but managed to survive. The surrounding trees have grown .. so the patch doesn't get as much Sun as it did .. which is why I started the other vege patch .. for the plants that need more Sunlight. Early days .. and still experimenting. Both mine .. and next doors nectarine trees haven't produced many nectarines this season .. whereas the Moor Park Apricot is loaded .. which is located at the far end of my vege patch .. as just seen in the photo in the post on top. [Top left corner .. trunk in middle]
