New guy, from South East Queensland, Australia

[DTK]

G'day,

My name is Dan but my Username is DTK (Dan was already taken). My wife and I live on our small acreage in a south western suburb of Brisbane. We retired recently and currently bounce between travel and keeping house (and garden).

I have a passion to show my grandchildren (and anyone else who will listen) that fruit and veg does not necessarily come from a supermarket shelf. My five yo grandson loves to "play" in the veg cage (intended possum and other wildlife exclusion zone). The other day he watched me picking beans and asked of he could try one. He was surprised to find he loves beans. My heart sang with joy!

I find the SSC and SSM is inspirational and I look forward learning from you all.

Best wishes,

Dan

 

[Wedgetail]

Hi Dan welcome I to joined in the last week so it is a bit new to me but plenty to read and heaps to learn. Our Grandkids love coming out here particular at the moment they love raiding the mulberry trees and I thinks it great they get to see and taste the fruit and vegetables first hand Regards for now Dave

 

[DTK]

Hi Dan welcome I to joined in the last week so it is a bit new to me but plenty to read and heaps to learn. Our Grandkids love coming out here particular at the moment they love raiding the mulberry trees and I thinks it great they get to see and taste the fruit and vegetables first hand Regards for now Dave

Thanks Dave. I have very fond memories of climbing my Grandpa's Mulberry tree which was located in his chook yard. These days, I have two Mulberry trees in my chook yard and my grandchildren like to pick and eat the fruit. This year it has been way too dry and our trees are suffering water stress. Thanks again for your warm welcome. Dan

 

[ClissAT]

Welcome Dan and Dave!
I look forward to seeing more photos and experiences from your gardens.
Loving the idea of the possum exclusion zone!
So far possums are the least of my worries here when thinking about all the critters that cause me grief!
I best not let them read this or they'll laugh at me for sure and get into my unprotected food forest!
Getting the kids involved is certainly a worthwhile activity.
Once they get a taste for that beaut fresh crispy produce, there's no holding them back.

 

[DTK]

Welcome Dan and Dave!
I look forward to seeing more photos and experiences from your gardens.
Loving the idea of the possum exclusion zone!
So far possums are the least of my worries here when thinking about all the critters that cause me grief!
I best not let them read this or they'll laugh at me for sure and get into my unprotected food forest!
Getting the kids involved is certainly a worthwhile activity.
Once they get a taste for that beaut fresh crispy produce, there's no holding them back.

Thank you. My current veg cage is 10M x 6M and I have raised beds in there. Possums still infiltrated when I had it covered in chain wire so I wrapped it in 12mm bird wire. That seems to have stopped them, but grasshoppers are a different story. The tomatoes in my avatar look OK but since then I have had ongoing issues with them wilting and dying. So in the interests of integrity I will try to upload a photo of when they are not so good, in fact, very, very, very poor. Still fighting this issue through crop rotation, molasses, etc.

 

[ClissAT]

Looks like there might be either early or late blight.
You can spray copper when the plants are young and again when you see more yellow leaves appearing which often happens about second flowering.
Blights are viral so no way to prevent that type of disease by rotation, etc, except at seed saving time.
The fresh seed needs to be fermented for 2-3 days in a cup of water on the kitchen bench, then spread and dried on kitchen paper.
You can simply cut the paper up and plant straight into seedling tray or direct.

Copper also covers other diseases too. The jury is still out as to whether it is still considered organic or not.
But I still use it because my soil and even my containers are often copper deficient so spraying it serves multiple purposes.

Your tomato disease could be something else too. If you cut through a main stem, is the middle of the stem black or have black veins running up through the stem?

A couple of years ago I posted a very comprehensive article about tomato diseases.
It will be in the growing veg section.


I think this is it:-

https://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/tomato-capsicum-diseases.1397/


Your vegie compound is now like fort knox!
Costs way more than just buying at the local organic fresh produce shop but nowhere near as much fun and nowhere near as much exercise!

 

[DTK]

WOW! Thank you. Do you buy the copper as Copper Sulphate?

 

[ClissAT]

Yes I am happy to just buy copper sulphate. Simple, cheap and easy.
These trace elements are the same no matter what form they take so the splitting of hairs is not necessary.

 

[Lego]

Welcome, I am new to gardening and hope it will help my son beless scared of veggies, I don’t really expect him to eat any but I can hope, but even if I can just get him helping harvesting and touching the food will be good. So bit of a learning curve here, glad to hear a child discovering a new food to eat and enjoy

 

[DTK]

Looks like there might be either early or late blight.
You can spray copper when the plants are young and again when you see more yellow leaves appearing which often happens about second flowering.
Blights are viral so no way to prevent that type of disease by rotation, etc, except at seed saving time.
The fresh seed needs to be fermented for 2-3 days in a cup of water on the kitchen bench, then spread and dried on kitchen paper.
You can simply cut the paper up and plant straight into seedling tray or direct.

Copper also covers other diseases too. The jury is still out as to whether it is still considered organic or not.
But I still use it because my soil and even my containers are often copper deficient so spraying it serves multiple purposes.

Your tomato disease could be something else too. If you cut through a main stem, is the middle of the stem black or have black veins running up through the stem?

A couple of years ago I posted a very comprehensive article about tomato diseases.
It will be in the growing veg section.


I think this is it:-

https://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/tomato-capsicum-diseases.1397/


Your vegie compound is now like fort knox!
Costs way more than just buying at the local organic fresh produce shop but nowhere near as much fun and nowhere near as much exercise!

Hi ClissAT. I went to Bunnings today. I could only get Yates Liquid Copper so I hope that is ok.

Thanks again,

Dan

 

[Mark]

I find the SSC and SSM is inspirational and I look forward learning from you all.

And we look forward to learning from you too Dan! Thanks for joining us.

The tomatoes in my avatar look OK but since then I have had ongoing issues with them wilting and dying.

Might be a virus... In my recent "Ton of tomatoes," the one I show getting pulled out was a Yellow Pear variety - it's a great tomato, a top producer, and the fruit lasts ages after picked on the shelf but it's susceptible to bacterial wilt. I doubt that I will grow it again. Perhaps you should try some other varieties next season. Out of the ones I grew over this winter, I recommend Scorpio, Black Truffle, Tropic, and Pink Thai.

 

[DTK]

And we look forward to learning from you too Dan! Thanks for joining us.


Might be a virus... In my recent "Ton of tomatoes," the one I show getting pulled out was a Yellow Pear variety - it's a great tomato, a top producer, and the fruit lasts ages after picked on the shelf but it's susceptible to bacterial wilt. I doubt that I will grow it again. Perhaps you should try some other varieties next season. Out of the ones I grew over this winter, I recommend Scorpio, Black Truffle, Tropic, and Pink Thai.

Thanks Mark. I have taken note of them and will seek out for next season.