Re: Time To Solarize And Kill Nematodes

dstack 6/1/2015, 10:13 am

Roseinarosecity wrote:Boy, you neatly covered those beds!

You could probably get it hotter if you used another layer of plastic over the beds. Like this link suggests, http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html.

"For small treated areas in a small garden or on a lawn in cooler climates, it may be helpful to use a double layer of plastic with air space created by objects such as plastic bottles or PVC pipe between the layers. This has been shown to raise soil temperatures an additional 2° to 10°F over temperatures obtained with a

On second thought, I may use this method. See my response to Sanderson just now. And thanks for bringing that method up. Very Happy

NanSFG 6/4/2015, 2:40 am

dstack wrote:
I have separate trowels for each bed so I'm not spreading contamination. I've become OCD about sanitation of tools and hands. I never transplant from one bed to another.

I tried to save a diseased tomato plant in my SFG. Finally had to remove it. But in the meantime I used the same clippers to remove the diseased parts of that plant to clip leaves invested with leaf miners.

Now I have white powdery looking spots on another tomato plant. When I rub it, it does not come off.

But my question is, if I wipe my clippers with alcohol will that stop the spread of whatever from plant to plant via the clippers? I am beginning to think like dstack in regards to sanitation of tools and hands. What about gloves?

Thanks,

**sanderson** 6/4/2015, 4:57 am

I have a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol to spray scissors and shears between plants. I store it indoors right by the door.

yolos 6/4/2015, 9:01 am

sanderson wrote:I have a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol to spray scissors and shears between plants. I store it indoors right by the door.

Is the rubbing alcohol full strength. Is it better than bleach at 1:9 with water.

dstack 6/4/2015, 9:07 am

NanSFG wrote:
dstack wrote:
I have separate trowels for each bed so I'm not spreading contamination. I've become OCD about sanitation of tools and hands. I never transplant from one bed to another.

...But my question is, if I wipe my clippers with alcohol will that stop the spread of whatever from plant to plant via the clippers? I am beginning to think like dstack in regards to sanitation of tools and hands. What about gloves?

Thanks,

I use latex gloves when dealing with RKN infected beds, especially when prepping them for solarization. I also have a large sanitation bucket with vinegar and dish soap water. I sanitation every pot before reuse, and sanitation all tools before reuse as well. I keep hand a sanitizer in the garden, as well as rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. I never place a bag of potting soil on the ground or potentially contaminated surfaces. (I'm growing a lot in pots while my beds solarize. And they won't go back to the beds because of contamination. Instead I'll either start cuttings from those, or start new seedlings.)

dstack 6/4/2015, 1:00 pm

For the record, the link regarding double layered solarization that Roseinarosecity posted above won't work unless you remove the "." at the end. So it's... http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

And adding to what I just said about sanitation: They say "daylight is the best disinfectant", which is true for nematodes exposed to the sun's rays. I disinfect tools by letting them bake in the hot sunlight. That's especially good for metal tools which conduct heat.

NanSFG 6/4/2015, 2:41 pm

I also have a large sanitation bucket with vinegar and dish soap water. I sanitation every pot before reuse, and sanitation all tools before reuse as well. I keep hand a sanitizer in the garden, as well as rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide.

What is your mixture of vinegar and dish soap water? Is that the sanitizer that you keep in the garden? Are the rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide for different things?

You seem to be very thorough in the care of your plants, pots, tools, and mix.

dstack 6/4/2015, 3:48 pm

NanSFG wrote:
I also have a large sanitation bucket with vinegar and dish soap water. I sanitation every pot before reuse, and sanitation all tools before reuse as well. I keep hand a sanitizer in the garden, as well as rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide.
What is your mixture of vinegar and dish soap water? Is that the sanitizer that you keep in the garden? Are the rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide for different things?

You seem to be very thorough in the care of your plants, pots, tools, and mix.

Thanks NanSFG. I sure try! Now that I think about it I'm not sure why I have both the alcohol and H202. In the past I've used H202, as a spray, to try killing aphids. But I'm not sure how effective it was.

The vinegar/soap water mixture is approximately 9 parts water, 1 part vinegar and about the same dish soap you'd use to wash dishes. I just get it nice and sudsy. This mix is my 1-2 punch! Very Happy

I always have my hand sanitizer, along with a soap water spray bottle in the garden. But I only put my sanitizing solution (vinegar/soap) together in the bucket when I'm sanitizing pots and prepping beds for solarization. That way I can sanitize anything as needed.

Oh, and as I sanitize pots I keep them up on a shelf clear away from contamination.

dstack 6/6/2015, 11:30 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:Boy, you neatly covered those beds!

You could probably get it hotter if you used another layer of plastic over the beds. Like this link suggests, http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

I did it.

Time To Solarize And Kill Nematodes - Page 2 Imag0212

**sanderson** 6/7/2015, 3:05 am

You are doing a thorough job. Very Happy

dstack 6/7/2015, 9:57 am

sanderson wrote:You are doing a thorough job.

I know you can't see it, but I have the plastic all the way down to the river rock. I tucked it under the rock. Here's another angle...

Time To Solarize And Kill Nematodes - Page 2 Imag0213

Time To Solarize And Kill Nematodes - Page 2 Imag0213

Maybe this will kill ants that made a home underneath the plywood bottom of the bed, not there's not a huge ant problem with this particular bed. I saw many ants were trying to evacuate as I finished sealing up the tent.

And that's a mason jar (upside down) holding up the center of the tent. Since this isn't my first rodeo, I knew the rebar would rip the plastic on windy days. So I placed upside down jars and plastic water bottles over the rebar.

Roseinarosecity 6/7/2015, 12:19 pm

That is fantastic work! You could already see the sweat on the top plastic layer.
When will be the uncovering day?
What has been your highest ambient temperature so far?

dstack 6/7/2015, 2:11 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:That is fantastic work! You could already see the sweat on the top plastic layer.
When will be the uncovering day?
What has been your highest ambient temperature so far?

The weekend of June 27th is when I unwrap the first of 3 beds. The following weekend will be the second, and the following will be this tented bed, which comes off July 11th. But since June begins our rainy season, I won't be able to count weeks when the sunny never, or rarely shines. So the dates may be pushed back.

I just now stuck a meat thermometer in there in the tent to get the ambient temperature, which is over 130℉. Today has been partly cloudy with a morning shower, so the thermometer only reads 100℉. I can't wait to see on a full sunny day...

Roseinarosecity 6/10/2015, 9:24 pm

Dstack, I'm curious about how you are taking the temperature. Are you poking a thermometer into the soil or are you carefully lifting the plastic away and laying the thermometer. Is the temperature you are reading, a soil temperature or just inside the two plastic films? Are you leaving the thermometer in there or are removing every time?

Have you had a sunny day, yet? Hope to read some more of your solar adventure!

dstack 6/10/2015, 9:49 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:Dstack, I'm curious about how you are taking the temperature. Are you poking a thermometer into the soil or are you carefully lifting the plastic away and laying the thermometer. Is the temperature you are reading, a soil temperature or just inside the two plastic films? Are you leaving the thermometer in there or are removing every time?

Have you had a sunny day, yet? Hope to read some more of your solar adventure!

The way I have it sealed up, it's not easy to get in there without undoing a lot of my work. So once I got enough of the top tent undone to stick the thermometer in I left it there. So yes, I poked through the bottom layer, and into the soil, but have the thermometer planted air tight. Do you think I would get a different reading if I have it under the bottom layer? I really didn't want to undo any of that layer if possible. I have it stapled and duck taped pretty good.

Regarding the sunny days, unfortunately I work Monday through Friday during the day so I can only hope for a full sunny weekend day while I'm home to check at the heat of the day. As for this week, we're definitely in the rainy season, but have had mostly HOT, sunny days with a shower here and there. I'll keep you posted, and thanks for your interest. I look forward to seeing your response.

Roseinarosecity 6/11/2015, 10:57 am

dstack wrote:
So yes, I poked through the bottom layer, and into the soil, but have the thermometer planted air tight. Do you think I would get a different reading if I have it under the bottom layer?

No, i think it's fine. I kept my thermometer under the plastic and as it got hotter, the condensation prevented me from reading the thermometer. I did not want to be opening the plastic to read the temperature because of heat loss. So, I was never ever able to take temperature readings after the first few days. My thermometer could only be take temperatures as high as 125 F. If I have to solarize again I will use a higher range thermometer.

dstack 6/11/2015, 12:20 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:
dstack wrote:
So yes, I poked through the bottom layer, and into the soil, but have the thermometer planted air tight. Do you think I would get a different reading if I have it under the bottom layer?
No, i think it's fine. I kept my thermometer under the plastic and as it got hotter, the condensation prevented me from reading the thermometer. I did not want to be opening the plastic to read the temperature because of heat loss. So, I was never ever able to take temperature readings after the first few days. My thermometer could only be take temperatures as high as 125 F. If I have to solarize again I will use a higher range thermometer.

This is my first time solarizing with a thermometer, and I know what you mean about the condensation making it difficult to read. I'm trying to see it through the tent's condensation as well as condensation within the thermometer.

dstack 6/12/2015, 10:15 pm

[/quote]
No, i think it's fine...[/quote]

This is my first time solarizing with a thermometer... [/quote]

Mine is definitely a challenge to read through all the condensation. I believe that when I said earlier that the thermometer sticking in the soil was only 100℉, now I think that mark is actually 120℉. I got home from work early today on a full sunny day to find it at 120℉. I had to put my reading glasses on and look closely. And I believe the tent helps it hold high temperatures because it continued at the same temperature after 6 PM or so. This is the temperature of the soil. Smile

dstack 6/19/2015, 4:41 pm

The past couple of days have been especially hot and sunny. Right now the soil thermometer in the tented bed reads 138℉! That means the ambient temperature of the tent must be at least 180℉.

By garden beds are death beds for root knot nematodes! Twisted Evil

**sanderson** 6/20/2015, 12:16 am

Isn't one of the beds ready for the grand reveal?

dstack 6/20/2015, 8:04 am

sanderson wrote:Isn't one of the beds ready for the grand reveal?

In one week from today! I can't wait to replant! There are other benefits to growing in solarized soil. Last summer the bed that I did sprung to life so quickly is because the heat further breaks down the soil components to soluble nutrients for the plants. And of course it kills others harmful things besides nematodes.

dstack 7/14/2015, 10:50 am

Last Saturday the third, and final, 4'x8' bed was done solarizing and I replanted.

Time To Solarize And Kill Nematodes - Page 2 Imag0216

I planted cukes and zukes, as well as a tropical melon from Thailand called Thai Golden Round.

But this bed has most of my heat tolerant leafy greens such as New Zealand spinach, longevity spinach, Summerfest Komatsuna Asian Green, and dandelions. (Yes, you read that correctly!)

I also have a few companion plants here such as nasturtims (tough to germinate!), borage, and French Marigolds.

The cukes is a new variety that I'm trying that is called Double Yield from Baker Creek, and is supposedly super productive. We'll see.

dstack 7/14/2015, 11:37 am

My mid-summer garden plan. I'll be transitioning this to a Fall plan in August.

(Blue font in the spreadsheet below signifies that it has germinated, or that the cutting(s) for that square is planted. The black font means it has yet to germinate or cuttings are still rooting in the shade on my work bench.)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qXSMaKKaopodYzoUraUlQSdWk0_5rb3aDNVjkKFKo_g/htmlview

**sanderson** 7/14/2015, 1:29 pm

I like the format you used for the plans; I could actually read it! Shocked

You have some neat varieties planned/planted. Have you grown borage before? I ask because you have them in the middle and they can become huge hogs. Yesterday, I finally pulled the borage from the boxes and they were in outside squares.

dstack 7/14/2015, 2:16 pm

sanderson wrote:I like the format you used for the plans; I could actually read it! You have some neat varieties planned/planted. Have you grown borage before? I ask because you have them in the middle and they can become huge hogs. Yesterday, I finally pulled the borage from the boxes and they were in outside squares.

Yes, Google Docs has a spreadsheet very similar to Excel. But it's on "the cloud" so you can access it from any computer or device with an internet connection.

About borage, perhaps it may like zone 10 in the fall and winter, but so far in our spring and summer I've been unsuccessful to get it to grow bigger than 6 inches tall, and the leaves are so bleached out or pale. I've tried in pots, the ground, and of course in the boxes. But you know me Sanderson, I don't give up easily! Laughing

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