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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Rotation, was Re: Tomatoes, to rotate or not to rotate
  • Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 06:00:23 -0500


On May 2, 2008, at 8:05 PM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

Soil borne pathogens on the soil surface can be thwarted by removing lower
foliage.

And I forgot to add that my, and no doubt many others, practice of heavy mulching beneath the plants also stops the splash effect from rain.

Open air space and good organic plants will resit the diseases. But I see
little evidence that rotation does all that much good. I am suspecting that
crop rotation is yet another one of those things that is necessary in
agribusiness operations that gets subliminated into the kitchen garden without examining
very deeply that it is apropos or not.

That may very well be. I believe there are, however, sound reasons for garden rotation. Root diseases tend to diminish when deprived of their hosts. The roots of some crops till the soil and bring up micronutrients. Crop residue may hold disease organisms. Just as I do not leave fruit tree prunings lying on the ground under my trees, I prefer, when I have time, to compost crop residue. Many crops benefit from raising the pH with lime: legumes, brassicas, tomatoes, peppers and more. But I would not follow a liming year with potatoes, so as to plan against scab, which, while not especially damaging to the tubers, causes most of us to peel and therefore waste the product. Yeah, I know, just grow more. But I also do the cooking in our family and I consider potato peeling a waste of time and nutrients. But potatoes do benefit from calcium. I have never figured out how to resolve this paradox. I have read that some commercial growers provide calcium chloride during the growing season. My mindset is that as long as I provide large quantities of mulch and compost, the soil community will take care of the rest of it.

For those of you who grow potatoes, do you use the same area for potatoes from year to year? To what factors in your garden do you attribute greater or lesser incidence of scab? James, you posted that you bought a lot of seed potatoes. Did you do that rather than using your own because the seed potatoes are certified disease free?

The one factor of which I am certain is that constantly working to raise the organic content in my garden is beneficial. The end product of adding organic matter above and into the soil is humus, which is the final state of plant matter, the state where the soil community is happiest. That organic matter also creates oxygen pathways and holds moisture during periods of inadequate rain are bonuses. The biggie for me is providing optimal conditions for the gazillions of microscopic and visible animals living below the surface of my garden beds.


  • [Homestead] Rotation, was Re: Tomatoes, to rotate or not to rotate, Gene GeRue, 05/03/2008

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