484-Tomato Season Wrap-Up, with Craig LeHoullier

So, but yeah, the lear- it, you know, one of my things that I had to figure out this year is why are my to- why are some of my tomatoes grown in straw bales coming down with fusarium wilt now?

[laughs]

And I've decided it's because this is the seventh garden in this yard, and roots of the plants grow through the straw bales and get into-

Mm

...

the lawn underneath.

Yeah.

And so clearly fusarium has now gotten into some of the areas of my lawn that sits under the bale.

And so for me, my next experiment on that is to take pieces of landscaping cloth and place them under the straw bales in the yard to see if I can prevent those roots from sneaking into the soil.

And if I do that, I would expect to see less fusarium wilt in my garden.

So there it is.

I had an observation.

I have a theory.

Next year I'll test it to see how it goes.

Good luck with that.

Thank you.

And can I make a prediction already?

Yeah.

I won't f- I won't be able to beat it.

[laughs]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say, and I, and I kinda did that with, um, grow bags, and I think grow bag, grow bags are...

I think they're tighter weaved than-

Mm-hmm

... weed cloth.

And I tried to put grow bags into beds that I knew had soil pathogens, fusarium primarily-

So, but yeah, the lear- it, you know, one of my things that I had to figure out this year is why are my to- why are some of my tomatoes grown in straw bales coming down with fusarium wilt now?

[laughs]

And I've decided it's because this is the seventh garden in this yard, and roots of the plants grow through the straw bales and get into-

Mm

...

the lawn underneath.

Yeah.

And so clearly fusarium has now gotten into some of the areas of my lawn that sits under the bale.

And so for me, my next experiment on that is to take pieces of landscaping cloth and place them under the straw bales in the yard to see if I can prevent those roots from sneaking into the soil.

And if I do that, I would expect to see less fusarium wilt in my garden.

So there it is.

I had an observation.

I have a theory.

Next year I'll test it to see how it goes.

Good luck with that.

Thank you.

And can I make a prediction already?

Yeah.

I won't f- I won't be able to beat it.

[laughs]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say, and I, and I kinda did that with, um, grow bags, and I think grow bag, grow bags are...

I think they're tighter weaved than-

Mm-hmm

... weed cloth.

And I tried to put grow bags into beds that I knew had soil pathogens, fusarium primarily-