Some of you might remember, or can go back in this thread, how I fought a losing battle with fungi which is common here in FL. After speaking to the county Ag office (I cannot emphasize this enough, call them, email them, stalk their office, browse their website, but this is a free goldmine of information.), I made some changes for this year:
- Plant early and avoid the heat. Fungus loves the hottest part of the year, so get in your harvest before this happens.
- Mulch. The master gardener I spoke to was ambivalent to mulch (he didn't in his garden, but recognized the value), but I went and used pine bark. I've already noticed a decrease in weeds and better water retention.
- One of the two beds has an added layer of landscaping mat to reduce weeds.
- I'm aggressively pruning the lower branches of my tomato plants. That encourages vertical growth and reduces "attack vectors" for soil-borne fungus.
- Spray early, spray often. I alternate between neem oil and a copper-based fungicide. The former also helps with insects, but I'm trying to keep it all at bay until the plants produce fruit.
We'll see if this works or not.
While recommended, I did NOT do this because of time, but it is on my "To Do" list and that is a drip irrigation system. By not "blasting" water on the plants you reduce the opportunity for fungus to grow and you can keep the soil's water level constant.
One last thing for this year which I didn't do in seasons past: I am staying on top of fertilizing the soil. Every two weeks and I already notice a huge difference in how quickly the plants are growing.