As I read through the various postings I see a common thread that I refer to as "over-care." How I limit myself is as follows. My strategy is to properly amend the planting site to provide a suitable soil profile to the liking of the tuber. Once planted, I provide a biologic preventative treatment to foster microbial activity for a variety of reasons. At time of planting, thwarting potential fungal disease is crucial. With my soil balanced between good drainage, sufficient organic content and balanced nutrition to include a mycorrhizal inoculum. In addition, I mix up a batch of biological products to support my effort to keep my tubers healthy. So, I use Actinovate, Companion 2-3-2, Earth Juice - Catalyst, Ful-Power and Maxi-crop [liquid form]. This cocktail along with my addition of Jobe's Organic Granular fertilizer lends itself to a high degree of success. The planting site gets a lot of attention as I focus on increasing tilth through the addition of gypsum, azomite, live earth [humates], fish bone meal, kelp and composted manure. I really get down and dirty while creating these sites and love the challenge of finding the energy to do a really thorough job. In my area, unamended soil means heavy clay which if left unattended spells real disappointment over the season. Once, sufficiently amended it produces tremendous results and rewards us with a bounty of veggies, flowers, etc. Recognizing that a living soil is what provides us with a glorious garden, my effort to contribute to just that is later realized in the wellness of what it is we decide to grow for the season. Of course, I'd be the first to agree that there are a lot of approaches to how one plants and cares for their plantings. So, to this I say, find what works best for you and once you've completed the task...stand back and let Mother Nature do her thing. Analogous to watching a pot of water come to boil, we distract ourselves by weeding, mulching, pruning, and bickering all the while loving the joy of growing. [laughing as I sit scratching my mosquito bites from last evening.] I also highly recommend the use of azadirachtin products over neem oil, Monterrey Garden Insect spray [spinosad A & B] in combination with the azadirachtin and, of late, I have begun using Serenade - Biological Fungicide as a preventative in my effort to thwart gray mold, powdery mildew and the various leaf blights sometimes affecting our planting.
Q
