We all have disasters! I grew cabbage one year and was rather pleased that they were growing well. However, I didn't know to protect them from cabbage butterflies. You can imagine the horror one morning to find they were eaten to death by these green & yellow caterpillars! A brassica massacre! 😪
Hello from North Carolina. Sorry to hear you have had a bad year for tomatoes. Here’s hoping things will improve soon. Enjoying the tunes from Sir Clapton. We are getting hammered by Hurricane Deborah, but so far no major damage.
Great Investigation, Jim A Big Lesson to use pH Meter as soil insurance. Easy to forget; don't use mine very often, but will do so after this vivid demonstration. Liquid Amendments to balance soil only quick remedy I know of. Calcium comes to mind first. - xxoo 💌🍒
Since most homemade compost videos agree, equal parts brown and green are a must, so adding coir/peat to wood chips would be part of the problem. As well as fresh wood chips, (carbon) just as a normal process, will deplete nitrogen during the decomposition of them. And I agree with your assessment that it was at least operator error. I'd be lying if I said I got every step I've taken worked. Also, as someone suggested, Deb, hit the soil that had the chips in it with some lime and nitrogen now, chop n drop, and test again in the spring. If everything else, without wood chips grew fine, then the answer was the chips. Not a failure, just "food" for thought.
Hello Mark. This soil mix is finished for this year. I have at least 6 months before I would use it again so plenty of time to try and raise the pH. I'm on it! Jim.
This from the internet: "If soil pH is below about 5.5, new foliage becomes chlorotic, distorted, and possibly necrotic. Plant growth slows. In severe cases affected roots can become discolored, short, and stubby. Symptoms result primarily from aluminum toxicity and deficiencies of calcium and magnesium". All of my bags were below 5.5 most lower than 3.5. What do you think? These tomatoes and cucumbers didn't stand a chance. Was it the fresh Wood chip, was it the Coir or was it a combination of both. Was it too high an acidity or something else that did for my tomatoes? What do you think? This is how the Tomatoes went down hill: studio.th-cam.com/users/videoREC56CMgjCw/edit
Probably the woodchips, I would add some silica.. it tends to make the soil alkaline so it would be perfect time to use it.. humic acid also helps to balance ph..
Thanks so much for all of your videos. I've been watching you for years and I owe most of my gardening successes to you. My tomatoes, leeks and sweetcorn are doing well, even though it's been a very crappy growing year weather wise! Thank you and happy gardening from Dublin ☘
I had six tomatoes and most of them died(I didn't use what you used in my buckets). I have two that seem to be recovering. One who was a wild tomato(threw some Beef Steak tomatoes to the hens that were a bit over ripe) and it is thriving in the bucket, with many flowers and one store bought with many flowers and tomatoes( Celebrity) on it. I have another, which might make it to the finish line(also a Celebrity) which I cut down, but has since sent up a new stock. We'll see...
You could try mixing some agricultural lime or dolomite into that soil mix and measuring again in the spring. (Perhaps after sifting). We deal with pH 4.5 to 5 base soils and find adding aged manure, compost and lime raises the pH to great levels quite quickly. (I usually add lime separately from manure if there's any chance the manure isn't completely broken down) Good luck and hope you can recover all that soil mix
Hello Deb. If I'd known the mix was this acidic I would have amended with some lime, but I didn't check before planting and the rest is 'history' as they say. Jim.
Holy Smokes, those poor plants. The pH scale is logarithmic so every difference in an integer is a tenfold difference in acidity (pH 4 is 10x more acidic than pH 5). I can't imagine how that mix got so acidic; it really sounds pretty perfect. OK so since I'm stubborn and have to fool with things and can't ever leave well enough alone I have a suggestion. Make a baking soda solution and drench the bags with it. I'd start with perhaps half a cup per gallon and give each bag a gallon. Let it really soak in, give it a day and check the pH again. The baking soda won't hurt the plants and it's a buffer so the pH won't get too high as it would with lime. It may help to give you a few tomatoes before fall sets in but it will also begin to correct the acid imbalance so the soil is adjusted for next year. You know how I love an experiment... So sorry this happened to you and your poor little plants.
Hello Diane. If it was earlier in the season I would try to 'rescue' them but they are well behind where they should be and moving into our final summer month I've ran out of time. Better luck next time as they say. Jim.
@@HomeGrownVeg Makes sense. Our weather gives us another two and a half months to go. I keep forgetting your climate. What will you do with the soil? Maybe lime mixed in the wheelbarrow or overwinter and check in the spring? It had to be the 'raw' wood chips. If they're fine enough they'll settle down by then I'd think but a slack handful of lime wouldn't hurt. Keep us posted.
@@HomeGrownVegperhaps this a chance to test how quickly you can alter the acidity level back to a decent range using methods suggested. Could be a video in it. Also, did you test your meter was accurate?
@@cyclingsfatsuma9808 This soil mix is finished for this year. I have at least 6 months before I would use it again so plenty of time to try and raise the pH. I'm on it! Jim.
I didn't realise some wood chip would have that kind of effect. I would easily do the same thing. I'll need to get a soil meter the one I have doesn't work. Where did you get the wood chip from do you think it had been treated with pesticides or weed killer?
Pine needles are pretty acidic, but I can't see them having that kind of effect. Working with coir can be tricky (if you ignore instructions) but even that shouldn't cause such acidity.
We all have disasters! I grew cabbage one year and was rather pleased that they were growing well. However, I didn't know to protect them from cabbage butterflies. You can imagine the horror one morning to find they were eaten to death by these green & yellow caterpillars! A brassica massacre! 😪
Hi Jim, Love your tenacious gardener's spirit!! The hope of next year and better results to come. Lisa
Hello from North Carolina. Sorry to hear you have had a bad year for tomatoes. Here’s hoping things will improve soon. Enjoying the tunes from Sir Clapton. We are getting hammered by Hurricane Deborah, but so far no major damage.
Great Investigation, Jim A Big Lesson to use pH Meter as soil insurance. Easy to forget; don't use mine very often, but will do so after this vivid demonstration. Liquid Amendments to balance soil only quick remedy I know of. Calcium comes to mind first. - xxoo 💌🍒
Since most homemade compost videos agree, equal parts brown and green
are a must, so adding coir/peat to wood chips would be part of the problem.
As well as fresh wood chips, (carbon) just as a normal process, will deplete nitrogen
during the decomposition of them.
And I agree with your assessment that it was at least operator error. I'd be lying if I
said I got every step I've taken worked.
Also, as someone suggested, Deb, hit the soil that had the chips in it with some lime
and nitrogen now, chop n drop, and test again in the spring.
If everything else, without wood chips grew fine, then the answer was the chips.
Not a failure, just "food" for thought.
Hello Mark. This soil mix is finished for this year. I have at least 6 months before I would use it again so plenty of time to try and raise the pH. I'm on it! Jim.
This from the internet: "If soil pH is below about 5.5, new foliage becomes chlorotic, distorted, and possibly necrotic. Plant growth slows. In severe cases affected roots can become discolored, short, and stubby. Symptoms result primarily from aluminum toxicity and deficiencies of calcium and magnesium".
All of my bags were below 5.5 most lower than 3.5. What do you think? These tomatoes and cucumbers didn't stand a chance. Was it the fresh Wood chip, was it the Coir or was it a combination of both. Was it too high an acidity or something else that did for my tomatoes? What do you think?
This is how the Tomatoes went down hill: studio.th-cam.com/users/videoREC56CMgjCw/edit
Probably the woodchips, I would add some silica.. it tends to make the soil alkaline so it would be perfect time to use it.. humic acid also helps to balance ph..
Nice presentation❤❤❤❤👍👍
Thanks so much for all of your videos.
I've been watching you for years and I owe most of my gardening successes to you.
My tomatoes, leeks and sweetcorn are doing well, even though it's been a very crappy growing year weather wise!
Thank you and happy gardening from Dublin ☘
Wow, I've never seen soil that acidic! On the USGS chart I have it say, "all fish die" below 5. A pH around 4 is "acid rain/acidic lake."
Gardener error me thinks. Jim.
Yep. Should have been growing blue berries...
@@HomeGrownVeg We all make mistakes out of honest ignorance. I wouldn't have thought to check, either.
"Doomed We're all doomed." Cried the tomatoes.
I did the same with tatties one year, never again.
Wood chip for footpaths only for me now.
I had six tomatoes and most of them died(I didn't use what you used in my buckets). I have two that seem to be recovering. One who was a wild tomato(threw some Beef Steak tomatoes to the hens that were a bit over ripe) and it is thriving in the bucket, with many flowers and one store bought with many flowers and tomatoes( Celebrity) on it. I have another, which might make it to the finish line(also a Celebrity) which I cut down, but has since sent up a new stock. We'll see...
As an experiment, amend the soil with lime and see if they respond. That would make a great video! 🍅🍅🍅
I'm on it. Jim.
You could try mixing some agricultural lime or dolomite into that soil mix and measuring again in the spring. (Perhaps after sifting). We deal with pH 4.5 to 5 base soils and find adding aged manure, compost and lime raises the pH to great levels quite quickly. (I usually add lime separately from manure if there's any chance the manure isn't completely broken down)
Good luck and hope you can recover all that soil mix
Hello Deb. If I'd known the mix was this acidic I would have amended with some lime, but I didn't check before planting and the rest is 'history' as they say. Jim.
Holy Smokes, those poor plants. The pH scale is logarithmic so every difference in an integer is a tenfold difference in acidity (pH 4 is 10x more acidic than pH 5). I can't imagine how that mix got so acidic; it really sounds pretty perfect.
OK so since I'm stubborn and have to fool with things and can't ever leave well enough alone I have a suggestion. Make a baking soda solution and drench the bags with it. I'd start with perhaps half a cup per gallon and give each bag a gallon. Let it really soak in, give it a day and check the pH again. The baking soda won't hurt the plants and it's a buffer so the pH won't get too high as it would with lime. It may help to give you a few tomatoes before fall sets in but it will also begin to correct the acid imbalance so the soil is adjusted for next year.
You know how I love an experiment...
So sorry this happened to you and your poor little plants.
Hello Diane. If it was earlier in the season I would try to 'rescue' them but they are well behind where they should be and moving into our final summer month I've ran out of time. Better luck next time as they say. Jim.
@@HomeGrownVeg Makes sense. Our weather gives us another two and a half months to go. I keep forgetting your climate. What will you do with the soil? Maybe lime mixed in the wheelbarrow or overwinter and check in the spring? It had to be the 'raw' wood chips. If they're fine enough they'll settle down by then I'd think but a slack handful of lime wouldn't hurt. Keep us posted.
@@HomeGrownVegperhaps this a chance to test how quickly you can alter the acidity level back to a decent range using methods suggested. Could be a video in it.
Also, did you test your meter was accurate?
@@cyclingsfatsuma9808 This soil mix is finished for this year. I have at least 6 months before I would use it again so plenty of time to try and raise the pH. I'm on it! Jim.
wow. just wow
Water in a little lime, 3 months left yet,
I didn't realise some wood chip would have that kind of effect. I would easily do the same thing. I'll need to get a soil meter the one I have doesn't work. Where did you get the wood chip from do you think it had been treated with pesticides or weed killer?
The one Jim using on temu 2.79p FREE DEL just a thought 💭🤔
Pine needles are pretty acidic, but I can't see them having that kind of effect. Working with coir can be tricky (if you ignore instructions) but even that shouldn't cause such acidity.
Dear lord! No wonder.😂... Jim
So, growing your tomatoes in battery acid? 😁 The good thing about gardening - there is always next year