Crisis Continues

Gloomy news to report...all the Basella alba aka Malabar Spinach is getting sick.  They're probably all succumbing to RKN...Root Knot Nematode.  This was supposed to be my main crop for greens.

The molokhia looks sick too...signs of deficiency in all the new growth.  It's probably all due to RKN.  The Gold Coast Okra is still looking OK, but there are very few pods now.  They've been going for too long I guess...I started the seedlings in May.  So I'm in a jam for things to eat.  The only plants that are still doing well are the peppers...Jwala and Caribbean Red.

I started some mustard seed, maybe that will save me.  Normally I get all my veggies from the garden but things like this happen once in a while.  I have some potting soil in some barrels that's been just sitting there for years.  I plan to dig that out of the barrels and fill some containers with it...after I mix it with compost and rock powder.  I'll get by...I have some greens in the fridge that I pickled for times like these...and I can always go buy some kale or something to keep me going for a while.

Best not to underestimate the toughness of PPN...plant-parasitic nematodes.  They can really wreak havoc on a veggie garden in the rainy season, especially if your soil is sandy like mine.  I thought a month of fallowing all my potting soil in barrels would decimate them, but somehow they survived that unscathed and attacked my plantings in large numbers.

I'll also switch to the planting beds now.  They've been growing nothing but grass for a while.  RKN doesn't like grass at all.  I'll admit, I'm discouraged.  But this often happens to me in September, it's a tough month for gardening here...and crop failures are nothing new.  Everyone who gardens in Florida has them...commercial farmers too.  Farmers say that planting crops here is like going to Las Vegas...except that with Florida farming you don't know what the odds are when you put your plants in the ground.  Sometimes you lose no matter how smart you think you are.

PPN are the number one problem for Florida gardeners and farmers.  Once you get them, you never get rid of them...all you can do is reduce their numbers long enough to get a crop to harvest stage.  We have RKN, sting nematodes, cyst nematodes, and many others I'd rather not think about.  I've seen them all in my garden. They're harmless to humans, except for taking the food out of your mouth.  One year I found three different kinds in one planting bed. Needless to say, nothing would grow there...even the weeds got sick.

Welcome to Paradise.