Home garden tomatoes - Part II
Do not be tempted to plant
tomatoes outdoors too soon. You for sure want to wait till the danger of frost has passed and maybe
even longer.
Tomatoes may be the most popular item grown in gardens. I think most gardeners will plant at least a few tomato plants annually. As a quick review, we previously covered important topics in regards to home garden tomato production. First, the sky is the limit on tomato varieties.
Keep in mind that there are tomato varieties tried and true for Georgia. Make sure you are providing a suitable area that will give transplants the needed sunlight, soil drainage of excess moisture plus a pH in the 6.2 to 6.8 range. Do not be tempted to plant tomatoes outdoors too soon. You for sure want to wait till the danger of frost has passed and maybe even longer.
You can grow your own transplants from seed indoors if you can dedicate the time, but buying healthy transplants may be easier. With growing season still months away, you still have time to conduct a $9 soil test to get exact liming and fertilizing recommendations. Last in our review, consider using drip irrigation or soak hoses which can help conserve moisture and reduce some disease issues. Today, we will cover other important tomato growing topics again with information from a UGA publication by Bob Westerfield, UGA Extension Horticulturist.
When you plant tomato plants later in the spring, only choose health appearing transplants. You may have heard experienced gardeners tell you to plant tomato transplants deep. Note that tomato plants can develop roots all along their stem so this is why you plant them deeply to aid the development of a great root system. You should set the transplants down in the ground to the first set of true leaves near the soil surface. If your transplants are in peat pots, it is not necessary to remove the container, but you should plant deep enough so the peat pot is not exposed to the soil surface. This can cause the root ball to dry out. After planting, firm the soil around the tomato plants to force out any air pockets. After planting, give the tomatoes a light amount of fertilizer. This can be done by way of a starter solution. Our information suggests to pour about one pint of starter solution (2 tablespoons of 5-10-10 or 5-10-5 fertilizer dissolved in one gallon of water) around each plant.
Another tip is on staking or trellising of tomatoes. If tomato plants are to be staked or trellised, you should space them 24 inches apart in rows that are 4 to 6 few apart. Westerfield adds that staking will cause more work in the beginning, but it will make care for tomatoes easier and will also keep the plant foliage from touching the soil thus reducing disease issues. You have several staking options available.
There are commercially available cages on the market or you can use 6 foot-tall, 1-inch square wooded stakes. It is suggested to drive the wooden stakes into the ground about one foot and 4 to 6 inches from the actual transplant. Heavy twine or strips of cloth can be used to tie the plants to the stake about every 10 inches vertically as the tomato plant grows. Westerfield states that tomatoes can also be supported by training them to trellises or by using a weaving system of cord and stakes.
Mulch can be a big aid in the tomato growing spot. Our information states that weed-free straw, chopped leaves or compost can make a great mulch option. You can mulch the tomato plants soon after they are transplanted into the garden area. It is suggested to apply mulch at a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Newspaper can also be helpful. Lay newspaper about three sheets thick around each plant to help as a weed barrier and to help conserve soil moisture. You will then place your mulch on top of the newspaper.
You can also use the synthetic weed barrier rolls if you choose. These too will help cut down on weed issues and aid in conserving moisture. The synthetic weed barrier rolls will work best according to Westerfield if laid down over beds prior to planting the tomato plants. Small slits can be made into the material that will allow for you to plant. Keep in mind that soil or small stakes may be needed on the roll edges to secure the material on a windy day.
One common issue in growing tomatoes is blossom-end rot. I am sure most gardeners have seen the dark, sunken, water-soaked area at the blossom end of a tomato fruit before. This is a physiological disorder that is associated with a low concentration of calcium in the tomato. You will see this more commonly when there is a drought situation followed by excessive moisture. To help, keep the pH in a recommended zone. Try to avoid soil moisture fluctuations. Do not over fertilize with nitrogen either. There are commercial foliar blossom-end rot products on the market, but they are only short term solutions or may not work as well as you prefer.
Inspections are conducted by Environmental Health Services, a division of the county health departments.
A: Food safety excellence with a numerical score of 90 to 100.
B: Satisfactory compliance with a numerical score of 80 to 89.
C: Marginal compliance with a numerical score of 70 to 79.
U: Unsatisfactory compliance with a numerical score of 69 or less.
CA=Corrective action PIC=Person in charge TSC= Time/ temperature control for safety
A hacker’s botched attempt to poison the water supply of a small Florida city is raising alarms about just how vulnerable the nation’s water systems may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders. Treatment plants are typically cash-strapped and lack the cybersecurity depth of the power grid and nuclear plants.
A local sheriff’s startling announcement Monday that the water supply of Oldsmar, population 15,000, was briefly in jeopardy last week exhibited uncharacteristic transparency. Suspicious incidents are rarely reported and usually are chalked up to mechanical or procedural errors, experts say. No federal reporting requirement exists, and state and local rules vary widely.
“In the industry, we were all expecting this to happen. We have known for a long time that municipal water utilities are extremely underfunded and under-resourced, and that makes them a soft target for cyberattacks,” said Lesley Carhart, principal incident responder at Dragos Security, which specializes in industrial control systems.
“I deal with a lot of municipal water utilities for small, medium and largesized cities. And in a lot of cases, all of them have a very small IT staff. Some of them have no dedicated security staff at all,” she said.
The nation’s 151,000 public water systems lack the financial fortification of the corporate owners of nuclear power plants and electrical utilities. They are a heterogenous patchwork, less uniform in technology and security measures than in other rich countries.
As the computer networks of vital infrastructure become easier to reach via the internet — and with remote access multiplying dizzily during the COVID-19 pandemic — security measures often get sacrificed. That appeared to be the case at Oldsmar.
Cybersecurity experts said the attack at the plant 15 miles northwest of Tampa seemed ham-handed, it was so blatant. Whoever breached Oldsmar’s plant on Friday using a remote access program shared by plant workers briefly increased the amount of lye — sodium hydroxide — by a factor of 100, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. Lye is used to lower acidity, but in high concentrations it is highly caustic and can burn. It’s found in drain cleaning products.
How the hacker got in remains unclear, Gualtieri said. But some details have emerged.
An advisory that Massachusetts posted for its public water suppliers said the intruder entered through a remote-access program called TeamViewer. It was loaded on all computers used by plant personnel, all of which were connected to the plant’s control system, the advisory said, adding that all users shared the same password — ignoring cybersecurity best practices. Further, those computers “appeared to be connected directly to the Internet without any type of firewall protection installed.”