Donna: my soil is very alkaline too. I am using chelated iron about once a month to help with that. Try adding some molasses, and some liquid seaweed. The best thing you can do, as you know is get your soil in good shape, and it sounds like you are doing a great deal of work to get that accomplished. Its a long, process. I also found a new fertilier that I LOVE! Its Medina Hasta Grow. I've never used the Algoflash...My personal philosophy is to keep experimenting until I find what works. I wish I could wave a magic wand over your garden (and mine to get rid of the grasshoppers!).
Oh my gosh, its pouring outside again!!! Is there no end to this weather? I have a few brugs starting to turn yellow from all this rain... Definitely going to have to foliar spray some fert on these babies as soon as it dries out a little!
I know I'm boring y'all to tears...
Gretchen...while looking through old posts for molasses...I came across this on grasshoppers...
http://davesgarden.com/t/429213/molasses
Thanks Margie -- might be worth trying!
Gretchen, thanks for mentioning using chelated iron, For some reason I had forgotten to use that. So tomorrow I will spray the yellowish ones with the iron. Today wasn't as hot as the first days of the week, actually right now it is raining quite hard and i hope no hail in it. Thunder and lightning a while ago. Before that I dug up four more of the 2 gal pots and replanted the brugs back in same hole. The reason I haven't tried the double pot thing is that with my twice replaced hip joints and severe arthiritis and being 78 years old, I don't think I can manage to lift or dig out any large size pots.
My plan is if I am lucky and have any really nice brugs that are worth saving, I will take cuttings rather than try to move large pots into the GH. thanks for your help. Donna
Donna: Glad to have been a help. Wow! I can't believe you are 78 years young!!! That's awesome, that you do all you do!!! That's what I'm going to do -- take cuttings of any that I want to save...
Gretchen, et al, would you all tell me what those of you that are getting all this rain (like me), tell me what you are doing about fertilizing your plants. I'm hesitant to put any more water on them, but it's been almost two weeks since they've been fed...I have lots of buds, so I really think they should be fed, but what should I use??? Would cow manure burn them, assuming the sun came out, which, I understand, is highly unlikely in my area until next Saturday, if then. TIA!!!!!