Back on fence early this morning. Mostly cutting back brush and marking for post placement. I think I need about 7 more posts.
This bed of tomatoes is mostly dead so I've been pulling them out.
What killed them? I thought at first maybe the drip system failed but the soil was moist enough. Then I thought probably one of the virus diseases got them. But no. When I pulled up a dead plant I discovered that it was rootknot nematodes. So this bed will mostly be planted to marigolds ASAP. As soon as the plants are at least a foot tall I'll chop them up and dig them into the soil. Special compounds in the leaves will help kill the nematodes. Then I'll mostly grow mustards over the winter and next spring which will also help kill them.
When my hands got tired of cutting up dead plants I moved to this project. I'm just tying up tall saplings to the garden fence with hay strings. This is my free wind break. This garden gets really blasted by the wind during storms so this will hopefully help it out.
Some of the usual chores and a visit with mom. Then about 4:00 this storm rolled in suddenly with a lot of wind and thunder.
It dropped almost .8" of rain at my house in under an hour. So happy for the water!
But it also has its draw backs. Tarps over dog kennels make great safe chicken pens, except when it rains! There was so much water in this spot I had to baile it with a bucket before I could push up from underneath to dump the rest of the water off.
In other news there is a baby in the bathtub. Yesterday he was having a hard time holding his head up. I lost 2 Ameraucana chicks from the same pen last week with the same issue. I thought they had the vitamin E / selenium deficiency going on and pumped them full of vitamins but it didn't help. In the meantime I've noticed some foamy yellow poop that makes me think they have coccidiosis. So I've been giving this guy some hearty doses of Corid (commercial amprolium powder). This afternoon he seemed a little perkier so I'll see how he's acting in the morning. I've also started the other birds in his pen on the Corid also. For more information about cocci check out the Merk Veterenarian Manual, https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/coccidiosis/overview-of-coccidiosis-in-poultry
Now time to feed the dogs and go to bed. Good night world.
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