Tomatoes | Growing Tips & Types: Garden Home VLOG (2019) 4K
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2019
- In this VLOG, Garden Home Television Host P. Allen Smith tells you everything you need to know about tomatoes. From types and varieties to planting tips, Allen will have you ready to grow tomatoes like a pro (Episode 16).
Topics Include:
Heirloom Tomatoes
Containers
Planting Tomato Seeds
Cut Worms
Cherry Tomatoes
Currant Tomatoes
Sweet 100's
Plum Tomatoes
Meat Tomatoes
Slicer Tomatoes
Mortgage Lifters
Indeterminate Tomatoes
Cherry Husky Red Tomatoes
Determinant Tomatoes
Companion Herbs
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Would you like to explore the gardens at Moss Mountain Farm and have a chance to be a part of the live studio audience?
Go to: pallensmith.com/tours/
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This replay of P. Allen Smith's podcast is made possible by P. Allen Smith & Associates. Need help designing, planting, or maintaining your garden? Let P. Allen Smith & Associates make your dreams come true! Learn more: www.pallensmithandassociates.com/
For a full list of sponsors please visit my website:
pallensmith.com/brandswelove/
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Wow...look at that beautiful colors of them tomatoes wow I'm telling you I've learned alot about gardening from Mr Smith every video it's wonderful I love it tomatoes looks Delicious OMG I have a pepper garden I never try growing tomatoes but from the looks of the video I'm will try it everything looks so beautiful big gorgeous and I know it taste good just by looking at it ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Thank you for watching! 🍅💚
Nothing better than a tomato sandwich on some homemade bread!
We're growing Kellogg's Breakfast, Dad's sunset, German pink and German green, San Marzano, Rutgers and a few others here in Ohio. Love your videos!
I'm growing Super Sweet 100's and San Marzano paste tomatoes in large pots. Both do GREAT here in the north Sacramento (California) valley.
Thank you Allen for all your gardening (etc) tips.
I especially enjoy your tours of Moss Mountain and other beautiful gardens internationally.
I love you so much. You have the most delightful way of teaching a novice like me how to garden. ❤😍 lol
Who wouldn't agree with that comment?! 😍
Juliet, Sungold, Cuore di Bue, Moneymaker, Pink Berkeley Tie Dyed, and Costoluto Genovese. Sungold and Juliet are definitely the most prolific of the bunch. I get very little off the PBTD but it has the most complex flavor and is fabulous for fresh eating. I like to cut tomatoes into halves or quarters, splash them with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper and roast them until caramelized. I store these in the freezer (skins, juices and all) and then in the middle of winter, add some roasted garlic, red pepper flakes and homemade chicken stock and blend them up to make a tomato soup to serve with homemade sourdough and cheddar cheese sandwiches.
For the person in Texas that had problems with the heat, I live in northern Italy, and even though it seems that we have moderate weather, last summer we had a very hot summer without much rain. You can use kaolin which is a mineral clay that you can spray on your plants and the green tomatoes to help with heat stress.
I'm in Ontario, Canada and we've been growing mostly heirlooms for a couple of years now.
Our tomatoes this season are Cherokie purple, German stripe, Oxheart and red and yellow pear cherry tomatoes. We're new to vegetable gardening and I've been binge watching Mr. Smiths video for valuable tips, thank you for your very informative vidoes!
Tomato hornworms become Hummingbird Moths -- another important pollinator. So grow a few tomatoes just for those big green crawlers and let them live to become magical creatures! Love the tips!
I'm getting the most fruit from my grape tomato but I do have a cherry type and a Rutgers slicer type. One good recipe is grilled cheese sandwiches made with Gouda cheese and tomato flesh. I just use my grape tomatoes, split them, scoop out the pulp and seeds with my thumb nail or a grapefruit spoon and put that on top of the Gouda and grill the sandwich up. I first ate that in Amsterdam in a pub! :)
Very informative video!! I live in Chicago and grow a wide variety of vegetables every year. This year I'm growing red delicious, better boy, beef steak, Dutchman, king of Siberia, giant white, yellow pear, sweet 100, orange icicle, cream sausage, lucky tiger, dark galaxy, and Brad's atomic grape. I rotate fertilize with fish emulation and worm tea, trim for air flow, and support on trellises tied with old nylons. Most are in the garden, some in 5 gal pots. Should be a bumper crop year. Thanks for all your tips. Really enjoy your channel. Cheers!
Thank you for sharing some of the tomato varieties you grow. I like growing minibel in a five gallon bucket with oregano. I think we have started about 75 different varieties this year. Favorites include the Brandywines, black vernissage, Italian heirloom, Martin's Amish Mennonite, and many others.🍅🍅🍅
Sweet 100's are my favorite!!! Always grow them. Then try different slivers.
My grandpa didn’t like tomatoes and referred to them as love apples. 😻
Yellow Pear, Yellow Husky, Solar Fire, German Queen, Roma, Goliath, Cherokee Purple, Beefmaster, Beefsteak, Mr. Stripey. All grown in containers. I love the huge pot in this vlog.
Homegrown tomatoes are an aphrodisiac,lol. I love planting Cherokee Purple in large containers with marigolds at the base. I can rotate and move the pots to best light. This method keeps my dogs from breaking them.
I grow all my veg in containers, my tomatoes are growing in minimum 7 gallon pots up to 20 gallon fabric pots. It has been an unusually cold and rainy June in the PNW so the tomatoes are a little behind, but I am growing, yellow Brandywine, Aunt Ruby's and Grandma Viney for my slicers, and San Marzanos, yellow pear, sungold (just picked the first ripe ones today, they are always my first tomatoes to ripen), heirloom large red cherry (from Dollar store seeds)----all of those tomatoes I grew from seed, I bought 2 tomatoes this year, Indigo Rose, and Chocolate cherry.
Big boy, early girl, cherry tomatoes, few organic heirloom tomatoes
Glad you mentioned that tomatoes won’t set fruit when it gets so hot. I thought they had a inner clock that made them stop producing after July. 🤣 This could actually change my life. I always thought tomatoes were like basil & liked the heat !!! Dang ! I always have beaucoup crops. My favorite thing to eat ! They seem to be extremely heavy feeders too. In all my reading, & CZcams ing- this is the 1st time I’ve EVER heard this & I’m no spring chicken ! You are a wealth of knowledge!!!!! Thank you !!!!!
My health this spring prevented me from prepping my veg garden. But I couldn't go without tomatoes! Planted up some containers and I have 6 plants thriving in my deck now. I'm feeling better and looking forward to a nice harvest!
Slicers- Cherokee Purple, Black Brandywine, Vintage Wine, Goldaman's Italian, Rutgers. Also, a tomato that my friend saved that I named after her, Connie's German.
Pastes- Orange Icicle, Black Icicle, Striped Roman, Polish Linguisa, Big Mama
Cherry- Sungold, Black Cherry, Rosella
We'll see how it all turns out. There are lots of tomatoes growing, can't wait for them to turn colors. Usually would have some by now but with the crazy weather and flooding here in the upper midwest, just grateful that we've been blessed to have any.
Oh my! Nice crop you got going there. Best of luck! 🍅💚
I grow tomatoes in pots. My favorites are Patio and Roma, and this year I added Box Car Willie and Snow White, both of them heirlooms. I also am growing Patio out in the raised bed, to compare its growth there to the little courtyard in front where I grow my container tomatoes and clematis.
I love heirloom tomatoes too. This year I’m growing Paul Robeson, Yellow Furry Hog, Dr. Wyches, Blue Cream Berry, Fred, Ivan, Large Barred Boar, Berkeley Tie Dye Green, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Abe Lincoln, Purple Russian, Black Krim, and Black Cherry. They are just starting to ripen here in zone 5a.
WOW! What a list! 💚
That sounds amazing! I've never heard of some of those! Where do you get your seeds? Especially for the Plan 9 and Yellow Furry Hog?
bootstrap garden, yellow furry hog was from victorygardeners.com Plan 9 was from heritageseedmarket.com
Thank you Dawna McKillip!
I grow apprxs. 300 organic tomato plants every summer. I start them from seed in late Feb, in my basement on heat mats, then under grow lights, then to my greenhouse until the 1st week in May. Then they all get planted in the ground. I am in MA, zone 7A..... I am picking vine ripe tomatoes the 1st week in July. I have grown my tomatoes in the exact same location for 11 years without a single problem. I grow for restaurants and small markets. Have always between 30-35 varieties. I am a strong believer if you take excellent care of your soul, your plants will grow beautifully. My soil is the most important part of my growing, I only grow organically......but yes, I grow my tomato plants in the same location every single year. I wish I could post a few pictures here for you to see......by the way, I love this channel........P. Allen Smith is an outstanding horticulturist.........
Love it..soo informative..can watched you all day long talking about flowers n plants..
Wished to visit moss house soon..
I grow a small garden in Lincoln, NE. Last fall I made a mistake. I spaded all the shredded leaves, that I picked up with the mower, into the garden soil along with what ever compost I had left. This spring I spaded the garden again, to better mix in the semi- rotten leaves. I have a Bald Cypress in my yard that I started from seed, it's "leaves" were included for the first time this year. Now any area of the garden that received the BC leaves is stunted or even killed the plants. Plants most affected are: spinach, Tatsoi, Yokatta-Na.
Thank you Lisa for that question. I have that problem, too. Rotating my tomatoes in the garden, I’ll be trying for sure. Thank you Mr. Smith for your detailed info.🌻🥰
Thanks! $75 tomatoes, so true. My heroes this year have been lemon boys. Starting fall plants soon
We're growing Roma, Big Rainbow, Celebrity, and Solar Fire in Georgia. Having trouble yet again with stink bugs. We've been battling them for years now.
Hi Allen ! That is soo amazing ! the amount of tomatoes you have ! here we ve got a few varieties of tomatoes avaiable ! not much... but still tomatoe is very popular here. In my state and region mostly was colonized by germans italians portuguese and spanish people : ) specially italians portuguese and germans,this three are my ancestors by blood and I even have a italian great grand mother that came to 'the new world' in the mass imigration and my grandmother loves to do pasta with alot of tomatoes she says it reminds of her italian family,these are the most popular cultural heritage you will find here in Brazil.For me tomatoes play a huge culture background and history.
I 've got my first ever huge plant of tomatoe.I let it grow huge in a big container, It has i think 5 or 6 branches because I prunned it really hard a few times to force laterals.Now It is flowering and setting its first fruits. I have never seen the variety neither tasted it, soo the first harvest is gonna be a taste test for me. It is very much like the Genovese tomatoe you showed in this video but a little bit smaller and very deep red color, those these descriptions remind you any variety of tomatoe,???BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA THE NAME OF MINE HAHAHA I JUST GOT THE SEEDS, It just said ' Tomatoe seeds' and a big picture. I wonder if some random tomatoe totally unusual mature on my plant hahaha that would be funny. Thanks for the knonwledge, your plants and garden always looks amazing ! Learning alot from your channel.
I'm growing Brad's Atomic Grape, Orange Icicle,, Aunt Ruby's German Green, True Black Brandywine, Throburns' Terra Cotta and Martino's Roma.
Thank you for sharing.🙂
We love to grow Cherokee tomatoes here in NC. They grow to be 7 to 9 feet tall and smell wonderful. They have such a strong earthy fragrance. We also have had great success this season with the Husky Cherry Red. We have yielded about a handful of quarter sized a day on 4 foot stalks in just a barrel container.
Very informative and educational. I personally love fried green tomatoes.
Great.. awesome
Thanks for all of the fantastic information.
🍅Awesome tips on Tomatoes🍅
They are my favorite food from the garden.
I noticed that 🐛Mr. Hornworm🐛 had arrived and been dining on my plants. I found him and didn’t have the heart to kill him so I pulled that leafless part off with him attached and put him far away over the fence. I sprayed with BT at dark all over my plants being careful to only spray the tomato plants. The only other thing planted around them are marigolds. I get them every year and have now learned how to keep them from dining on my tomato plants!!!
I really enjoy ALL your videos. You are just a walking talking book of knowledge and I appreciate you sharing that with the world. I learn something new with every video.
🦋🦜Happy Summer Allen🦋🦜
The ribbed tomatoes would be great for BLT sandwiches 🥪 😋
I love the Sweet 100's and the heirlooms Black Krim and Black Brandywine! Yum! Can't wait until they ripen!
Some of my favorites!!!! 🍅
Thank you so very much 🥳
Rutgers Tomato Minnesota
Good Day : truly appreciate the timing of this video, it helped clarify a very difficult question of what to start with when decorating a space. Love the provincial colour palette , cobalt blue absolutely beautiful accent in many settings. Great recycling project with the bottle tree, always looking for activities we can incorporate in community project. Delicious cornbread recipe. Thanks again, happy spring and healthy gardening !🌺
Thanks for this informative video.In Trinidad we have the Gem pride and Akash as well as other varieties of tomatoes.👍🍅
Awesome video Allen!
Pink Brandywine is my favorite, Chocolate sprinkles cherry,some early type will try Cherokee purple for the last time this year
In the northwest corner of Washington state I grow Early Girls and sweet 100s in containers positioned against the south side of the house. I always start with new soil every year. We use the old soil in other parts of the yard. Great vlog. Have watched you for years.
Here in west Tn we are growing red currant, white beauty, dancing with smurfs(blue), Fahrenheit blues(blue) black beauty, big rainbow, and goliath
Very informative thought I was too late to start tomatoes . Going to go ahead . Thanks for the inspiration
Do it! 🌱
You can save a little money on those biodegradable seedling/ plug starters by purchasing a box of off-brand ice cream cones instead. A little seed potting soil in each one and plant the cone into the ground the same way. Much cheaper; just as good.
Western Wisconsin and growing Early Girl and Tomato Berry a very sweet, heart shaped cherry tomato❤
Winter is my tomato growing season here in FL. I just haven’t found a good heat tolerant baby yet, still lookin.
Good tutorial as usual.
I'm growing the red currant. We have the same pack. Lol Todah. I was looking for this. Shâlôwm!
Great information, I’m hoping that our tomatoes are successful, they all have tomatoes on the plants .
Keeping our fingers crossed that they stay on and grow to a descent size. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
Carmen Bailey 🤞🏼
Good talk
Great video...my tomatoes are in pots on my deck...2 determinate and 1 indeterminate...plus pots of herbs, lettace, cucumbers,radishes and some pots with annuals...all in pots on my deck...i use a combo of garden soil and potting soil by miracle grow...best deck plants in pots that i ever have grown...i am in zone 5b and had a very wet spring and had to water them just recently...also am growing peppers...all doing very well....love your advice and utube videos...Thank You!
I am in zone 7a and grow in containers. This year my favorite are Sweet 100s. I am also growing Fantastico Grape tomato and Cherokee Purple Heirloom.
I grow the Heirloom Reinstrube every year, I like Rutgers, Arkansas Traveler and Amish Paste. This year I am trying Mortgage Lifter
Ya ive been seeing folks grow okra this year really tall well when them huge leaves get on them okra plants make sure u cut them off too u will get 10 times the okra when u cut them leaves off when there about 4 foot tall or 5 foot tall also on squash use seven dust for soil on squash 10 times the squash too with this product but only use the seven dust for soil on squash and nothing else use seven dust for caterpillars for everything else it connect to the water holes
jet star!
I was unsubscribed on this device. I re-subscribed. 🤗💛🤗💛
I'm trying to grow tomatoes on the far northwest coast of California, where I have tall redwood trees on three sides of my property. I've been having fairly good luck with cherry tomatoes like Sweet 100, Sun Gold, and Yellow Pear, but it seems like there is not enough sun and warmth in my yard for beefsteak tomatoes, or even medium-sized tomatoes. It rarely gets above 70-75 degrees here. I think I need to try some of the cold-tolerant types like Black Prince and some of the Siberian tomatoes. But anyway, I planted each one of my tomato plants in a ten gallon container so I can move them every month or so as the sun angle changes.
This is my first year growing tomatoes. I bought tree small starters. :)
Cherokee is one of my favorites. Having problem with something eating it though.
I really love your videos. I'm inspiring to own my own small farm soon. Your videos are very helpful thank you for the life you live god bless.
Thank you for watching! 💚
@@PAllenSmith you're welcome
I am trying Solar flare and painted lady this year!!
Hi! I live in zone 7 in Cumberland County, New Jersey. I grow Amish Paste, Italian Roma Heirloom, Big Zak, Early Girl and Yellow Pear.
Mr. Smith, As always, I thoroughly enjoy your videos. I would like to ask you about the Tomatoes I grew. What was missing from the soil and my feeding the T. Plant caused them to be large Beefsteak's but Bland Flavor ! Uh Oh, what did I NOT do to cause this? Thank you... Can't wait for your FALL videos...Hope that happens. I keep watching all your Fall and Halloween videos of yesteryear... PLEASE share some new insights with us for this year too ! Fall is my favorite !! Thank you so much.
We are trying container tomatoes this year to deter deer
Would love how you grow some common Indian(India) herbs; cilantro, turmeric, green cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, mace, saffron. 💖
My husband and mother-in-law are Indian. I’ve been hoping to finally incorporate these herbs, etc to my garden this year. 🥰
I would like to see where you make your compost, also a greenhouse.
Check out varieties from Seeds from Italy. My fave striped Roman and the heart shaped one. Sorry my Italian isnt very good.
Amy Jones
I bought seeds from this company.
Beautiful unique packaging!
I bought 4 different types of Marzano tomato and two different cherries!
Also everyone check out rare seeds..heirloom galore!
Radiator Charlie shop and the mortgage lifter came from Logan, West Virginia. There are lots of heirlooms that come from WV, and being from there, try to grow and save seed from as many as I can over the years. This year have mortgage lifter, wv63, black krim, Abe Lincoln, beefsteak, black from Tula , delicious, Italian heirloom, and pineapple as slicers, roma and San marzano plums, and Tommy toe and sungold cherries. Instead of starting seeds for fall crop, pot up your suckers instead. Big head start on growth and costs nothing.
Definitely try the Pineapple tomato. It has a completely different flavor and amazing sliced on hamburgers.
Yum! 😋
I grow a couple tomato plants in large containers. I lack ground space and am somewhat disabled. So it's easier for me. Last year I got 25 on one Better Boy.plant. From a starter plant from local garden center. It's also easier than having to weed a garden. :-) And less bugs too. This year I started Beefstake toms from seeds. We'll see how they do. They're now 3" tall. Iff they keep thriving I won't buy starter plants. I still have time to find out. The milk jugs buried is an old trick to water. I'm in Iowa. Our season is May-September. By end if Sept they're done.
I'm trying early girl, I'm in Houston... container based
I am "attempting" to grow San Marzano and Pineapple heirloom.
We are growing Cherokee purple. They seem to love our area. Zone 7b to 8. We have had a problem with southern wilt in our raised beds this year. We lost all our tomatoes there. Very disappointing.
I wish you would talk about fertilizing details after planting. That is where I am at now and I am wondering how often and what to use. My containers are filled with organic soil and I fertilized at planting but what should my fertilizing look like now? I am growing sweet pea currant, sungold, Barry's crazy cherry, blueberries, and I started seed for Paul robeson and pink Berkley tie dye, but the 2 larger ones didn't do as well and my season is short here in the PAC NW so I will just have to try again next year for those. In years past, I kept trying to grow all the ones I loved growing up on a farm in the south, but growing tomatoes here is a lot different than back home, especially if you don't have a greenhouse, so I am trying shorter season varieties now.
Ferment cherry tomatoes: poke one hole through each. Use a toothpick. Stuff them in a jar with layers of fresh basil. Pour healthy water in as a filler. Let Nature work its magic. Source: Mary's Nest
Take an old rotten tomato from last year and plant it....you can get 20-30 sprouts out of one rotten tomato....
Great info.
Celebrate, there great
We’re in the Blue Springs mo. Area. I guess the new rain belt.
I'm growing Beefstake this year. It's been a while but I had such beautiful, huge ones when I did. Love you videos.
Question
Do you blend egg shells in your blender to make a puree to prevent bloom end rot?
I use 2 egg shells to a full blender for each plant at the start and a bit later. Say a month.
We are growing a tomato named Whopper and a cherry tomato named Sun Sweet.
I live in a rental been experimenting with better boy tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, both plants have tomatoes forming.
I'm growing roma tomatoes from seeds for the first time in containers. What size containers do you recommend for the sprouts for a small patio?
What kind of containers do you recommend for tomatoes, not too expensive? I prefer containers that can be left outside during the winter; I live in zone 6.
We have a fence line that I want to use as a trellis for a tomato bed... couldn’t I just refresh the soil there every year or so?
White flys , been spraying with soapy water under leaf and top every other day. Seems to help. Is this acceptable. My plants have produced abundantly and want the later planted one to do the same. They are in a raised bed with new organic soil and I feed them every other week now. I do have a drip line in the beds.
I am failing miserably at growing potatoes in the 5 gallon felt bags. I chit my seed potatoes, set 2-3 onto 4" of compost in the bag, and cover with another 3"-4"of compost and topsoil mix. Once they sprout, I begin adding straw in the bag. This technique worked in my raised beds, however in the grow bags The stems seem to rot or I just dont have any potatoes in there. Any suggestions? The grow bags should prevent some issues with rot as they are very good at draining...im just stumped!
Hey there, My name is Enrique, is there any eirloom tomato in México? Do You know? Thank You.
Try this n your garden on tomatoes try cutting the bottom leaves off each plant sand backsplashes on the leaves causing a disease causing them to slow n growth they dont like that i like to make sure the leaves r cut about 8 inches up the plant they dont like that sand backsplash when u water them
What are yall's preference for a canning tomato?
I was gifted two roma tomatoe plants as a gift but dont know if they are determinant or not. It would be my first year growing tomatoes. We'll see how it goes 😬
So exciting! Good luck. 🤞🏼
Thank you ,i need it ☺
I think family solanaceae are more popularly known as nightshade family. One of the reasons why some Europeans considered tomatoes poisonous is that they are a relative of nightshade.
Allen, you really need to "update" your tomato information. As an heirloom organic gardener for many years, I realize our goal in the past was to kill pests that ravaged our edible crops. One way you recommended was to encourage or even buy the "good predators" to control the bad pests. But the ironic thing is that if you kill off all the "bad bugs" the "good bugs" or "predators" have nothing to eat and will not hang around to eat new or emerging pests. There is even a more important reason not to kill off all the "bad bugs" like the tomato hornworm. While “hornworms” are particularly demonized, many people don’t realize that these opportunistic “worms” are native caterpillars that turn into beautiful moths. They are pollinators and beneficial to our ecosystem.
One of them, the five-spotted hawkmoth (Manduca quinquemaculata), aka tomato hornworm, is in steep decline in many parts of the U.S., and isn’t receiving the same awareness or concern as other, more widely-known, and visually appealing, species like the monarch butterfly garner. In three years of tracking Lepidoptera through the Great American Indiana Nature Lepidoptera Project (#gainlp), we’ve not had any five-spotted sphinx moths or caterpillars reported. Other data collecting groups around the U.S., have had very few reports over the last ten years. It’s upsetting to think that the few caterpillars out there are being killed as just “garden pests.” Gardeners can relocate both of these Manduca species and several of the other native garden “pests” to native or exotic host plants. Known native food sources are Lettuce (Latuca spp.) mustards (Brassica spp.), bayberry (Myrica spp.), jimsonweeds (Datura spp.), black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), wolfberry and desert thorn (Lycium spp.), Apple of Peru (Nicandra physalodes), Tobacco (Nicotiana spp.), Petunias (petunia spp), groundcherries (Physalis spp), Nightshades (Solanum spp), Peppers (Capsicum spp), and Canna (Canna spp). I would recommend maybe planting a few of any of these plants and when you come across the tomato hornworms you simply transfer the caterpillar to these plants you have dedicated to providing to them as food. I would also say that the New, and I believe much wiser way to control pests in organic gardening, is the "balance of nature method" which means to plant plenty of flowering plants and plants that produce pollen and nectar, and plants that provide safe harbor for insects to lay eggs on. By planting plenty of these plants that provide food for insects (both good and bad insects), and even planting plants that are good at providing water, like the "cup plant, for all insects, you end up with a good balance of both "good" and "bad" insects that provide a more balanced, natural, and healthy approach for both the insects, the environment, and for the health of humans, insects, and animals like birds, bats, frogs, lizards, etc., that rely on those insects for food. And it is much healthier for the air, the soil, and the flora and fauna. You may have a few holes in the outer leaves of your broccoli by a few "bad bugs", but guess what? The broccoli will continue to grow and will provide a good harvest. You may have a few holes by "bad bugs" on the older leaves on your lettuce but, the "good predators" will have stopped a total infestation from wiping out your entire crop. There are a few really bad introduced species pests that you may have to do, as you suggested, a limited spray of BT to control. But it is sometimes best to wait to pull the trigger on spraying a pest, to allow the "good predators" a chance to control them. Because if you wipe out all the so called "bad bugs", many of which turn into "good bugs" that pollinate plants, then the bad bugs will have nothing to eat, and they will move on, or die out.
Campree. Seeds