Messed up my raised beds for 3 seasons by ignoring one simple thing

Honestly, I spent like 2 years wondering why my tomato plants kept getting blight no matter what I did. Then last spring I had a buddy from Oregon come visit and he took one look at my garden layout and pointed out I was watering from overhead instead of using drip irrigation at the soil level. I switched to a $30 soaker hose setup from Home Depot and it cut down my plant loss by like 70% that summer. Has anyone else caught a basic gardening error that took way too long to notice?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery_young1318d ago

Overhead watering isn't the problem, it's how you do it. Soaker hoses can actually trap moisture under mulch and cause root rot or fungus problems if your soil doesn't drain perfectly. I've been watering from above with a regular hose sprayer for years and my tomatoes are fine as long as I do it early morning so leaves dry by night. Blight is usually from infected soil or seeds, not watering method. Your buddy just got lucky guessing. Maybe check your soil pH or crop rotation before blaming overhead watering.

the_hayden18d ago

That soil pH thing is real, my friend's tomatoes were stunted for two seasons before he realized his local water was messing with the balance.