Back in May, we wrote about the soil-borne pathogens that devastated our tomato and eggplant crops last summer, most likely Fusarium - a fungal disease that affects the plant's vascular tissues so they cannot take up water and nutrients adequately, resulting in wilting and quick death of the plants.
Since then we've been progressively planting mustard greens in each of our polyhouses, growing them in an attempt to suppress Fusarium and its cousins through a natural process called biofumigation. When they are approaching maturity, we mow the mustard greens and immediately incorporate them into the soil, where chemicals called glucosinolates break down into isothiocyanates - volatile compounds that are toxic to many soil-borne pathogens, including our Fusarium.
The various houses are at different stages of growth, from the Treehouse, which is ready to be mowed and incorporated, through to Penthouse 3, which has just germinated. The Treehouse and Playhouse will be ready to mow and incorporate this week, and the other houses over the next few weeks as the mustard continues to mature.
We'll give you another update in a few weeks, but the real proof will be when we have tomatoes back in store and at market!
Continue reading: Mustard Greens, Stage 2 - Part 3