Answers Needed! Nightshade Family Concerns and Questions

[buffyfluffy17]

Hello,
I have a few questions about what is in the nightshade family of plants for two reasons. 1. I am concerned about my chickens eating the plants from the nightshade family and don't want them to get sick. 2. I have a garden that has a bacteria infection in the soil and when I did the research, I found out that no plants of the nightshade family can be planted in the same soil for about three to four years. Not to mention that I feed my chickens skins of different fruits and vegetables from the garden. I know potatoes and tomatoes are in the nightshade family, but what about different types of edible plants?

Thanks,
Buffyflufffy17

 

[pdirt]

Eggplant is nightshade as well. Other than tomatoes and potatoes, that's all I am thinking of right now, though I'm sure there's more.

Chickens LOVE tomatoes, generally. Potatoes are fine unless the skin is green (scrape the skin with your fingernail, if it is green don't eat the skin, the potato within nor feed it to your chickens). Most of the solanine is in the skin of a potato and some folks choose to just skip feeding any potato skins (green or not) to their chickens.

I don't know about eggplant, but as far as I know, they're more like tomatoes.

I'm curious...what sort of bacterial soil infection do you have? How did it get there?

 

[buffyfluffy17]

The bacterial infection in the soil is known as Southern Bacterial Blight or Bacterial Wilt. I believe it got in the soil when when my family and I put some more topsoil in the garden, and in it was Southern Bacterial Blight which just spread throughout the garden. The last couple years our tomato and potato plants began failing on us and wilting. Below I show you a picture of the Southern Bacterial Blight.

 

[pdirt]

The bacterial infection in the soil is known as Southern Bacterial Blight or Bacterial Wilt. I believe it got in the soil when when my family and I put some more topsoil in the garden, and in it was Southern Bacterial Blight which just spread throughout the garden. The last couple years our tomato and potato plants began failing on us and wilting. Below I show you a picture of the Southern Bacterial Blight.

I don't know specifically about SSB, but you might look into "EM" (Effective Microorganisms). It is a type of probiotic for the soil, was developed at a university in Japan in the 80's and has made it's way west. Some (usually organic) farmers are using it in the USA and Europe now. You may be able to spray your soil with the EM (perhaps multiple treatments over the course of a year, I am guessing here) and overcome the Blight. Regular maintenance use of EM for a few years afterwards wouldn't be a bad idea, either (perhaps a treatment 4-6x a year). It's very cost effective stuff to use.

If this sounds of interest to you, I would try contacting SCD ( http://www.scdprobiotics.com/ ), one of the USA producers of EM. They might have an answer for you as to whether EM would be effective against your Southern Bacterial Blight. Mind you, EM is not intended like a "one shot treatment" to immediately fix or cure a situation, but to improve the microbial health of the soil. Healthy soil microbes can keep diseases at bay. Perhaps enough time and treatments with EM will do the trick for you.

I have been using EM for a few years, mostly for chickens, but have used it in our garden some. We don't have any bacterial problem like you do, though.

 

[aggiemae]

Another solution for your soil would be worm castings. They are packed full of beneficial microbes. The worms in my bin also eat almost all of out non compostable food waste.

They spraying the leaves with baking soda solution or fish emulsion solution. I has a fungal wilt on my nectarines and everything I read said nothing could be done till it was time for dormant spray, Over half to the leaves had curled and died when I spayed the trees with fish emulsion, and though we did loose most of this years fruit, the trees are healthy and growing like crazy.

I have also used baking soda spray (1:8) on all sorts of fungal blights and I has worked most of the time.. Spray a small area of leaves first to be sure.

Chickens don't eat nightshade leaves. they do love the fruits (especially tomatoes and peppers)

 

[yyz0yyz0]

IIRC Nightshade family includes: peppers, matos, potatos, eggplant.

 

[rides2far]

We have the same problem here in California. We now grow our tomatoes in large containers, filled with new soil every year. We got it from some tomatoe plants we bought. Once you have it in your soil, it's almost impossible to get rid of. We always were told it was a fungus. Good to know its a bacteria.

 

[birds4kids]

Another thing to try would be solarising, you put clear plastic over the wet dirt and just bake it, then follow up with the beneficial microorganisms later.
NOW would be the time to start while the sun is strongest. Here in WI starting in July I have gotten the top of the soil over 110f, if you do it over grassy areas you smell it composting inside a day or two.
This year I did it early to prewarm the soil and while we were till getting frost at night I had the top few inches up to mid 90s.

 

[aggiemae]

and add a source of calcium and potasium to your container mix ( I dry banana peels and eggshells and pulverized them) to your containers to prevent blossom end rot. Dolomite, about 8 oz for a five gallon bucket, works too.