16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I just remembered that Organicide was listed as a fungicide and recommended to me by CAES when they thought Ester Hess had powdery mildew (which when they cultured it, it didn't). Thought I had to rinse it off b/c sun would scald it. Please don't beat me over the head for mentioning it.

And I did leave the plants outside all month after the discussion on Sue's thread about the in and out, when you said only take them in (to unconditioned space, never the house back under lights) when there was severe weather. So they got wet last weekend/beginning of the week and had not dried out by the time I finally took them in on Thurs b/c the weather was getting worse. They were already thoroughly soaked and I was afraid the roots would rot, though I didn't notice leaves were wet it was certainly damp and overcast on Wed. I did pot some things up (Gem State and others going into containers anyway) on Thursday just to get them into dry mix. I do have light in the garage, but no fans. I just made the comment that the particular flat must not have been in the best spot (I really don't remember where it was - I was pretty sure I put anything in cell packs up on a table, and the larger potted plants down on the floor) since it's the only 1 to have problems so far. Sat was the first dry day - Thurs was drizzle, but Friday was a downpour, and I put them all back out where they would get some sun. Doing the best I can.

Thank you Carolyn, I did read that last night, I was also reading that this can spread very quickly through a field and so was wondering if I should cut my losses (I really did want to try Dr. Carolyn) and throw these plants out rather than risk the ones already planted in the row.

Ironically, I was trying to get these last plants (started April 6 and set out June 2) some sun exposure before they were planted, we literally did not see the sun from June 3 - June 13 (except for the 7th when DD had friends over and I couldn't put the plants out in the middle of the back yard for sun - they weren't ready for afternoon sun by then anyway) and it rained 6 of those days.

I will remove the affected foliage (as much as I can, some of them don't have any unaffected leaflets), keep these cell packs isolated and see how they are the end of the week. I'll be sure to cover them tomorrow night since it's going to rain Tuesday night and Wed, I'm sure that won't help. What I read was that temperatures under 60 at night may help retard the spread, we have had cool nights but maybe that flat was in a warmer area of the garage ;-) Unfortunately the next few nights are going to be slightly over 60, but then we're dropping back to our normal 50's so all I can do it cross my fingers.

I am going to try the copper spray if I have any left - I have some powder in the cabinet, I think it's copper from 2012 b/c I'm pretty sure the Bt I bought last year was in liquid form, that would be the only powder.

This post was edited...

I had a few in pots that needed some foliage stripped, but other than the Cheeseman's, only 1 cell pack of Gardener's Delight looked bad. I've already planted all I want of those, so I can throw the extras away.

But of the ones that have been planted, almost all of the full-sized tomatoes in the east bed (where I had green beans) showed signs of disease, as did 1 SuperSweet 100 in the west bed (that was planted in tomatoes last year). I also had quite a bit of foliage I had to remove from the Brandywines and Mark Twains that were the first to be planted in the new bed in the (uncovered) tunnel, so this must be wind/rain borne, not seed or soil borne. Everything I planted Saturday looks good.

I'm assuming that copper is not a good thing to spray on a bright sunny day (I do have a few ounces left, will have to weigh it), but will spray everything this evening. Then hope it doesn't spread with the rain/overcast days predicted for the end of the week.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the response edweather - good to know it isn't blossom drop. Painful to watch, indeed.

Tomato flowers don't last long -- maybe only one day? -- before they are past the window for pollination.

If pollination hasn't taken place (for whatever reason), the blossom will fall within a few days. (Don't mistake the yellow petals falling for blossom drop. If the end of the stem -- the part with the green sepals -- breaks off at edweather's "knee": that's blossom drop.)

Unlike many other plants, tomatoes are usually self-pollinating. Many tomato flowers are shaped so that insects cannot access the pollen. Bees or other insects may be able to pollinate some tomato flowers, but pollination usually takes place without them.

However, if the air is particularly still, a bee or other insect investigating the flower may, by vibrating the blossom, shake pollen loose from the anthers onto the stigma. [Some GWebbers -- on the "Better safe than sorry" theory -- visit each of their plants daily and give the stem (or the stake or tomato cage) a little shake. Fans serve the same purpose in a windless greenhouse.]

Once a tomato flower has been fertilized, it will be several days before you notice the growing fruit.

But more than pollination may be needed: sometimes even after successful pollination, the plant isn't ready yet to support a growing fruit. Maybe the plant was too recently planted, and lacks a large enough root system. Or maybe it's a variety with a longer DTM (days to maturity) -- the average number of days from the time a tomato is set out in the garden until the first fruit ripens.

Temperatures too high can result in pollen that clumps, which will prevent pollination. Your daytime temps aren't too high yet; I'm not sure if the 50* nighttime temps are a problem.

Yes I totally agree! A very common saying around here if someone complains about the weather is "Don't worry just stick around and it will change in fifteen minutes!"

It can be very challenging for a gardener!!

Carly

I had volunteer tomato seedlings that were frost burned back to surface of the ground in April. Didn't really care. Ignored them. I just noticed that one of them is thriving.

BUT the underside of those leaves has a grainy-webby look, that may well indicate the presence of spider mites.

In any case, Jean is correct about the spray of water. THAT can't hurt anything, so why not just do it? From under the leaves, mind.

I did notice webs on my other tomato that I didn't show pictures for. I think that the one I showed has a bad aphid problem, and the other one might have a spider mite problem. They are about three feet away from each other with a sidewalk in between, and I've been making sure to spray water AWAY from the other tomato plant so I don't blast the aphids/ spider mites from one to the other. Is that enough distance or should I scoot them further? I've been blasting both since neither one looks "healthy" to me, and I've seen signs of insect plant parasites on both.

I've been spraying the foliage everyday with a firm water jet for the past few days (focusing on the bottoms of the leaves, since that's where the sucking insects tend to... suck). I'll keep it up until most (90%?) of the leaves aren't curled. It's probably still around 50-60% curled right now, but most of the curling is improved with a few days to a great extent.

I might try the diluted soap in a sprayer solution (1 tablespoon in a gallon of water) if it's not getting noticeably better after a few more days. In the future, at least, I'll know the symptoms and treatments.

We had a hot dry stretch, and then we had a rainy week. Oddly, my other plants are looking great (except for the sunflowers), but my tomatoes have been looking worse and worse for maybe 2 weeks. I think I over-fertilized at the start (making them more attractive to aphids), in my ignorance-- I'll be more careful next year.

Thank you for the advice, jerijen, jean, and digdirt. :)

This post was edited by livreosa on Sun, Jun 15, 14 at 0:15

Interestingly, I was out in the garden this evening and I noticed that the 'Sweet 100' in the garden has tomatoes! Just two or three but I came back and checked the container plants and nada.

I have noticed the same thing. Since tomatoes need warm soil I assumed the warmer soil in the pots and the looser growing medium were the reason. However, mine on the my driveway, and I did find last year, that the garden plants catch up and outperform the potted ones later in the season, which I believe is because the pots on the driveway actually get too hot for the roots. I have placed 2" thick boards under them so they are not in direct contact with the asphalt this year and we will see if it helps. I have a small lot and I just don't want to kill my grass by having many heavy pots on it all summer, so on the driveway they go. Maybe when it gets too hot I will see if there is room for them dispersed
among my flower gardens. :)

Was this a recent thing of some time back. If recent then I agree with Lucille, call the company or have the neighbor call the company and make them dig it out.

If this happened some time ago then you are likely too late to claim damages or repairs and will have to dig it out on your own.

You don't indicate where you live or even you garden zone so it is impossible to know if you already had plants planted there or what.

Either way it is your property so someone other than you has trespassed to do it.

Dave

You could serve your neighbor a "Knuckle Sandwich" instead of a "BLT"!!!, ! also serve it to chew that dumped the stuff in your mater bed!

Gary

Sorry for the wait but I still don't have all the answers. Burpee sent me a new brandywine, it arrived on Thursday and it was planted a few hours ago.

I called Burpee on Wednesday and asked if the horticulturist could tell what it was that I sent a picture of. They said I would get an email but I have yet to receive one.

When I dug up the defective plant the root system looked very strange to me. I took a pic just to show what I found.

The root is gnarly, but the stems don't look like tomato either. Maybe a turnip or daikon type radish (I think I see a larger root behind the tangle)?

Thanks Dave. I believe I'll take your advice and just let things grow. Until now, I have used the typical wire tomato cage and experienced a lot of vine breakage once things got above the top of the cages. That was what I feared would happen as well with the new supports and why I considered topping off the plants. Based on your response, I assume this is less likely to occur with the higher supports.

As my supports are about 12 feet long and 4 feet apart, would it be of any value to add some additional horizontal support to the system to assist holding up the vines once they begin to cascade downward? I'm thinking a trellis net hung between the two supports, or possibly bamboo poles laid perpendicular to the main supports. I have access to all the bamboo I can cut down.

would it be of any value to add some additional horizontal support to the system to assist holding up the vines

Sure. You can do it by just adding more strings horizontally. Look at pics of a Florida weave. It is easy to convert stringed plants to Florida weave supports. You can also tie the tops to the horizontal bar so they run parallel to the ground.

Keep in mind for next year that the more you prune the laterals off an indeterminate the taller the central core plant will get to compensate. So leaving more lateral branches (aka suckers) and stringing them generally results in shorter plants (not short but shorter :).

Dave

As for the aphids I was trying to attract them to the vinegar which kills them.

And that is the primary mis-understanding. You never want to attract them to anything for any reason. They may or may not come all on their own and if they don't why attract them. Plus plain water can kill them too without any risk to the plants.

So please get rid of these vinegar and soap containers from near your plants. They pose much more of a threat than even aphids do.

While flooding the area will dilute the soap and vinegar it will also flood the plant roots. Since they are only a week old I'd probably move them to an uncontaminated spot.

As for seeds it may have contacted, I'd plan on having to re-seed once the area has been flushed out well.

Dave

@ digdirt

Thank you very much!

Yeah, got rid of all the vinegar containers, and I didnt actually know "just water" would kill them. Now I know thanks to you!

I flushed the area well with water and its all leaking out, which is what we want!

Going to home depot and will buy more soil and repot the big plants just to be on the safe side. Dont want all my hard work going to waste.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and help.
Will let you know how I get on.

If you have more plants and would like help from the very experienced people here to protect the remaining plants from a similar fate, I would suggest posting pictures of your plants and supports. If there is a situation that would increase the risk of breakage in the remaining plants, they might be able to see it and offer advise.

I agree that this was not caused by the short cages. Every year I have plants that outgrow my 5 foot cages. Rarely ever do the plants snap off limbs. Rather they just bend over and even crimp where it rests on the top rung of the cage. But they rarely snap off.
I think the OP needs to tell us more details... varieties, fertilizer regimes, irrigation, and amount of sunlight. As of now, my vote is something to do with fertilizer and / or the amount of sunlight.