16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Black spots, settling mostly on their tops, wash off with warm detergent water. Tomatoes look fine once cleaned This is the first year my neighbor and I have noticed this strange occurence. This could be an environmental hazard, where does one REPORT or send samples in order to see what is on the tomatoes. I wonder if one day my suburb will becoming dirty like the innercity homes. Ours is NOT a heavy industry city area.
But just adding compost to soil won't make soil-borne diseases go away.
I am not saying that compost cures all but let's not totally disregard the many university studies that show that beneficial parasitic bacteria and other microscopic creatures in compost can neutralize and even kill many of the pathogenic bacteria in soil. They can also control the reproduction of several varieties of fungi by altering the pH of the soil and out-compete them for the available nutrients. Plus control some viruses by neutralizing their needed soil hosts such as pathogenic nematodes.
As Carolyn indicated above the soil borne diseases include Fusarium, Verticillium, Southern Blight all of which are far less common than Alternaria, B. Speck and Spot, Early Blight and Septoria which are airborne.
Dave
I've been growing in the same bed for the last 6 years. Every year after the growing season is over and I clean up the bed I add horse manure and compost. 3 years ago I went no-till and just added the manure and compost and let it sit. Buy the time spring rolls around most of it has broken down by the time I get ready for plant out.
When I plant out my seedlings I dip the roots in a dip consisting of Actinovate, Biota Max and MycoGrow soluable which are selected fungi and bacteria that help control soil borne disease and also assist the roots in getting nutrients for the plants. All I can say is every year my plants are getting taller and fruit production increases.
Ami
Thanks for the variety reports. If your seedlings got leggy, they probably did not have enough light.
Paste tomatoes always get BER the worst. It's more about water/air balance in the soil than it is a nutrient issue. In the clay soil that I have, mixing in organic matter like manure lightens the soil, which helps to provide more even moisture and reduce BER. I am just guessing, but I think any soil lightener would help, at least for me. You might try experimenting with amendments to find the one that works best for reducing BER in your soil.
Splitting and cracking are most often caused by inconsistent moisture problems - dry-wet-dry. Lots of discussions here about 'splitting' and 'cracking' the search will pull up. It has nothing to do with the variety or the fact that they are heirlooms or not.
Dave
I linked to the site below but am wondering b'c you joined GW today, I suppose to post what you posted, and asked folks to sign up/
Is any money involved in buying the app?
If so it seems to me that such advertisements are not in accord with the terms of use here at GW/
If I'm wrong please tell me no money is involved and what happens if someone does sign up in terms of getting the app you speak of?
From the terms of use:
(No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.)
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Direct link to veggie gardner
Here in the Pacific North West, just east of Vancouver, the story is different from the rest of the continent. We suffered a prolonged period of cold, damp and wet weather from May right through the first 2 weeks in July. The tomatoes (and other plants) had a terrible time getting off the starting blocks. None of my cucumber seedlings survived. The squash harvest is abysmal. I thought the season was a total loss.
In the end, it turned out that the tomatoes were saved by two things
1. Late, but prolonged summer warmth and sun - it had been almost continuously warm but not hot since mid July, and we have not had day-time temperatures below 60F so far. (We had the best crop of mediteranean figs ever!)
2. One single variety - Sweet Million. Once these got going, there was no stopping them. Fruiting was profilic. The fruits were so sweet that we ate them like they are cherries. I do have a bumper crop from the single plant of Money Maker but the fruits are not particularly great tasting. The Yellow Brandywine has no chance. The fruits set late, and as of the current weather forecast, they will not ripen in time - by the latest count, I have have just one single fruit of Yellow Brandywine for the dinner table. Peron had a moderate season - it set fruits earlier, and i have had good fruits so far, but the season is going to end with a lot of green tomatoes in the kitchen.
The late summer warm and sun also saved the Goji berry season - thank goodness. They are one our favourite harvest. Interestingly, it is a related to tomatoes.
Well, my cherry tomatoes did well, and I got decent set on my others before the heat except the San Marzano Gigantes. But then I had problems with army worms and cracking. I've never had much cracking before, but they were new varieties and while I thought I was doing well with the water during our dry spell (we did not have actual drought), but maybe not. And the army worms took me forever to figure out, they kept eating the green fruit! There were a ton more insects this year, plus a sudden arrival of root knot nematodes, which I attribute to out warm winter. Long story short, got some lost a lot more. It's ok, I'm still searching for my perfect tomato.
Late Blight spores cannot overwinter where the temps go below freezing for an extended period of time and I assume zone 5 CT qualifies as does my zone 5 in upstate NY.
LB only can exist on living tomato tissue so the freezing weather of winter will kill all spores.
It's a bit different with LB and potatoes b'c it can overwinter in what are called potato cull piles and in the past LB has been spread from western NYS eastward via wind and rain. W NYS has many commercial potato farms where cull piles are common, but I don't know of any home gardeners that do that.
Carolyn
So I guess the question is, since they say it's not carried in seed, seed isn't considered "living tissue" so volunteers are OK? Or are they referring to saved (dry) seed, and any seed that survived the winter and sprouted the following year *could* be carrying it, just like culled potatoes?
Basically my dad has a 2" thick, 10x10ft "tomato cull pile" LOL! I'm not worried about the top 2" so much as any seed that might have gotten driven deeper in from my walking on it, and gets sheltered over the winter to sprout the next year. Or anything that gets sheltered in what basically might end up as a cold compost pile if he dumps it in a hole and just piles brush and leaves on top.
Thanks
If you have a freeze/frost coming you can pick and ripen fruit off the vine by wrapping it in paper and storing in a basement, garage or other non heated place.
Not for seed saving. The seeds won't be mature.
Good info from Tradition on how to protect it - blankets/sheets work much better than plastic. Since it has a cage and is up against a wall (which will provide some additional heat) use that and the overhang as a framework for enclosing it - a mini-greenhouse type structure around it on 3 sides using the wall as the back.
Dave
I would hesitate to use Roundup where I wanted to grow edibles. 12 x 6 isn't that big. You can hand weed, or use a hula hoe, then mulch after you get your tomatoes planted. The weed seeds were probably in the topsoil you used, or drifted in with the wind.
Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?
The vinegar-and-soap trick works, but you will need several applications before killing the weeds (which is advantageous, since if you accidentally spray something you want to keep, just be sure not to spray it the next time).
I do about 4 cups of plain white vinegar to 1 teaspoon of dish soap, sprayed on the leaves early on a warm day; spray the weeds every other day for a week or so.
It's inexpensive and non-toxic, and you don't have to worry about residual toxins. As an added bonus, some desirable plants (blueberries and raspberries) prefer acidic soils, and some undesirable plants (poison ivy!) don't like acidity.
WoW fusion..sounds fantastic..
I have a few small hot pepper plants, really small and lots of red hot peppers from them..
When I was younger I threw coins for my fortune using the 'I Ching' many times it said. "perseverance brings good fortune" True as we learn in time...cheers Martha/Zucchini
Difficult but yes, still possible, especially so in containers. It is just another of the problems associated with using containers.
The issue can be eliminated even more by using much larger containers - the bigger the container the less frequent watering is required - so a 25-35 gallon container can be just like growing the plant in the ground when it comes to watering.
And even better, using a drip irrigation system on a timer. A slow but steady drip system can keep the soil moisture level consistent and eliminate the soaked till it drains-dry-soaked till it drains-dry cycle inherent in containers.
Dave
We were going to a Pow Wow and prepared this platter for the feast..needless to say they all got ate.
Looks great--but why aeroponics outdoors ???
how do you keep the roots from bundling???