16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Nothing needs to be trimmed off. Read the FAQ here and through all the discussions about pruning. There is really no such thing as 'suckers'. They are lateral branches and they do produce fruit.
The claim that you must remove what are called suckers is old way-outdated wives tales spread by folks who don't understand how tomatoes grow.
Dave
Also, the things you are calling branches are leaf stems. You do not want to trim these off unless they are on the bottom of a mature plant. This is what the plant uses to collect energy from the sun. They are pretty good to keep. The more energy the plant can collect and use from the sun, the more energy it can put into making new plant parts, which if all else is good, could be more tomatoes.
CH
Keep in mind that tomatoes are an annual plant. Their only mission in life is to produce seeds (i.e., fruit). Once that's done, they begin to die. These plants look fine for late summer. Nobody grows tomatoes for beautiful foliage (although they can look pretty gorgeous in late spring). It's Mother Nature's little plan, like it or not.
You could knock back that fungal infection pretty easy, I'd say they have some time left to make you more fruit.
I have been keeping late blight at bay with a homeade spray. In one gallon of water, mix 2 TBL spoons of Baking Soda and 2 TBL Spoons of any Veg or olive oil, and add a few drops of dish soap. Mix well and spray on your plants.
CH
Link below is to a number of past and current discussions on the same issue and will explain the causes. Just scroll down to all the ones with blue frames.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: No fruit, no tomatoes on plant
Hi guys, I thought you might like an update on the effects of the milk I tried -- I only put it around my 3 puniest tomato plants and they are now rockin' the socks off the other four. They are the sturdiest now and are the only ones that are flowering. I think it is still too hot for them to set fruit but it seems that the milk did those tomatoes good!
Since no one has said it, I will.LOL
Here's the reason that Mr Stripey appars at almosty all the big box strores as well as commercial nurseries.
Wayne Hilton, who used to own TT and that whole stable of companies now owned by Jung's, found it in GA and sent seeds to Seeds by Design in CA, a wholesale place he was dealing with at the time.
Since the folks there didn't know that there already was a variety called Mr. Stripey, aka Tigerella as bred in England by the Glasshouse Res Insti, they called it Mr. Stripey, again, not knowing that the real Tigerella had also been called Mr. Stripey.
And SBD send out a commercial list to many many commercial growers of heirloom varieties in the US, and that's how it got spread around.
This meaning that since then I and others have had to distinguish between the two, the real Tigerella being a small red with gold jagged stripes and not a bicolor, which splits with the AM dew and has a very aggressive taste vs the gold/red large bicolor.
Yes, I've grown Mr. Stripey the bicolor and it would be about at the bottom of my list of gold/red bicolors based on production AND taste and I do know that many others feel the same way.
With over about 200 named gold/red bicolors I think there are many others that are more worthy.
Again, just me wee opinion.LOL
Carolyn
When I first posted I assumed My tomatoes had early blight but today I noticed a couple plants has several leaves with light freckly looking spots.
Is that consistent with early blight or might there be a separate problem.
Here are some pics.
Again overall the plants seem healthy and tomatos so far not effected.
Thanks
Blight is a general word that many use to describe a sick tomato plant but it's best to be able to ID the specific disease involved if one can.
First, I Don't know where you live which would help narrow down the possibilities.
If it's a foliage disease I'm just noting that there are no varieties, hybrid or OP, that are tolerant of the common foliage diseases, but I don't see any spots on the leaves that would indicate that so please do note if you see any such leaf spots and if so please describe as to size and color and shape and if there are any yellow halos around them. Also if there are any dark colored areas on the stems.
If it's a systemic soilborne disease, such as Fusarium or Verticillium or several others, again, it depends on where you are in a geographic sense, then there's nothing to be done at this point.Even with hybrids that have tolerance to some of the soilborne diseases all it means is a week or so more of growth before the plants go down. There is no such thing as total resistance to soilborne diseases, and the genes that are bred into many hybrids are of best use to large scale commercial farmers who base when they harvest on Brix levels, which is a measure of soluble sugars and the extra few days that tolerance brings can allow for those Brix levels to reach the right level.
It would also help to know if you're growing other tomato plants and if they all have the same symptoms.
Carolyn
Hi Rita, I wsh we had Lowes in my area. How much were they? I'm going to check Home Hardware and see if they have them the green coated ones are much better. I'm getting excited about the garden. Did you shape the beds first and put any kind of edging?
Sharon, scroll up and look at my last picture. You can see where I have the bricks as edging. The cages were $6.47 each. And thats the thing. You don't need a Lowes in your area of you order on line. Right now they have free shipping but thats only for a short time.
Earlier in the year Home Depot had free shipping for a time. And I ordered all the green coated metal fence posts I needed at that time.
Doesn't look like Blight to me, Usually yellow leaves with brown edges means water stress. Also Later in the season I think some leaf branches will just die off naturally, especially near the bottom of the plant.
I see no mulch and weed competition, so I would say water stress + the age of the plant. Clip off the yellow and dying leaves, Add some mulch and see if that helps.
For a home fungal spray, Add the following to a gallon of water. 2 Tbl Spoons Baking Soda, 2 Table Spoons Veg Oil, Few drops of Dishsoap. Spray on the tops and bottoms of the leaves and the stems of the plants.
CH
I didn't mulch this year, I suspect nutrient issues, used micronutrient solution but was not very accurate/consistent in its use. Don't want to spray Daconil all the time (it rubs me the wrong way). Thinking of removing the top 2 inches of soil at the end of season and next year using thick landscaping fabric and mulch to protect the leaves from splach infestation from the soil. I need to test my soil.